Whereas a single person with a disability receives 1,358per month in disability assistance from the provincial government; And whereas the cost of living has increased substantially making it very challenging for a person with a disability to make ends meet: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask that the provincial government review the current assistance rates and increase the assistance amount to no less than 1,800 per month for a single person and that the rate be reviewed annually to keep pace with cost of living increases.
Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction SDPR is committed to assisting persons with disabilities in gaining greater independence and security of income, enhancing well-being, and increasing participation in the community. Cost of living increases and global inflation have disproportionately impacted persons with disabilities, and improving affordability for recipients of income and disability assistance continues to be a priority for the ministry. SDPR is currently leading the cross-government work to update TogetherBC, BCs first poverty reduction strategy, by Spring 2024. As part of this update, the ministry has also undertaken a comprehensive review of our income and disability assistance legislation. This review is an important part of the ministrys ongoing work to improve the BC Employment and Assistance BCEA program to better support British Columbians in need. This work builds on improvements already accomplished over the past six years, including five increases to income and disability rates, raising the total rate for a single on income assistance by 450 and a single on disability assistance by 502 per month. This means we have increased rates for a single person on income assistance by 74 and a single person on disability assistance by 51.