In this section you will find:
Components of welfare incomes
In Saskatchewan, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for:
- Recurring additional social assistance payments from the province,
- Federal child benefits for households with children, and
- Federal and provincial tax credits and/or benefits.
Together, these components form a household’s total welfare income. Households may receive less if they have income from other sources, or more if they have special health- or disability-related needs.
Table 1SK shows the value of the welfare income components of the four example household types in Saskatchewan in 2024. All four households are assumed to be living in Saskatoon, receiving provincial social assistance starting January 1 and for the entire year, and earning no employment income. The child in the single-parent household is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and 15. Other assumptions for calculating incomes are in the Methodology section.
Table 1SK: Components of welfare incomes for all example households in Saskatchewan, 2024
Total annual welfare incomes in 2024 ranged from $13,402 for the unattached single considered employable to $37,493 for the couple with two children. The income of the unattached single with a disability was $17,373 and that of the single parent with one child was $27,191.
Basic social assistance: Three of the households received benefits from the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program. The unattached single with a disability received benefits from the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program.
The SIS Adult Basic Benefit increased effective May 1, increasing from $345 to $355 per month for the unattached single considered employable and the single parent with one child, and from $690 to $710 for the couple with two children. These amounts represent a 3 per cent increase.
The SIS Shelter Benefit also increased effective May 1, increasing from $630 to $650 per month for the unattached single considered employable, and from $1,030 to $1,065 for the households with children. These amounts also represent a 3 per cent increase.
The SAID Living Income Benefit, which incorporates both basic and shelter benefits, also increased effective May 1, increasing from $1,094 to $1,129 per month, which represents a 3 per cent increase. Given that SAID pays either flat-rate or actual utilities amounts, our calculations also include an average actual utilities amount for 2024 for the unattached single with a disability, as provided by the Ministry of Social Services.
Additional social assistance: The unattached single with a disability received $70 per month ($840 per year) in additional social assistance benefits through the Disability Income Benefit. This amount remained unchanged in 2024.
Federal child benefits: Both households with children received the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which increased with inflation in July from $619.75 to $648.92 per month for a child under six years of age and from $522.92 to $547.50 per month for a child aged six to 17.
Provincial child benefits: Saskatchewan did not have a child benefit program as of 2024.
Federal tax credits/benefits: All four households received the GST/HST credit, which increased with inflation in July. The unattached single households received $332.50 in basic GST/HST credit, the single parent with one child received $665, and the couple with two children received $1,015.
Three households received the GST/HST credit supplement. The unattached single considered employable received $6.37, the unattached single with a disability received $90.91, and the single parent with one child received the maximum amount of $175.
The federal Grocery Rebate, which was provided as a one-time GST/HST credit payment in response to high inflation in 2023, was not available in 2024.
All four households received the federal Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR), previously known as the climate action incentive (CAI). The unattached single households received $734, the single parent with one child received $1,101, and the couple with two children received $1,468. These amounts reflected an increase over 2023.
Provincial tax credits/benefits: All four households received the Saskatchewan Low-Income Tax Credit (SLITC), which increased due to inflation indexing in July. The previous annual amounts of $380 for an individual, an additional $380 for a partner or eligible dependant, and $150 per child (up to two children) were increased to $398 for an individual, an additional $398 for a partner or eligible dependant, and $157 per child (up to two children). Half of the amount for 2023 was delivered in two payments between January and June, and half of the amount for 2024 was delivered in two payments between July and December.
Cost-of-living payments: Several jurisdictions, including the federal government, provided additional payments in 2022 and 2023 related to the increased cost of living resulting from high inflation. While four provincial or territorial jurisdictions continued to provide inflation-related payments in 2024, neither Saskatchewan nor the federal government did so. See the Overview section for more information.
Changes to welfare incomes
Figures 1SK and 2SK show how the total welfare incomes for each of the four example household types in Saskatchewan have changed over time.
Note that the values are in 2024 constant dollars, not current dollars, and are calculated using the Canada Consumer Price Index (CPI). Using constant dollars takes into account the effect of inflation given that inflation reduces current dollar values over time. Also note that using the CPI for Saskatchewan would have resulted in a slightly different trendline.
Figure 1SK: Welfare incomes for example unattached single households in Saskatchewan 1986–2024, in 2024 constant dollars
The total welfare income of the unattached single considered employable stayed relatively constant between 1986 and 2005, with some periods of fluctuation in the mid-1990s. The mid-2000s saw an increasing trend with an outlier peak in 2006 that resulted from increases to both general living allowances and utilities rates. This trend was followed by a gradual decline from 2008 to 2019. A sharp increase in 2020 was the result of increased basic social assistance benefit amounts, the federal climate action incentive, and COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. The removal of pandemic-related payments resulted in a decline in 2021, while the slight rise in 2022 was due to increases in basic social assistance benefits and new inflation-related benefits from both the provincial and federal governments. The modest decline in 2023 resulted from the loss of provincial inflation-related benefits and the impact of high inflation. In 2024, the increase was driven by the new basic social assistance benefit amounts. The total welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was $13,402 in 2024, which is a 0.8 per cent increase compared to 2023, and a 23 per cent increase since the start of the time series, in constant 2024 dollars.
The total welfare income for the unattached single with a disability who qualified for the SAID program has been tracked since the program became available to those living independently in 2013. After increases through to 2015 and declines thereafter until 2019, their income peaked in 2020 due to the introduction of the federal climate action incentive and COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. The decline over the following three years were largely due to the loss of pandemic-related payments and the impact of high inflation. In 2024, the decline was mainly due to the loss of the federal Grocery Rebate. The total welfare income for the unattached single with a disability was $17,373 in 2024, which is a 1 per cent decline compared to 2023, and a 5 per cent decline since 2013, in constant 2024 dollars.
Figure 2SK: Welfare incomes for example households with children in Saskatchewan 1986–2024, in 2024 constant dollars
The welfare incomes of both households with children followed a similar trajectory across the time series. Declines from 1986 through to 2005, with some fluctuations in the late 1990s, were followed by a general increase through to 2017; there were some sharper fluctuations between 2005 and 2009, including an increase in 2006 that resulted from increases to both general living allowances and utilities rates. Increases after 2015 were largely the result of changes to federal child benefits. After slight decreases from 2017 to 2019, the steep rises in 2020 resulted from new basic social assistance benefit amounts, the federal climate action incentive, and COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. Declines in 2021 and 2022 were due to the loss of pandemic-related payments and to the impact of high inflation, while in 2023 were largely the result of the loss of inflation-related payments. In 2024, the slight increases were the result of higher basic social assistance benefit amounts.
In 2024, the welfare income of the single parent with one child was $27,191, which is a 0.7 per cent increase compared to 2023, and a 9 per cent increase since the start of the time series, in constant 2024 dollars. The welfare income of the couple with two children was $37,493, which is a 1 per cent increase compared to 2023, and a 2 per cent increase since the start of the time series, in constant 2024 dollars.
Adequacy of welfare incomes
The adequacy of a household’s total welfare income can be assessed by comparing it to established thresholds of poverty and/or low income.
Two measures of poverty are commonly used in Canada:
- The Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line, identifies households whose disposable income is less than the cost of a “basket” of goods and services that represents a basic standard of living.
- The Deep Income Poverty (MBM-DIP) threshold identifies households whose disposable income is less than 75 per cent of the MBM.
Two measures of low income are also commonly used:
- The Low Income Measure (LIM) identifies households whose income is substantially below what is typical in society (i.e., less than half of the median income).
- The Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) identifies households that are likely to spend a disproportionately large share of their income on food, clothing, and shelter.
Note that MBM thresholds vary by province and community size, and LICO thresholds vary by community size. As such, we use the thresholds for the province’s largest city, Saskatoon, in the analysis below. Note also that we use after-tax LIM and LICO thresholds, and that the LIM thresholds for 2024 are estimates based on increasing the 2023 thresholds to account for inflation.
Also note that none of the poverty or low-income measures currently in use in Canada accounts for the higher cost of living faced by people with disabilities and that these additional costs are not reflected in our analysis.
More information about the thresholds is available in the Methodology section.
A table containing comparisons of the welfare incomes of the four example household types in Saskatchewan with all four poverty/low-income thresholds is available for download.
Poverty threshold comparisons
The welfare incomes of all four example household types in Saskatchewan were below Canada’s Official Poverty Line (MBM) in 2024, and all four were also below the Deep Income Poverty threshold (MBM-DIP). This means that all four households were not only living in poverty in 2024, but in deep poverty.
Figures 3SK and 4SK compare 2024 welfare incomes for the four example household types to the 2024 MBM and MBM-DIP thresholds for Saskatoon.
Figure 3SK: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example unattached single households in Saskatchewan, 2024
The unattached single considered employable had the lowest income relative to the poverty thresholds. Their income was $7,235 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $14,114 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 65 per cent of the MBM-DIP and only 49 per cent of the MBM.
The unattached single with a disability had an income that was $3,264 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $10,142 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 84 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 63 per cent of the MBM.
Note that the poverty experienced by people with disabilities is underrepresented because neither the MBM nor the MBM-DIP accounts for the additional costs associated with disability. See the Methodology section for more information.
Figure 4SK: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example households with children in Saskatchewan, 2024
The welfare income of the single parent with one child was highest relative to the Poverty Line among the four example households. Their income was $1,994 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $11,722 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 93 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 70 per cent of the MBM.
The welfare income of the couple with two children was $3,781 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $17,538 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 91 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 68 per cent of the MBM.
Low-income threshold comparisons
The welfare incomes of the example households were also below the low-income thresholds, with one exception, as shown in the table linked below.
The lowest income relative to these thresholds was that of the unattached single considered employable, whose total welfare income was 43 per cent of the LIM and 61 per cent of the LICO. The highest was that of the single parent with one child, whose welfare income was 62 per cent of the LIM and 102 per cent of the LICO.
The unattached single with a disability had a welfare income of 56 per cent of the LIM and 79 per cent of the LICO. The couple with two children had a welfare income that was 60 per cent of the LIM and 91 per cent of the LICO.
The LIM and LICO thresholds used are for after-tax income, as noted above.
Changes to adequacy of welfare incomes
Figures 5SK and 6SK show the total welfare incomes of each of the four example household types in Saskatchewan as a percentage of the Market Basket Measure (MBM) for Saskatoon, starting in 2002.
The black line at the top of each graph (i.e., the 100 per cent threshold) represents Canada’s Official Poverty Line. This means that the graphs show how far below the Poverty Line the four households’ total welfare incomes have been in each year over the past 23 years.
The grey line indicates the Deep Income Poverty threshold, which is 75 per cent of the MBM. The graphs therefore also show the relationship between total welfare incomes and deep poverty in each year over the past 23 years.
Three trendlines for each household are shown in the graphs. These lines illustrate the relationship between welfare incomes and changes made to the MBM due to “rebasing.” The two rebasings, occurring in 2008 and 2018, are indicated with a dotted vertical line. Rebasing updates the measure, including the items and costs included in the basket, to better reflect contemporary circumstances and typically creates a higher poverty threshold than that of a previous base. The trendlines demonstrate changes to household poverty levels within the years in which each base is applied. A trendline rise within those periods indicates an improvement in a household’s level of poverty while a decline indicates a deepening of their poverty. For the years in which rebasing took place (2008 and 2018), we include the percentage of welfare income relative to the MBM using both the previous and the new base to show how rebasing affects adequacy.
Note that fluctuations in the graph trendlines are due to a combination of changes in welfare incomes and the cost of living. Both factors must be considered when analyzing trends.
Figure 5SK: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM for example unattached single households in Saskatchewan, 2002–2024
The welfare income of the unattached single considered employable began the time series at 48 per cent of the Poverty Line; their income increased in 2006 before decreasing again in 2007. Through the 2008 to 2017 period, their income relative to the Poverty Line slightly declined. After a drop in 2018 due to rebasing, their income rose to 50 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2020 and declined in 2023 to 48 per cent. Their income ended the time series in 2024 at 49 per cent.
Overall, the welfare income of the unattached single considered employable ended the time series 1 per cent lower than it started in 2002. This means no progress was made on improving the poverty experienced by households in these circumstances across the time series. As well, their income would have been below the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the entire time series, meaning that households in these circumstances would have consistently lived in deep poverty for the last 23 years.
The welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving SAID benefits started its abbreviated time series in 2013 (when the program became available to those living independently) at 77 per cent of the Poverty Line, increasing to a high of 82 per cent in 2017. With a decline after the 2018 rebasing, their income increased in 2020, then declined again in 2023 to 63 per cent. Their income ended the time series in 2024 at 63 per cent of the Poverty line.
Overall, the welfare income of the unattached single with a disability was 14 percentage points lower relative to the Poverty Line in 2024 than it was in 2013, which represents a deepening of the poverty experienced by households in these circumstances over the past 12 years. It is important to note that their income would have started the time series above the Deep Income Poverty threshold but would have fallen below the threshold after 2018, meaning that households in these circumstances would have lived in deep poverty for the last seven years.
Figure 6SK: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM for example households with children in Saskatchewan, 2002–2024
The welfare income of the single parent with one child started the time series at 71 per cent of the Poverty Line and decreased slightly until 2006, when it increased to 81 per cent; after the 2008 rebasing, their income hovered around the Deep Income Poverty threshold until 2017. After the 2018 rebasing, their income dropped relative to the Poverty Line before seeing a sharp increase in 2020 that was followed by two years of declines and one year of stasis. The welfare income of this household ended the time series in 2024 at 70 per cent of the Poverty Line.
Overall, the welfare income of the single parent with one child was 1 percentage point lower in 2024 than it was in 2002 relative to the Poverty Line. This indicates a very slight deepening of the poverty experienced by households in these circumstances across the time series. Their income would have also been below the Deep Income Poverty threshold in all but eight of the last 23 years, meaning that households in these circumstances would have lived in deep poverty for the majority of the time series.
The welfare income of the couple with two children followed a similar trajectory, starting the time series at 74 per cent of the Poverty Line, increasing to 79 per cent in 2006, then hovering just under the Deep Income Poverty threshold from the 2008 rebasing until 2016. After the 2018 rebasing, their income dropped below the MBM-DIP again, followed by an increase in 2020 and three years of declines to 67 per cent in 2023. In 2024, their welfare income ended the time series in 2024 at 68 per cent of the Poverty Line.
Overall, the welfare income of the couple with two children ended the time series 6 percentage points lower in 2024 than it was in 2002 relative to the Poverty Line. This indicates a deepening of the poverty experienced by households in these circumstances across the time series. Their income would have also been below the Deep Income Poverty threshold in all but three of the last 23 years, meaning that households in these circumstances would have lived in deep poverty for almost all of the last two decades.
Access to data
The data for Saskatchewan is available for download, including:
- Components of welfare income for all households.
- Welfare incomes in 2024 constant dollars over time for all households.
- Welfare incomes in current dollars over time for all households.
- Adequacy of welfare incomes: a comparison of each household’s welfare income with all four poverty and low-income thresholds.
- Adequacy over time: each household’s welfare income relative to the Official Poverty Line (MBM) from 2002–2024.