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:
New Brunswick’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.
In New Brunswick, social assistance is delivered under two programs:
- Transitional Assistance Program (TAP); and
- Extended Benefits Program (EBP).
A third program, the Interim Assistance Program, was terminated in 2010.
Transitional Assistance Program (TAP)
Transitional assistance is intended for individuals who are employable as well as those requiring support and intervention to become employable. Within TAP, two rate categories exist:
- Transitional Assistance Program: Multi-person units and single adults with a designation are provided assistance under this category; and
- Transitional Assistance Program – Single Employable: Single adult units who do not have a designation and are not certified as blind, deaf, or having a disability are provided assistance under this category.
Extended Benefits Program (EBP)
EBP benefits are intended for units with an individual who has been certified by the Medical Advisory Board as blind, deaf, or having a disability.
To be eligible for EBP as a person with a disability, the Medical Advisory Board considers for certification an individual who suffers from a major physiological, anatomical, or psychological impairment, which severely limits the individual in normal living activities, and which is likely to continue indefinitely without substantial improvement (i.e., totally and permanently disabled).
How many people claim social assistance?
On average, there were 24,592 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and about 37,716 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in New Brunswick’s social assistance programs during 2024-25.
Among cases, on average, 75 per cent (18,452) received the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP), and about 25 per cent (6,141) received the Extended Benefits Program (EBP) in 2024-25. Among beneficiaries, on average, 82 per cent (30,969) received TAP and 18 per cent (6,747) received EBP.
The total number of social assistance cases increased by 2,006 in 2024-25. The increase came from TAP and EBP, an increase of 11.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the total number of beneficiaries increased by 3,299 in 2024-25, with TAP accounting for almost all. The number of beneficiaries increased by 11 per cent for TAP and 2.6 per cent for EBP.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in New Brunswick, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Transitional Assistance Program (TAP)
On average, there were 18,452 cases and just over 30,969 beneficiaries receiving TAP in 2024-25.
In the 2000s, TAP operated alongside the Interim Assistance Program (IAP), which had between 1,300 and 1,800 cases until it was terminated in 2010.
Figure 1NB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of TAP and the IAP in New Brunswick, 2000-01 to 2024-25
Extended Benefits Program (EBP)
In 2024-25, there were an average of 6,141 cases and 6,747 beneficiaries receiving EBP in New Brunswick. These numbers have remained steady over the last 16 years.
Figure 2NB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of EBP in New Brunswick, 2000-01 to 2024-25
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2024-25, on average, 5.7 per cent of people in New Brunswick under 65 received TAP or EBP.
In previous years, the proportion of people under 65 receiving TAP generally declined, from an average of 6.7 per cent in 2000-01 to 3.5 per cent in 2021-22. However, in 2022-23, the proportion rose to 4 per cent, marking the first increase since 2010-11. This upward trend continued in 2024-25, increasing to 4.7 per cent. The proportion of people under 65 receiving the EBP was 1 per cent in 2024-25. It has remained stable at between 1 and 1.1 per cent since 2000-01.
Figure 3NB: Yearly beneficiaries of TAP and EBP as a proportion of the under-65 population of New Brunswick, 2000-01 to 2024-25
Who is receiving social assistance?
This section examines disaggregated data on cases by household type and adult beneficiaries by age group.
Household type
In 2024-25, on average, unattached singles were the majority of social assistance cases among households for both programs, comprising 67 per cent of TAP cases and around 94 per cent of EBP cases. For TAP, single parents had the second-highest percentage of cases, about 24 per cent. Couples without children had the second-highest percentage of EBP cases, 3 per cent, followed by single parents, representing 2.5 per cent.
Additional disaggregated data on the number of beneficiaries by household type for each program is available for download here.
Figure 4NB: Cases of TAP by household in New Brunswick, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Figure 5NB: Cases of EBP by household in New Brunswick, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Age of adult beneficiaries
Overall, from 2020-21 to 2024-25, the most common age group among adult beneficiaries was 30-54, followed in order by 55-65, 18-29, and over 65. This pattern was the same for TAP and EBP.
Among beneficiaries from TAP and EBP, the share of the 30-54 age group rose, while it slightly declined for the 55-65 age group.
The share of those aged 18-29 increased for TAP beneficiaries, and it was steady for EBP beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the share of the over 65 age group remained steady for both TAP and EBP beneficiaries.
Figure 6NB: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of TAP by age group in New Brunswick, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Figure 7NB: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of EBP by age group in New Brunswick, 2020-21 to 2024-25
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in New Brunswick is available for download, including:
- Total number of cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries by sex;
- Single households by sex;
- Adult beneficiaries by age group; 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).
- The numbers do not include First Nations living on reserves.
- In the late 1990s, the province’s statistical agency was in the early stages of publishing data and provincial figures for 1997 to 2000 cannot be verified.
- The Interim Assistance Program operated alongside the Transitional Assistance Program through the 2000s until it was terminated in 2010.
- While the gender distribution of TAP and EBP 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.
- Data on employment income for 2020-21 is not included.
- 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 subtotals may not match the total number of cases and beneficiaries due to the timing of the reports. The data may fluctuate over different periods as the reports are updated.
- Information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for New Brunswick
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns on social assistance data in New Brunswick can be found on the province’s website