Pay action request form 446-5E TPSGC PWGSC

Pay Action Request Form 446-5E Now Available for Federal Public Servants

By GovPrepare News Desk – December 8, 2025

Standfirst: Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has released the updated Pay Action Request Form 446-5E. The form is essential for federal employees to initiate changes related to payroll, leave, or employment conditions, enhancing clarity and administrative efficiency across departments.

Key Highlights

• Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has published the updated Pay Action Request Form 446-5E.
• The form allows federal employees to request payroll, leave, or pay classification changes.
• It is an instrumental tool for HR and compensation advisors within the federal service.
• The update aims to streamline administrative functions and reduce pay processing errors.
• Available on the PSPC official website in both English and French.
• Fully compliant with government HR and pay system standards, including the Phoenix pay system.

Background and Context

Federal employees in Canada depend on the timely and accurate processing of their salaries, benefits, and employment transactions. Since 2016, the Phoenix Pay System has served as the foundation for centralized payroll administration. However, challenges including underpayments, overpayments, and transaction delays have persisted over the years.

To bridge the communication and data input gap between departments, human resources, and compensation advisors, PSPC introduced the Pay Action Request Form 446-5E. Historically, this form enables employees or their HR representatives to request changes concerning employment status, retroactive pay, promotion adjustments, and leave with or without pay.

The 2025 revision incorporates technical updates aimed at reducing information errors and aligning data with government-wide HR systems such as My GCHR and PeopleSoft.

The New Development

In November 2025, Public Services and Procurement Canada officially released the latest version of the Pay Action Request Form 446-5E—an initiative designed to enhance administrative clarity and consistency across all departments and agencies.

The new form is now available on the PSPC website and must be used by HR personnel and compensation advisors effective immediately. It is tailored to support transparent entry of employee action requests such as:

• Leave without pay requests
• Retroactive salary changes
• Promotions or acting assignments
• Termination or transfer of employment status
• Corrections to pay classification or effective dates

The standardization of this form was driven by internal audits and employee feedback gathered over the last three years. To address recurring pay accuracy issues, the form includes mandatory fields that help ensure all needed data is submitted upfront, reducing back-and-forth communications with the Pay Centre.

Institutions serviced directly by the Public Service Pay Centre, as well as those managing pay externally, are required to adopt Form 446-5E to maintain consistency with Treasury Board Secretariat HR-to-pay integration policies.

Expert and Industry Reaction

According to a statement from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), this update represents “a practical step toward improving transparency and accountability in federal pay administration.”

Marie-Claude Pagé, an HR systems consultant with the Government of Canada, noted: “By integrating key validation fields, this form helps compensation advisors reduce processing time and avoid frequent follow-up requests that delay pay decisions.”

Analysts from the Institute on Governance commented that better form design and data reliability help support the Federal Pay System Stabilization efforts underway since 2022, which aim to rebuild trust following the Phoenix system’s shortcomings.

Alignment with Global or National Standards

The introduction of Pay Action Request Form 446-5E aligns with multiple national administrative directives, including:

• Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment – Ensures proper handling of employee status changes and compensation entitlements
• Directive on the Administration of Pay – Mandates documentation standards for all pay-related modifications
• ISO 30405:2016 Human Resource Management – Aligns practices with international requirements for transparent employee data documentation

Moreover, the Canadian human resource systems operate in accordance with the Common Human Resources Business Process (CHRBP), which mandates consistent data input templates across government platforms. The 446-5E form meets these traceability and governance principles.

Impact on Stakeholders

For federal employees, the updated form serves as a transparent tool to initiate pay-related changes with greater accuracy. Whether requesting parental leave or compensation adjustments, the form ensures submission is standardized and audit-ready.

Human resources advisors benefit from field-level validations and revised categories that align with My GCHR and Phoenix system codes. The updated form minimizes backlogs caused by unclear or incomplete entries.

Government departments that manage payroll directly, or are supported by the centralized Pay Centre, gain from reduced processing times and fewer transactional escalations tied to faulty or incomplete submissions.

In the long term, this form is expected to improve payroll data quality across the public service, enhancing efficiency and reducing costly rectification cycles.

Official Guidance

• Public Services and Procurement Canada – Pay and Forms
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
• Government of Canada – Public Service Information
• Government of Canada Newsroom
• Jobs and Pay – Government of Canada

Conclusion

The updated Pay Action Request Form 446-5E reinforces the Government of Canada’s continued commitment to improving pay administration practices. By simplifying and standardizing information required for employee pay changes, PSPC is addressing long-standing inefficiencies across the federal pay ecosystem.

Departments are advised to implement the new form immediately and ensure staff are trained in its proper use. Future initiatives may include digitizing the form to enable automated submissions through pay systems and reduce paper-based workflows.

For the most accurate and up-to-date information about government forms and employee instructions, visit the official PSPC website or contact your compensation advisor.

Excerpt (Meta Description): Canada’s PSPC releases Pay Action Request Form 446-5E to improve payroll accuracy and streamline HR requests across federal departments.

Tags: pay action request form, 446-5E, PSPC, federal pay system, Canadian federal employees, government payroll, Phoenix system, employee compensation, HR form Canada, public service pay, PSPC forms, HR Canada