The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory.
In this section you will find:
Newfoundland and Labrador’s social assistance program (description)
Social assistance is the income program of last resort. It is intended for households who have exhausted all other means of financial support. Every province and territory has its own social assistance program(s), and no two are the same. For modelling of total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, social assistance is referred to as Income Support (IS).
IS provides financial benefits and other services to eligible low-income people to assist in meeting daily living expenses. Basic benefits include a family and individual benefit (to assist with expenses such as food, clothing, personal care, household maintenance, and utilities) and a shelter benefit (to assist with rent, mortgage costs, utilities, and municipal taxes).
Depending on individual circumstances, recipients may also qualify for non-basic benefits such as municipal tax payments, prescription glasses, and special diets. Recipients can also receive further benefits outside of IS by other departments and agencies, such as a prescription drug card, medical transportation, and medical equipment.
Data on disability-specific benefits to IS recipients, such as the Personal Care Allowance, was not available because it is collected by the department of Health and Community Services. The Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development, which collects data on IS cases and beneficiaries, does not have reliable data on the cases and beneficiaries of IS who have disabilities.
How many people claim social assistance?
In 2022-23, there were on average about 20,500 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and just under 29,000 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Income Support (IS) program.
The number of cases and beneficiaries fell consistently from the mid-1990s through to the mid-2010s, followed by a period of stability up until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After two years of decreases in 2020-2021 and 2021-22, cases and beneficiaries of IS increased in 2022-23 by just under 3 per cent each.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Newfoundland and Labrador, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Figure 1NL – Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Income Support (IS) in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1997 to 2022
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2022-23, on average, 7.2 per cent of people in Newfoundland and Labrador under 65 received Income Support (IS), which is one in 14. This is a slight increase from 2021-22. On average, however, the proportion has consistently fallen. From a high of 14.4 per cent in 1996-97, the proportion has decreased by around half since.
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2022, for 2022-23), whereas social assistance beneficiary data is a fiscal year average (April to March).
Figure 2NL: Yearly beneficiaries of IS as a proportion of the under-65 population in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1996-97 to 2022-23
Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?
This section examines the following disaggregated data:
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached singles and single parents;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Cases receiving employment income
Note that the figures below represent percentages but total numbers are available.
Household type
In 2022-23, unattached singles were the majority household of both cases and beneficiaries of IS representing, on average, about 76 per cent of cases and over 53 per cent of beneficiaries. Single parents were second with more than 17 per cent of cases and just over 33 per cent of beneficiaries.
Figure 3NL: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of IS by household in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries by gender
In 2022-23, on average, IS beneficiaries were almost equally split between female and male recipients, with slightly more males.
Note that the “X” gender category (gender option is neither male nor female) is not included in the figure below because fewer than 0.1 per cent of IS beneficiaries identified as such.
Figure 4NL: Percentage of beneficiaries of IS by gender in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Gender of heads of household
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of unattached singles receiving IS were male, representing almost 59 per cent. In contrast, the majority of heads of single parent households were female, representing 90 per cent.
Figure 5NL: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving IS by gender in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Age of adult beneficiaries
In 2022-23, on average, the most common age group of adult beneficiaries receiving IS was 50-59, representing over 26 per cent, followed by 30-39 and 40-49, each representing under 22 per cent. The least common was people over 60, representing 13 per cent.
Figure 6NL: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of IS by age category in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Employment income
In Newfoundland and Labrador, employment income is defined as salary and wages, including income obtained from self-employment.
In 2022-23, on average, 1.6 per cent of IS cases had employment income, with small increases in the previous two years.
Figure 7NL: Percentage of IS cases with employment income in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Newfoundland and Labrador is available for download, including:
- Total cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached single and single parent households;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- The data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
- Prior to the 2022 edition of Social Assistance Summaries, social assistance data for Newfoundland and Labrador was converted from calendar-year average to fiscal year average for the whole time series.
- Beneficiaries whose gender option is neither male nor female are labeled as “X.”
- Data on disability-specific benefits, like the Personal Care Allowance, was not available because it is collected by the department of Health and Community Services. The Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development, which collects data on Income Support cases and beneficiaries, does not have reliable data on the cases and beneficiaries of Income Support who have disabilities.
- There are three First Nations reserves in Newfoundland and Labrador. Conne River is self-governed and operates its own social services programs. Its case and beneficiary numbers are not included in the data. The two other reserves are in Labrador: Natuashish and Sheshatshiu. From April 1, 2016, the delivery of Income Support was devolved to the Innu and statistics for these communities are no longer included in the data.
- Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for Newfoundland and Labrador
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns on social assistance data in Newfoundland and Labrador can be found on the province’s website