When a person living with disabilities receives Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) income support, they have a responsibility to pursue other government benefits that they may be eligible for. ODSP may withhold income support to account for the income an ODSP recipient obtained, or should have obtained, from other government benefit(s). For example, if an ODSP recipient gets $900 in monthly Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits, ODSP withholds or “claws back” $900.
This clawback can have severe financial consequences. A person may owe thousands of dollars in overpayments if ODSP failed to claw back their income support to account for their receipt of other government benefits. In addition, a person’s income support may permanently be reduced every month to account for the income they are expected to receive from other benefits.
But what happens if a person on ODSP receives a parental benefit that was re-directed to them?
The Income Security Advocacy Centre provided support to Waterloo Region Community Legal Services to advocate against deducting a re-directed parental benefit from their client’s monthly ODSP income support.
Find out more about this case and the news story about the client by clicking here.
Find more info about our ongoing legal work in the Litigation section of our website here.