Dear Community Partner,

The Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation (MSDSI) has made some changes which, starting on October 1^st, will impact some PWD and income assistance recipients. Employment Insurance (EI) maternity and parental benefits and EI benefits for parents caring for critically ill children will now be exempt. This means that these benefits will not be deducted from their assistance cheques.

The Province has posted a news release about this change on its website: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016SDSI0060-001817. DABC sees this as a positive change, which will benefit families across BC.

If you have any questions about the information in this community update, please contact our Advocacy Access department at 604-872-1278 (toll-free: 1-800-663-1278), or email feedback@disabilityalliancebc.therightfitbc.org.

The Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation has made the following changes:

• Increased the asset limit for single persons from $5,000 to $100,000. Couples where both adults have PWD now have a $200,000 asset limit, up from $10,000. This means people receiving PWD can have these amounts in savings and still be eligible for benefits.

• Exempted gifts, including recurring gifts, as income. “Exempted gifts” means that gifts will not effect your cheque; for example, you could receive $50 a month from a family member or friend and it will not make any difference to your assistance.

• Exempted education and training allowances, scholarships, grants and bursaries (student loans are still only exempt up to the amount of the student’s education and daycare costs). This means that people receiving PWD will be able to receive training allowances etc. without it effecting their cheques.

• Removed the annual $8,000 “independent living” spending limit on trusts. This means that people who hold trusts can now take out as much as they want every year.

The Province announced yesterday that it will implement an Annualized Earnings Exemption (AEE) model in January 2015. This means that the $800 monthly earnings exemption that PWD recipients are eligible for will be calculated over the year ($9,600) rather than the month. This will provide much more flexibility and choice and is a positive change. If you have any questions about this, please call Robin Loxton at 604-872-1278 or 1-800-663-1278.

For more information, please visit this link: http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2014/12/flexibility-helps-people-with-disabilities-earn.html