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Ontario

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Total welfare incomes by location

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Last updated: May 2024

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:

Ontario’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 Ontario, social assistance is composed of two programs:

  1. Ontario Works (OW), which provides income and employment assistance to people in financial need; and
  2. Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which is intended to help people with disabilities and their families live as independently as possible, and to reduce or eliminate disability-related barriers to employment.

Both Ontario Works and ODSP provide a range of allowances and benefits.

Ontario Works

Ontario Works includes an amount for shelter and basic needs such as food and clothing. In addition, employment assistance helps clients find, prepare for, and maintain a job.

Ontario Disability Support Program

ODSP income support helps with the cost of basic needs as well as providing certain health- and employment-related benefits.

People with disabilities can also voluntarily access support for employment to prepare for, find, and keep a job. Individuals do not have to receive ODSP income support to be eligible for employment programming.

Under the Ontario Disability Support Program Act, being a person with a disability means:

  • The recipient has a substantial mental or physical impairment that is continuous or recurrent and is expected to last one year or more.
  • The direct and cumulative effect of the recipient’s impairment results in a substantial restriction in their ability to work, care for themselves, or take part in community life.
  • The recipient’s impairment and its likely duration and restrictions have been verified by an approved healthcare professional.

How many people claim social assistance?

In 2022-23, there were, on average, over 585,000 cases (families and single adults) and 882,000 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Ontario’s social assistance programs.

Among the cases, 37 per cent (217,639) were recipients of Ontario Works and 63 per cent (367,828) were recipients of ODSP. And among the beneficiaries, almost 44 per cent (384,274) were recipients of Ontario Works and over 66 per cent (498,057) were recipients of ODSP.

The total number of social assistance cases increased by 24,024 and the beneficiaries increased by 27,332 in 2022-23. These increases in recipients came solely from Ontario Works as both cases and beneficiaries of ODSP decreased.

To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Ontario, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.

Ontario Works

On average, there were just under 218,000 cases receiving Ontario Works in 2022-23, a sharp increase of almost 28,000 from 2021-22. The number of beneficiaries also increased to about 384,000 in 2022-23, over 37,000 more than the previous year.

The number of cases and beneficiaries, on average, increased by 12.7 and 9.8 per cent, respectively. Since 2016-17, both cases and beneficiaries had been decreasing, and, in 2021-22, reached their lowest since we began tracking social assistance numbers in 1996-97.

Figure 1ON: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Ontario Works, 1997-98 to 2022-23

Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)

In 2022-23, there was an average of almost 368,000 cases and 498,000 beneficiaries receiving ODSP. After steadily rising since the early 2000s, both numbers have been decreasing since 2020-21. From the previous year, the number of cases and beneficiaries, on average, decreased by about 3,600 and almost 9,800, respectively.

Figure 2ON: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of ODSP, 1997-98 to 2022-23
Download the data in a spreadsheet

What proportion of the population receives social assistance?

In 2022-23, on average, 7.1 per cent of people in Ontario under 65 received Ontario Works or ODSP, which is about 1 in 14.

The proportion of people under 65 receiving ODSP decreased in 2022-23, which is the third year in a row. Previously, the proportion had increased consistently since 2005-06, reaching a high of 4.3 per cent in 2019-20.

The proportion of Ontario Works beneficiaries decreased steeply from 1997-98 to 2001-02, going from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. Since then, the proportion has stayed in a range between 2.9 per cent and 4.1 per cent. In 2021-22, the average proportion of Ontario Works relative to the under-65 population reached its lowest value of 2.9 per cent, but increased in 2022-23 to 3.1 per cent.

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 3ON: Yearly beneficiaries of Ontario Works and ODSP as a proportion of the under-65 population of Ontario, 1997-98 to 2022-23

Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?

This section examines the following disaggregated data:

Note that the figures below represent percentages but total numbers are available.

Download the data in a spreadsheet

Household type

In 2022-23, on average, unattached singles comprised the majority of social assistance cases among households for both programs, representing over 64 per cent of Ontario Works and over 80 per cent of ODSP. For both programs, single parents were the second largest percentage of cases, representing 28 per cent for Ontario Works and 9 per cent for ODSP.

For Ontario Works, single parent households had the highest proportion of beneficiaries, on average, representing about 46 per cent, followed by unattached singles, representing over 36 per cent. Unattached singles comprised the majority of ODSP beneficiaries, representing more than 59 per cent, followed by single parent households, representing over 17 per cent.

Figure 4ON: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of Ontario Works by household, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries

Figure 5ON: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of ODSP by household, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries by sex

Females made up the majority of Ontario Works beneficiaries, on average, in 2022-23, with over 63 per cent. For ODSP, beneficiaries were almost equally split between males and females.

Figure 6ON: Percentage of beneficiaries of Ontario Works by sex, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Figure 7ON – Percentage of beneficiaries of ODSP by sex, 2020-21 to 2022-23

Sex of heads of household

In 2022-23, on average, the majority of unattached singles receiving Ontario Works were male, representing just under 63 per cent. In contrast, the majority of heads of single parent households were female, representing 93 per cent.

The sex distribution is similar for ODSP in 2022-23. On average, just under 57 per cent of unattached singles were male and almost 88 per cent of heads of single parent households were female.

Figure 8ON: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving Ontario Works by sex, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 9ON: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving ODSP by sex, 2020-21 to 2022-23

Age of adult beneficiaries

In 2022-23, on average, the most common age group of adult beneficiaries receiving Ontario Works was 18-29, closely followed by 30-39, each representing about 29 per cent. The least common was people over 60, representing just over 6 per cent.

For adult beneficiaries receiving ODSP, on average, the most common age group in 2022-23 was 50-59, representing 26 per cent. The least common age was 30-39 with less than 18 per cent.

Figure 10ON: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of Ontario Works by age category, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 11ON: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of ODSP by age category, 2020-21 to 2022-23

Employment income

In Ontario, employment income refers to any employment earnings reported in the most recent income reporting period.

For individuals receiving assistance from Ontario Works and ODSP, recipients are required to report any earnings they or their family members receive during a specific reporting period. The reported income can impact the amount of financial assistance they receive in the following month.

There are two exceptions:

  1. Earnings of children under 18 years of age are fully exempt.
  2. If the primary applicant or their family member is enrolled full-time in high school or postsecondary education, exemptions may apply to their earnings or the family member’s earnings.

In 2022-23, on average, 9 per cent of Ontario Works cases had employment income. Cases receiving ODSP are more likely to have employment income at 10 per cent. Both numbers have steadily increased since 2020-21.

Figure 12ON: Percentage of Ontario Works and ODSP cases with employment income, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Download the data in a spreadsheet

Access to data

The data on social assistance recipients in Ontario is available for download, including:

  1. Total cases and beneficiaries;
  2. Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
  3. Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
  4. Beneficiaries by sex;
  5. Heads of household by sex for unattached single and single parent households;
  6. Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
  7. Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Download the data in a spreadsheet

Data notes

  • The data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
  • The numbers include First Nations living on reserves.
  • Ontario Works was proclaimed on May 1, 1998, and replaced the General Welfare Assistance Act (GWA).
  • Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) was proclaimed on June 1, 1998, and replaced the Family Benefits Act (FBA).
  • Data prior to June 1998 have been adjusted to reflect Ontario Works and ODSP.
  • Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.
Download the data in a spreadsheet

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