Ontario social assistance review commission releases report Wednesday
calling for an integrated system that would move people into jobs and
out of poverty
Anti-poverty activists hope the provincial Liberal leadership race and a likely spring election will put a new plan overhaul Ontario’s $8.3 billion welfare system on the political agenda.
Anti-poverty activists hope the provincial Liberal leadership race and a likely spring election will put a new plan overhaul Ontario’s $8.3 billion welfare system on the political agenda.
The long-awaited report by Ontario’s social assistance review commission, released Wednesday,
calls for a simpler, more effective and accountable program that helps
more people, including the disabled, move into jobs and out of poverty.
The commission,
established in November 2010 to remove barriers and increase
opportunities for people to work, was part of the McGuinty government’s
2008 poverty reduction strategy.
“The Liberal
leadership is a perfect opportunity to see where the candidates stand,”
said Gail Nyberg of the Daily Bread Food Bank, who chaired a council of
anti-poverty advocates that advised the government on the scope of the
review.
“I think it’s time to
see where all four of the provincial parties stand. And I think it will
help people decide where they will place their vote in a spring election
we all know is coming,” she added.
Central to the
report’s 108 recommendations by commissioners Frances Lankin and Munir
Sheikh is a proposed merger of Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario
Disability Support Program (ODSP) into a single program to be delivered
locally by municipalities, which already administer Ontario Works.
The commissioners
believe municipalities are better equipped to run the new job-focused
program because they have connections to local employers and already
administer other supports people on welfare need such as child care,
housing, settlement and addiction services.
“This report charts a
new course for social assistance in Ontario, a course designed to
support all recipients to participate in the workforce to the maximum of
their abilities and to guarantee income security for those who cannot
work,” says the report, entitled “Brighter Prospects: Transforming
Social Assistance in Ontario.”
The new program would
consolidate more than 240 different rates and more than 50 children’s
benefits into a single standard rate for adults. The new rate would be
calculated to reflect the need for adequacy, fairness between those on
assistance and low-wage workers, and financial incentive.
When fully
implemented, the 183-page report calls for disability, child and health
benefits to be moved out of social assistance and made available to all
low-income Ontarians.
But in the meantime, a
disability supplement for those who meet the current definition of
disability under ODSP, as well as a children’s and sole-support parent’s
supplement, would be available through social assistance to ensure no
one is worse off, it says.
As a “down payment on
adequacy,” the report recommends an immediate $100-a-month rate increase
for single people on OW who receive the lowest monthly rate of $599.
It also calls for a
monthly earnings exemption of $200 instead of the current 50-cent claw
back on every dollar earned. And it recommends asset limits for OW to be
raised to ODSP levels of $6,000 for a single person and $7,500 for a
couple.
But a group
representing disabled people on welfare says the report does little to
improve incomes for them and may make life more difficult if a special
dietary allowance worth up to $250 per month and a $100 work-related
benefit are eliminated, as recommended.
The ODSP Action
Committee is also worried about the report’s call for disabled people to
develop employment plans or risk losing benefits.
“How realistic is it
that employers are suddenly going to hire many people with disabilities
and offer all the accommodations they need?” said ODSP recipient Kyle
Vose, 40, who co-chairs the action committee.
Cities have no
experience or expertise in supporting the needs of people with
disabilities, or in helping them to find employment, the group notes.
And it is worried that future provincial governments may cut funding to
municipalities if the local level is running the program.
Ontario Minister of
Community and Social Services John Milloy welcomed the report’s “very
thoughtful vision.” But he said he wants to consult with business and
community leaders, as well as those on social assistance, before moving
to merge ODSP and OW and develop a single new rate structure.
However, he endorses
the commission’s call to help people with disabilities move into the
workforce and will partner with business to champion more hiring of
disabled people.
The province’s
“current economic challenges” make it difficult to immediately raise
single welfare rates by $100 a month, as the commission recommends, he
said. And he questioned the $440 million in administrative and other
savings the commission said would offset the rate hike’s $770 million
cost.
NDP social services critic Cheri Di Novo said her party will be studying the report and calling for action.
Tory social services
critic Toby Barrett supports the commission’s focus on individualized
employment plans for everyone on social assistance but lamented the
McGuinty prorogation, saying it prevents any real discussion or
legislative debate needed to kick-start the reforms.
Who’s on social assistance*
Ontario Works (OW)
• 477,339 individuals, or about 3.6 per cent of the population
• 171,867 are children
• Average age: 36
• 60 per cent of cases are singles
• 30 per cent are single parents
• 3 per cent are couples without children
• 8 per cent are couples with children
• About 75 per cent of children are in families led by single parents
Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
• 415,338 individuals or about 3.1 per cent of the population
• 43
per cent of applicants have a physical disability, 39 per cent have a
mental disability, 18 per cent have a developmental disability
• About 60 per cent of new applicants in 2009-10 were suffering from mental illness
• 59,403 are children
• Average age: 46
• 77 per cent are singles
• 9 per cent are single parents
• 8 per cent are couples without children
• 6 per cent are couples with children
• Just over half of children are in families led by single parents
* As of June 2012
