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Prince Edward Island

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Last updated: March 2026

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:

Prince Edward Island’s social assistance program

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 the total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.

Prince Edward Island delivers two programs: The Social Assistance Program and AccessAbility Supports (formerly Disability Support Program).

Social Assistance Program

The Social Assistance Program delivers benefits on a case-by-case basis to residents who meet the eligibility requirements. The amount of financial assistance available varies depending on the individual’s circumstances, such as the number of dependants in the household and whether they are a homeowner. Assistance may include help with food and shelter costs, personal expenses, medical, optical care, and funeral costs.

Since June 2018, the program has seen increases in income and asset exemptions as well as rate adjustments to provide additional financial assistance to its clients. Moreover, the program has been focusing more on supporting clients to transition to work.

AccessAbility Supports

AccessAbility Supports (AAS) replaced the former Disability Support Program in July 2018 with expanded supports. Under AAS, people with disabilities (physical, intellectual, neurological, sensory, or mental health) can access the supports they need to achieve full citizenship by enabling social inclusion and economic participation.

Supports are identified through individualized case plans. These plans take into account the results of a capability assessment tool that help to better understand how disability affects activities of daily living to ensure appropriate support is provided.

There are five areas of support available:

  1. Personal Supports
    These supports help with personal daily living. Examples include life skills training, technical aids and assistive devices, in-home supports, or personal care workers.
  2. Housing Supports
    Independent living can be supported by providing funding to a caregiver for daily supervision and guidance in a community-based residential setting or financial help for home and vehicle modifications.
  3. Community Supports
    These supports help active participation in the community. Examples include assistance with finding or keeping a job, supporting youth transitioning from the education system to the workforce, and enabling active participation in the community.
  4. Caregiver Supports
    These supports provide help for family members or caregivers. Examples of supports include respite for caregivers to allow time for breaks to recharge, or support to provide supervision for adults who are unable to stay home alone safely so that caregivers can go to work or school.
  5. Financial Supports
    Assured Income is the financial assistance component of AAS for eligible clients. It covers basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, and household and personal supplies. Previously, if a person with a disability required financial assistance, the individual would have needed to apply to the Social Assistance Program.

These supports are not meant to duplicate or replicate existing services.

For the purposes of AAS, “person with a disability” means a person who has a substantial physical, intellectual, sensory, neurological, or mental impairment that (i) is continuous or recurrent, (ii) is expected to last for at least one year, and (iii) has a direct and cumulative effect on, and results in a substantial restriction in, the person’s ability to function in their home, the community, or a workplace.

How many people claim social assistance?

On average, there were 6,200 cases (family units and unattached single adults) receiving social assistance in Prince Edward Island during the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Among the cases, 56 per cent (3,479) received The Social Assistance Program and 44 per cent (2,721) received AccessAbility Supports (AAS).

Social Assistance had just over 5,700 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children).

The total number of cases increased, on average, by 515 in 2024-25. This increase came from both programs, with 49 per cent (251) coming from the Social Assistance Program and 51 per cent (264) from AAS.

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

Social Assistance Program

On average, there were over 3,400 cases and 5,700 beneficiaries in Prince Edward Island’s Social Assistance Program during 2024-25. Both numbers increased by about 8 and 7 per cent from the previous year.

Over the long term, these numbers fell in the late 1990s and early 2000s and have since stabilized, apart from a brief dip during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 1PE: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program in Prince Edward Island, 1996-97 to 2024-25

AccessAbility Supports

In 2024-25, on average, over 2,700 cases received support through AAS.

The number of cases has risen gradually since its introduction in 2001-02, with, on average, 11 per cent (264) more cases in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.

Figure 2PE: Yearly cases of AAS in Prince Edward Island, 2001-02 to 2024-25
Download the data in a spreadsheet

What proportion of the population receives social assistance?

In 2024-25, on average, 5.9 per cent of people in Prince Edward Island under 65 received the Social Assistance Program or AccessAbility Supports, which is 1 in 17.

The proportion of the Social Assistance Program beneficiaries has decreased over time from a high of 5.8 per cent to a low of 3.6 per cent in 2021-22. Since then, it has increased marginally to 4.0 per cent in 2024-25.

The proportion of cases under 65 receiving AAS, on average, has increased slowly over time to 1.9 per cent in 2024-25.

Figure 3PE: Yearly beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program and cases of AAS as a proportion of the under-65 population of Prince Edward Island, 2001-02 to 2024-25

Who is receiving social assistance?

This section examines disaggregated data on cases by household type and adult beneficiaries by age group.

Download the data in a spreadsheet

Household type

In 2024-25, on average, the majority of cases of social assistance among households were unattached singles for both the Social Assistance Program and AccessAbility Supports, representing nearly 2,475 cases for the Social Assistance Program and over 2,471 cases for AccessAbility Supports, respectively. On average, single parents had the second-largest number of Social Assistance cases, representing 676 cases, and couples without children had the second-largest number of AccessAbility Supports cases, representing 140 cases.

Additional disaggregated data on the number of beneficiaries by household type for each program is available for download here.

Figure 4PE: Cases of the Social Assistance Program by household in Prince Edward Island, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 5PE: Cases of AAS by household in Prince Edward Island, 2021 to 2024-25

Age of adult beneficiaries

From 2021 to 2024-25, the most common age group among adult beneficiaries in both the Social Assistance Program and AAS was consistently 30-54. Its share remained stable for both programs, except for a decline in 2024-25 for those receiving the Social Assistance Program.

Adults aged 55–65 were the second most frequent group of Social Assistance beneficiaries; their share peaked in 2021–22 and has since slightly decreased. Those aged 18–29 followed as the third most prevalent, maintaining a stable share over time.

Within the AAS program, those aged 18–29 were the second most frequent group, followed by those 55–65. Both groups have seen consistent stability in their respective shares.

The least common group in both programs was over 65. Its share has trended slightly upward for both programs.

Figure 6PE: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program by age group in Prince Edward Island, 2021 to 2024-25
Figure 7PE: Percentage of adults receiving AAS by age group in Prince Edward Island, 2021 to 2024-25
Download the data in a spreadsheet

Access to data

The data on social assistance recipients in Prince Edward Island 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 (Social Assistance Program) and cases (AAS) by gender;
  5. Single households by gender;
  6. Adult beneficiaries by age group; and
  7. Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Download the data in a spreadsheet

Data notes

  • The yearly social assistance data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
  • The Disability Support Program was introduced in 2001-02. In July 2018, it was expanded and became AccessAbility Supports.
  • Social Assistance Program beneficiary figures for the years 1996-97 to 2003-04 are not available.
  • The disaggregated Social Assistance Program and AccessAbility Supports data (by household and gender) for 2020-21 reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries on March 31, 2021. Data from 2021-22 onward are fiscal year averages.
  • For 2019-20, the number of Social Assistance Program beneficiaries is for March 2020 and is not a yearly fiscal average as previously reported.
  • The unattached singles cases of AccessAbility Supports include the following child cases (0-17 year-olds): 402 in 2020-21, 436 in 2021-22, and 484 in 2022-23, 564 in 2023-24, and 666 in 2024-2025.
  • The gender of two Social Assistance Program cases and two beneficiaries in 2021 was unknown as well as one case and one beneficiary in 2021-22.
  • While the gender distribution of Social Assistance Program and AAS beneficiaries and cases is typically balanced between males and females, the gender of single households reveals a more pronounced gender pattern. Typically, unattached singles are predominantly male, while single parents are primarily female.
  • The variable “adult by age group” does not include child cases due to age range, as it does not include those who are 17 or younger.
  • The methodology for reporting employment income within the AccessAbility Supports Program has been revised. In previous years, the percentage of clients with employment income was calculated by dividing the number of clients reporting employment income by the total number of clients on the program. For the 2024-25 period, however, the calculation will now focus solely on clients receiving Assured Income (AI) supports, rather than including all AAS clients. The 2022-23 figure was revised to account for the updated calculation methodology. The AAS program includes child files and files for clients receiving only disability-related supports, where eligibility is determined using line 236. Employment income is recorded exclusively for clients receiving Assured Income.
  • From 2024-25 onward, age groups were redefined as 18-29, 30-54, 55-65, and over 65. Previous data on adult beneficiaries by age group was revised to maintain consistency across reporting years.
  • The numbers do not include First Nations living on reserves.
  • Information about how the data is gathered.
Download the data in a spreadsheet

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