Ministry of Human Resources Annual Report, 1997/98

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Ministry Overview

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Mission

The mission of the Ministry of Human Resources is to help people in British Columbia achieve economic security through attachment to the labour market and, when necessary, through income support and related services.

Vision

The ministry’s vision for the future provides a long-term foundation for our values, our goals and our specific plans. Our vision is of a province where:

• people have good income from participation in the labour market;
• the ministry effectively helps people move from welfare to work;
• children are raised in families and supportive communities; and
• all people are able to contribute actively to their communities.

Values

The work of the ministry is carried out by employees who share basic values with the ministry. These values are evident in all our initiatives and in the way each of us carries out our day-to-day work. The ministry values:

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In 1995, the provincial government launched a variety of reforms to British Columbia’s social safety net. The result was a series of programs known collectively as BC Benefits. The changes were designed to protect and support the most vulnerable in society – children, families, seniors and persons with disabilities – and to help those who were able to work to move from welfare to gainful employment. Since their introduction, the programs described in this report have become fully implemented and, as this report shows, have brought the intended results of supporting those in need (particularly families with children), assisting employable people in joining the labour market and reducing the numbers of people dependent on support.

• During 1997-98, the Family Bonus provided support of up to $103 per child each month for 230,000 low and modest income families with 430,000 children.

• BC Benefits supports 36,600 people with disabilities and their dependants.

• Dental and optical benefits are provided for 235,000 children.

• The caseload of income assistance recipients was reduced by 36,000 between December 1995 and February 1998, including a decline of 33 per cent among those aged 19 to 24 years and 20.9 per cent among those aged 25 to 59 years. The number of families with children receiving income assistance declined by 16,400, and the number of children declined by 29,800.

More than two-thirds of ministry’s clients are employable and highly motivated to work. The high proportion of employable clients is a direct result of cutbacks to federal Employment Insurance (EI) programs since 1991, effectively moving the unemployed off the federal system onto the provincial income assistance program. Increasingly, the trend is to treat EI clients and provincial income assistance clients as one population of unemployed whose needs to reattach to the labour market are similar.

BC Benefits Programs

Eligibility for BC Benefits depends on an individual’s or family’s income and assets. Applicants are expected to use all other sources of income and assets before qualifying and, with some exceptions, recipients of income assistance and youth allowances must either be actively searching for employment or be participating in an approved employment-related program.

The ministry looks at several criteria—age, employability, disability, family size—to determine which of the ministry’s assistance programs are most appropriate for the individual or family. Each program is designed to meet the needs of particular types of applicants or particular situations.

Income Support Programs

Training programs which recipients are required to take – Youth Works for those aged 19 to 24 years and Welfare to Work programs for those aged 25 to 59 years – are provided without charge by the Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology. Other income assistance recipients, except those 65 years or older, have the option to take Welfare to Work training.

 

BC Benefit Income Support Rates, Effective August 1997

1. Disability Benefits Level I designation under the BC Benefits Act is given to applicants with temporary disabilities.
2. Disability Benefits Level II designation under the Disability Benefits Program Act is given to applicants with severe, permanent disabilities that require unusual and continuous monthly expenditures for unusual but essential continuous needs.
3. BC Family Bonus - These rates reflect a transfer of income support from BC Benefits to the BC Family Bonus which provides up to $103 per month per child based on income whether from work or from BC Benefits. Consequently, for families of three or more, these rates are $103 per child lower than the rates prior to August 1996.
4. Single parents designated Disability Benefits Level II receive an additional $175 per month.
5. Couples and two-parent families where two members are eligible for Disability Benefits Level II or Seniors Benefits receive an additional $175 per month.

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Income Support for People with Disabilities

Since the introduction of a new broader definition of ‘disability’ in January 1996, the number of benefits cases has grown 30.8 per cent to 30,264 in March 1998. During 1997-98, a designation for those with temporary disabilities was developed under the BC Benefits Acts, Disability Benefits Level I. Those with permanent disabilities receive Disability Benefits Level II under the Disability Benefits Program Act . The graph below shows the caseload for Disability Benefits Level II only. Level II benefits expenditures for 1997-98 totalled $245.27 million.

Seniors Benefits

Benefits are provided to seniors to meet their everyday needs and maintain their independence and dignity. In March 1998, 1,896 seniors received this benefit compared with 1,874 in March 1997.

Hardship Assistance

In October 1995, the hardship caseload was 23,787 and represented 11 per cent of the income assistance caseload. By February 1998, the hardship caseload had declined to 14,659 or about 8.1 per cent of the income assistance caseload. This reduction resulted from improvements in the determination of eligibility, an initiative that began in the previous fiscal year.

During 1997-98, hardship assistance was separated from income assistance in the ministry budget to improve monitoring and management of these expenditures. Net expenditures for 1997-98, after recoveries of repayable benefits, totalled $73.66 million.

Supplemental Allowances – Expenditures (millions)

Family Maintenance

Ministry family maintenance workers help income assistance recipients to obtain maintenance from former spouses. Amendments to BC Benefits legislation came into force in September 1997 authorizing the ministry to take a more proactive role in obtaining maintenance orders on behalf of single parents enrolled in the program. This provides a secure income and allows some participants to leave welfare. In the next phase of the initiative, expected in 1999, maintenance will be paid directly to government and passed on to income support clients as part of their monthly assistance (with $100 of maintenance—$50 for singles—remaining exempt). Assignment of maintenance rights and payments will be a condition of eligibility for assistance. The amendments introduced during 1997-98 produced savings estimated at $1.6 million. Once fully implemented, the assignment of maintenance is expected to save $15.9 million each year.

In May 1997, the federal government introduced new Child Support Guidelines under the federal Divorce Act to help parents, lawyers and judges set consistent child support orders. The ministry’s family maintenance workers were to begin using these guidelines in 1998-99 to help income assistance recipients to obtain reasonable maintenance orders.

At the end of 1997-98, almost 8,000 families on welfare were enrolled in the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program. However, during the year an average of more than 47,000 single parents received assistance each month: about 12,000 of them declared maintenance income in a given month. The objective of the Family Maintenance Program and the new initiatives is to ensure that when families break up, parents still fulfill their responsibility to support their children. During 1997, 3,311 new orders were obtained against delinquent parents. The annual number of new orders has tripled since 1993-94.

Adult Residential Care

The ministry paid $24.3 million to alcohol and drug treatment facilities and long-term care facilities on behalf of income assistance recipients and to income assistance recipients directly during 1997-98.

Temporary Accommodation

The ministry paid emergency shelters $12.4 million during 1997-98 for room and board for transient income assistance recipients or others who were in crisis and required accommodation. In all, there are 34 hostels with a total contracted capacity of 607 beds and seven shelters for accommodating families with a capacity of 96 beds. These resources are located in 26 communities throughout B.C. Annual occupancy rates range between 25 and 100 per cent.

During 1997-98, the ministry set new service standards for hostels to help clients seek permanent accommodation, labour market attachment and community services as needed. The new service standards include telephone access for local calls and access to a newspaper and community referral information. The ministry meets with five other ministries which also provide special needs housing (Employment and Investment, Health, Children and Families, Women’s Equality and Attorney General) to ensure the most efficient and effective use of provincial resources.

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