Workers’ compensation rates are decreasing in Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has proposed a drop in its 2019 average employer premium rate to $1.17 per hundred dollars of payroll in 2019 from $1.19 in 2018. This represents a 1.7 per cent decrease from 2018 to 2019. This is the 12th consecutive year the rate has dropped. The announcement was made on Oct. 16 in Regina at the WCB’s annual rate setting meeting with Saskatchewan employers and stakeholders.

The WCB’s 2019 proposed average premium rate is 43 per cent below the 16-year high of $2.05 in 2004.

2019 Reflects A Complete Transition to New Enhanced Rate Model

The 2019 proposed premium rate reflects the WCB’s complete transition to the enhanced rate model that was implemented in 2018. The enhanced model was approved in 2017 following an independent actuarial rate model review in 2016.

For 2018 only, to mitigate the impact of the move to the enhanced rate model, the WCB drew from the Injury Fund to help employers in 14 rate codes whose premium rate would increase as a result of moving to the enhanced rate model. For 2019, the premium rate for all rate codes will be calculated under the enhanced model.

The WCB conducted several rate model information and educational sessions in 2016 and 2017, and held additional public education sessions in early 2018 for those employers who will experience the impact of the increase beginning in 2019.

Click here to learn more about the enhancements to the WCB’s rate model.

With the 2019 rate proposal:

• Industry premium rates for 42.5 per cent of Saskatchewan’s employers covered by the WCB will see a decrease or no change for 2019. The decreases range from 0.6 per cent to 14.0 per cent.
• Premium rates for 57.5 per cent of employers will increase next year. The increases range from 1.2 per cent to 17.4 per cent. Of the employers seeing an increase, 54.5 per cent are because of the final transition to the enhanced rate model.