Every year in the fall, ISAC reviews the new provincial social assistance rates and releases an updated “OW & ODSP Rates and the Ontario Child Benefit” rates sheet.
Though the look of the rates sheets may have changed over the years, unfortunately social assistance rates themselves have barely inched up or have stayed the same.
Here are some of the more recent rates sheets we’ve released, in reverse chronological order (2021, 2020, etc.) These links open to PDF documents; you can find different document formats and French language translations in our online Publications library here.
- Rates Sheet 2021
- Rates Sheet 2020
- March 2020 Update to Rates in lieu of Rates Sheet 2019 Note from the March 2020 Update: “After 14 years of annual increases to social assistance rates, the provincial government did not include any increases to the Ontario Works (OW) or Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates in the 2019 budget. However, families with children will see any change in their monthly benefit amounts, due to a very small increase linked to the rate of inflation, of less than $5 per month.”
- Rates Sheet 2018
- Rates Sheet 2017
- Rates Sheet 2016
- Rates Sheet 2015
These rates sheets show just how little movement there’s been on increasing the rates for years. They also show what we’ve been hearing from our clients and community members: People receiving social assistance have been asked to live on far too little income for far too long.
It’s time to raise the rates.