VAC disability pension rates 2026 by class.

The 2026 disability pension table, class by class

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) publishes the disability pension as Table A of a rates PDF. It has twenty classes. Each class covers a band of assessed disability and carries one monthly amount for a single pensioner, with extra amounts when there is a spouse or children. The figures below are copied from the version effective 1 January 2026, which VAC says includes a 2.0% supplement tied to the Consumer Price Index under section 75 of the Pension Act.

Classes are bands, not straight lines. Class 9 pays the same to everyone assessed between 58% and 62%, and the next band down starts at 53%. For a single pensioner the step between 57% (class 10, $1,932.41) and 58% (class 9, $2,108.09) is $175.68 a month.

Spouse and children: the add-on amounts

A pension goes up when you have dependants. VAC prints the add-on per class: one amount for a spouse or common-law partner, a first child, a second child and every child after that. The “with spouse” column above is the single rate plus the spouse amount, and the later columns add the children one at a time.

Worked example (hypothetical)

Take a made-up pensioner assessed at 62% with a spouse and two children. 62% sits in class 9 (58–62%). The single rate is $2,108.09. The spouse adds $527.02, making $2,635.11. The first child adds $274.05 and the second $200.27, so the total is $3,109.43 a month, or $37,313.16 over twelve months. The same person at 57% would fall to class 10 and the single rate would drop to $1,932.41. The calculator above does this sum for any percentage.

Class 21: assessments under 5%

Below 5% there is no monthly class. VAC’s rates page says assessments from 1% to 4% are paid as a lump sum, and the PDF prints the Class 21 amounts under Table A: 1% pays $1,134.42, 2% pays $2,268.77, 3% pays $3,403.20 and 4% pays $4,537.57. Each extra percentage point adds the same step of about $1,134, so Class 21 is a one-time payment, not a part-month pension.

Who is paid a disability pension, and who is paid PSC

VAC’s disability benefits page says a qualifying person receives either Pain and Suffering Compensation or a disability pension. The pension is provided for Canadian Armed Forces service in the Second World War or the Korean War. For other CAF service it is provided if the application for disability benefits was made before 1 April 2006. Otherwise the benefit on offer is Pain and Suffering Compensation, which has its own banded table: see the VAC Pain and Suffering Compensation table. The two regimes use different tables, so compare them only for scale: the top single pension above is $3,513.48 a month, while PSC tops out at $1,419.82 a month or $461,956.71 as a lump sum. A pensioner who needs daily care can also look at the Caregiver Recognition Benefit and the Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation grades.

How the table got to 2026

The same PDF shows the yearly supplement added on 1 January: 1.9% in 2020, 1.0% in 2021, 2.7% in 2022, 6.5% in 2023, 4.4% in 2024, 2.6% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026. Multiplying those seven steps together gives about 23.0% over the period, which is simple arithmetic on the printed percentages rather than a VAC figure. If you are comparing against an older table, such as a 2025 PDF that still ranks in search, remember that every class amount was lower by that year’s step.

Survivors: Table B maximums

Table B of the same PDF covers dependants of a deceased pensioner. For classes 1 to 11 (48–100%) it prints maximum rates. A widow is paid $2,635.11 a month, a widow with one child $3,548.61 and with two children $4,216.18; the PDF says “widow” applies equally to a widower, and the dependent parent maximum is $1,756.74. The lower classes pay proportional amounts that are in the PDF and are not reproduced here.

What this page does not cover

It does not decide whether you qualify, how VAC combines several conditions into one percentage, or how a reassessment would change your class. It does not model Pain and Suffering Compensation, the attendance and exceptional incapacity allowances, treatment benefits or tax. A pensioner with children and no spouse is calculated by adding the child amounts to the single rate, because the PDF prints those amounts separately and has no combined row for that case; confirm that total with VAC. Table B survivors below class 12 are left to the PDF.

Sources

• VAC, Monthly Rates of Pensions for Disabilities (Table A, Table B, Table D), effective 1 January 2026 (PDF; every class amount, the Class 21 lump sums, the 2.0% supplement and the yearly increases; retrieved 20 October 2026)
• Veterans Affairs Canada, Rates (class 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 rows match the PDF; page modified 2026-10-01; retrieved 20 October 2026)
• Veterans Affairs Canada, Disability benefits (who receives a disability pension, dependants and the Class 21 lump sum wording; page modified 2026-07-03; retrieved 20 October 2026)
• VAC, Pain and Suffering Compensation Schedule 3, effective 1 January 2026 (the other disability benefit, maximum $1,419.82 monthly or $461,956.71 lump sum; retrieved 20 October 2026)