People relying on disability assistance, income assistance and the senior’s supplement will get a boost in April.
In a Tuesday (March 16) news release, the province said that income assistance and disability assistance recipients will get a permanent $175 per month increase, the third since July 2017. People receiving the senior’s supplement will receive a $50 per month increase, the first since 1987.
The senior’s supplement increase will raise the maximum rate for a single person from $49.30 to $99.30 per month, benefitting up to 20,000 low-income seniors. The senior’s supplement is a provincial top-up to the federal Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement payment.
Individuals on income assistance who live in special care facilities will also have their comforts allowance increase by $20 to $115 per month. The comforts allowance lets individuals buy basic personal items and the increase reflects the rising costs of goods in the time since it was last increased in 2005.
READ MORE: ‘Do our lives count for less?’: COVID-19 exposes cracks in disability aid
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