Income Assistance and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)
Public Service Announcement
Income Assistance and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)
If you receive Income Assistance (IA), this is what you need to know when also applying for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB payments):
- If your only income for the last year has been from income assistance payments, you are not eligible for CERB.
- If you earned more than $5,000 in the last 12 months from other employment, you are eligible to apply for CERB.
- People who lost jobs due to COVID-19 are required to apply for CERB before they apply for IA. If you quit your job voluntarily, you are not eligible for CERB.
If you receive CERB and were not eligible to, you will be required to repay the amount you received to the Government of Canada. Be aware that CERB payments will impact your IA payments and are taxable. You should save a portion, as it will affect your taxes in the 2020 tax year.
For the full CERB eligibility requirements set by the Government of Canada, visit https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application/questions...
Income Assistance recipients are required to report all income to their income assistance worker in order to have their May and June assessments processed. Please continue to provide your bank statement, WE Financial VISA, and/or Spirit Account information by email, text or fax to your income assistance worker. If you need to physically drop them off at an Income
Assistance office in your community, you will need to book an appointment with the income assistance worker.
###
Media Contact:
Lucy Aqpik
Communications Specialist
Department of Family Services
867-975-5207
@email