– Massive Cuts to Legal Aid Funding Also Announced –
The 2019/2020 Ontario Budget was announced today, and creates even more uncertainty for people who receive benefits from the Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) system.
While the Budget is short on details about changes to social assistance, it confirms many of the reforms that government has already announced. What is new is the government’s forecast of $1 billion in savings from these reforms:
“Reforming the social assistance system by simplifying the rate structure, reducing administration, cutting unnecessary rules, and providing greater opportunities to achieve better employment outcomes for social assistance recipients, resulting in estimated annual savings of over $1 billion at maturity” (p.9). …
I started to think of the impacts on clients that I serve, while more needs to be flushed out, its clear that there are some. It would be useful at least for me to share descriptions of the how impacts are going.
For some, positive, others negative. People with very small hours working they may gain as can earn 6,000 in a year, but for people working full time - in small wage jobs likely strong discouragement to work, despite the key messages of the government to encourage work.
It will be important to hear from a disability and community inclusion perspective, what is happening in real time, to individuals.