Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In 2018, the Ontario government announced plans to reform social assistance with the objective of helping people find and keep jobs. While the government has repealed some income support policy changes, there are lesser known changes in the employment and training side of social assistance.

Ontario municipalities are currently responsible for delivering employment and training services for social assistance recipients. The reforms would integrate and transfer responsibility to Service System Managers across 15 regions in the province. A competitive process will select the organizations—be they municipalities, non-profit or for-profit entities. This represents a significant shift from how these services are currently delivered, and enables private service providers to enter the service delivery landscape.

For those who may not benefit from traditional skills training until other issues are addressed, the government is proposing “life stabilization” programming (e.g., through referrals to health services one may need). Although this is an important part of the reform plans, little detail is available on the implementation of such programming.

The paper argues the proposed transformation does not respond to the root causes leading people to require support from Ontario Works (e.g., labour market changes, increasing housing costs, prevalence of mental health illnesses amongst people living in poverty). Lessons learned from other jurisdictions demonstrate that it is unlikely that the proposed changes will lead to the types of outcomes the province is looking for. Unless the government addresses some key considerations, these changes could have unintended consequences, for government, service providers, and social assistance recipients.