News Feed

Regina, Sask., Dec. 16, 2024 – The Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has approved the 2025 average employer premium rate to remain unchanged from the 2024 rate at $1.28 per hundred dollars of payroll.
 
“At the WCB, we work to uphold a balance between stable rates that ensure fairness, transparency, collective liability and predictability, and a fully funded compensation system,” said the WCB’s chair Gord Dobrowolsky. “Claim costs and payroll are the two primary drivers of the 2025 average premium rate. Although we are expecting claim costs to increase, we predict increasing employer payroll will offset those rising costs. Our 2025 average premium rate is among the lowest in Canada.”
 
In 2025, 76 per cent of Saskatchewan employers covered by the WCB will see a decrease or no change to their industry premium rate. The premium rates for 24 per cent of employers will increase in 2025.
 
The WCB has a legislative obligation to be fully funded to cover the costs of current and future claims. Under the WCB’s sufficiency policy, the WCB targets a range of between 100 and 140 per cent funded.
 
“The 2025 premium rate ensures we can maintain our funded position,” said the WCB’s CEO Phillip Germain. “While we can keep next year’s rate constant with the past two years, we are seeing claims getting more costly. Along with inflation, we expect claim costs to put long-term upward pressure on premium rates. If we work together to reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities, we can help minimize the impact of these factors on future premium rates.”
 
In 2024, the WCB streamlined its investment strategy to improve the long-term expected return on its investments, which benefits employers by reducing the premiums needed to run the compensation system. Employers can also influence their individual premium rate through effective injury prevention and return-to-work programs. The degree to which employers in an industry work to eliminate workplace injuries also affects industry premium rates. Employers who have a fully functioning safety program and a solid return-to-work program can help prevent and manage work-related injuries.
 
In 2023, for the fourth year in a row, 90 per cent of employers in the province achieved zero injuries and zero fatalities in their workplaces. The WCB is working to support Saskatchewan workers and employers to prioritize and effectively manage workplace safety. On an annual basis, serious injuries account for approximately 11 to 14 per cent of total claims and more than 80 per cent of claim costs in the system.
 
WorkSafe Saskatchewan, the partnership between the WCB and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, continues to invest in programs to support workplace safety as part of its 2023-2028 Fatalities and Serious Injuries Strategy. WorkSafe Saskatchewan designed these programs, targeting the industries with the highest injury rates, to support employers and workers in making Saskatchewan the safest place in Canada to work.
 
“The WCB will keep collaborating closely with employers, workers and health-care providers to help prevent work disability through active worker and employer contact, and collaborative return-to-work plans,” said Dobrowolsky. “As we head into the new year, we will continue working together toward our vision of eliminating injuries and restoring abilities in all Saskatchewan workplaces.”
 
-30-
Media contact:
Carolyn Van der Veen
Director, Strategic Communications
Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board
cvanderveen@wcbsask.com