Question Period Note: Survey on Savings for Persons with Disabilities.

A Statistics Canada survey released on April 1, 2022 shows that almost half of eligible individuals who had not opened a Registered Disability Savings Plan had never heard of the program.

• No government has ever done more to help Canadians with disabilities than this government.

• Registered Disability Savings Plans are an integral component to ensuring the financial security of persons with disabilities.

• We have committed to releasing Canada’s first ever Disabilities Inclusion Action Plan, which will be the most ambitious and meaningful approach ever to transforming the lives of Canadians with disabilities.

• Take up of RDSPs is growing over time and supporting increased participation is a priority.

• As part of the Action Plan, we continue to invest in outreach efforts to support awareness, and have simplified processes to make it easier than ever to apply for the program. We will continue to identify opportunities to promote access for all eligible persons.

The Canada Disability Savings Program (CDSP), which comprises the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), and the Canada Disability Savings Bond (CDSB) and Grant (CDSG), was introduced in December 2008 to encourage long-term savings to support the financial security of persons with severe and prolonged disabilities and their families.

As of the end of July 2022, RDSP assets were worth more than $8.45 billion. Since implementation of the program, 249,936 registered plans have been opened, into which the Government has made statutory payments through the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the amount of $3.77 billion in Grants and $1.63 billion in Bonds.

Though steady growth in demand has occurred since 2008, a large percentage of residents in Canada approved for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) and under age 49, have not opened an RDSP. In 2021-2022, ESDC in collaboration with Statistics Canada, committed to investigate why eligible persons had not opened an RDSP through a survey, entitled, “Survey on Savings for Persons with Disabilities.” The survey found that residents in Canada eligible for the RDSP lack information about the savings program, with many respondents not even aware that it exists, and a substantial portion having indicated they did not have enough information or money to open a plan. Of those eligible who had heard of the RDSP, most had learned about RDSPs through government documentation, followed by friends or relatives, and financial advisors/ institutions. Of particular note, survey respondents with household incomes less than $20K, those with lower levels of education, and those who identified as Indigenous were less likely to know or have heard about RDSPs.

These findings along with additional efforts are helping to inform program improvements, including how to raise awareness and increase uptake. CDSP currently has an outreach strategy in place to help create awareness and enhance understanding of RDSPs, the grant and bond. This includes developing promotional materials, supporting the annual distribution of letters to individuals who have been DTC approved but who have not opened an RDSP, as well as annual Statements of Entitlement for the CDSB, and through information sessions, engaging with persons with disabilities and their families and support networks. In addition, the program recently introduced changes to its application process to address barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing financial institutions to open a plan. Financial institutions are now permitted to accept the use of alternate forms of consent (i.e. electronic signatures) on CDSP forms, which makes it easier for individuals to open a plan and apply for the CDSB and CDSG, as the process can be completed virtually.

These activities are helping to increase RDSP take-up, and ongoing efforts are made to increase awareness of the RDSP, particularly among those populations identified in the survey as less likely to be aware of the program.

Among respondents who were aware of the program, a lack of information or money to save were the main reasons for not opening a plan.

The department continues to explore innovative ways to inform Canadians with disabilities and their families of the program, and to make it easier for them to open a plan.