After 14 years of annual increases to social assistance rates, the provincial government did not include any increases to the Ontario Works (OW) or Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates in the 2019 budget. However, only families with children will see any change in their monthly benefit amounts, due to a very small increase linked to the rate of inflation, of less than $5 per month. With the current rate of inflation, and even including the small increase to the Ontario Child Benefit (OCB), social assistance recipients can buy less this year than they could last year.

The table below shows current Basic Needs and Maximum Shelter amounts for different family types – note that these amounts have not changed since fall 2018. It also shows the previous and current maximum Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) amounts which were increased to account for inflation in July 2019.