Question Period Note: One-Time Grant (OTG) for Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Recipients who Received Pandemic Benefits

What is the Government doing to help low-income seniors who have lost or had their GIS reduced because of emergency benefits, to ensure they have the support they need?

• Service Canada continues to support seniors ensuring they receive the benefits to which they are entitled.

• A one-time payment was provided to help alleviate financial hardship to seniors whose GIS benefits decreased as a result of COVID recovery benefits.

• Earlier payments were issued in March to seniors facing severe financial hardship. The remaining payments were issued the week of April 19, 2022.

• To ensure pandemic benefits received in 2021 and 2022 would not impact future GIS entitlement, the government tabled Bill C-12 which passed on March 3, 2022.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) provides financial assistance to seniors who have little or no income other than the OAS pension.

The amount a beneficiary is entitled to receive is reviewed every year, effective in July, and is based on an individual’s net income in the previous calendar year, or the combined net income in the case of a couple. Therefore, GIS payments can increase, decrease or even cease according to reported changes in annual net income.

Using income information from an individual’s federal Income Tax and Benefit Return or income information received directly from the individual, Service Canada reviews the entitlement for the GIS and if the individual is still entitled, benefits are automatically renewed.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) are defined as taxable income under the Income Tax Act and are therefore considered income for GIS purposes.

In response to seniors whose GIS was impacted as a result of these benefits, the 2021 Economic Fiscal Update proposed a one-time payment to alleviate the financial hardship of seniors who qualified for CERB or the CRB in 2020 and subsequently experienced a decrease in GIS.

• 1,285 expedited payments were issued manually between March 18 and March 25.
• 211,831 payments were issued during the week of April 19.
• In total, about $721.4M will have been issued to 213,116 individuals between March and April 2022.

The Government tabled Bill C-12, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (Guaranteed Income Supplement), to exclude any income received under CERB, CRB, CRCB, CRSB, and the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit for the purposes of calculating the amount of GIS and Allowance payable beginning in July 2022. The Bill received Royal Assent on March 3, 2022.

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