Kendall Worth on yet another case where a caseworker doesn’t believe a doctor’s diagnosis and special diet recommendation. Keep in mind that these doctors who write the special notes have gone to school seven or more years of their lives to study to become doctors! Why do we have a system where this needs to happen?
Community Services giveth and Community Services taketh away. The tiny increases people on income assistance will get next year may push them over the Poverty Reduction Credit threshold. The department says it doesn’t yet know what to do about it, or how many people will be affected.
We like to tell good news stories, and this one by Kendall Worth you don’t want to miss. A young woman on income assistance gets to go to university, and she credits the free bus pass as the reason it all got started.
Kendall Worth reports on some good news for income assistance recipients: as of May 1 you will be able to keep more of your earnings from tips, commissions and other income from self-employment.
Kendall Worth wrote an open letter explaining why people who are actually on social assistance need to be heard by members of the Standing Committee on Community Services.
The Income Assistance policy manual is brutally clear about when you qualify for dental care when you’re on welfare. Don’t bother looking for help if it doesn’t bleed, hurt, or stop you from getting a job. Preventative care isn’t even mentioned in the manual.
The number of people receiving income assistance in Nova Scotia has been steadily decreasing over the last 6 to 7 years, and the Department of Community Services doesn’t seem to know why that is.
This morning Tim Blades, anti-poverty advocate, member of BRAG and CASAR, and NS Advocate author, spoke truth to power about the Community Services’ Employment Support and Income Assistance program, better known as welfare or income assistance. Tim did so at Law Amendments, while the Financial Measures Act (this year’s budget) was under the microscope. And oh boy, did he ever tell them a thing or two!
In 2019 all income assistance recipients in Nova Scotia stand to lose a good chunk of buying power to inflation. In 2020, when people on income assistance finally get a raise, that raise in most cases gets eaten up by inflation, and then some.
In other news, Community Services spent millions less on welfare payments last year than it anticipated.
Stella Lord, of the Community Society to End Poverty in Nova Scotia, writes on this year’s budget, and welfare transformation. “nstead of punitive regulations and an outdated categorical budget deficit model that pre-defines “need” but keeps people constantly “in need,” we require a social safety net and service-delivery model worthy of the name. How about one that rests on social justice, human rights, and community well-being?”