Awaiting EI Benefits

Effective Date:  February 6, 2023

Hardship assistance is provided on a temporary basis, for only one month at a time.  If further hardship assistance is required, eligibility must be re-established each month.

Hardship assistance issued under Awaiting EI Benefits is available to applicants for income assistance and their dependants where at least one adult in the family unit is an applicant for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits provided by the federal government.  Dependent children awaiting EI benefits do not affect the family unit’s eligibility for assistance. 

To qualify for this category of hardship, applicants must apply for EI benefits with from the federal government and sign an EI Assignment of Benefit (AOB) form (HR2528) [see Policy – Assignment of Employment Insurance Benefits]. Hardship assistance provided for special care facility user charges and comforts is not repayable/assignable.

EI Maternity and Parental Benefits and EI benefits for Parents of Critically Ill Children are exempt unearned income, and are fully exempt when assessing eligibility for income assistance. People awaiting these benefits should not complete an AOB form (HR2528).

In cases where waiting for confirmation that EI benefits have been applied for would result in undue hardship, the Supervisor may approve assistance to meet the short-term need. 

[For an overview of eligibility for hardship or the hierarchy of hardship categories, see Related Links – Eligibility for Hardship Assistance.]

Applicants may be eligible for hardship under this category until they receive or are found ineligible for EI benefits. 

Once the hardship reason no longer exists, cases must be re-assessed to determine if the family unit meets the eligibility criteria for income assistance. 

Effective:  February 6, 2023

Applicants must serve a one-week unpaid waiting period before Employment Insurance (EI) begins to be paid.  The one-week EI waiting period begins on the date of EI application and lasts until the Saturday following the EI application date.  [For more information, see Procedures – Issuing Hardship Assistance.]

Effective:  April 4, 2023

Applicants for income assistance must sign an Employment Insurance (EI) Assignment of Benefit (AOB) form (HR2528) each time they receive hardship under this category.   

By signing the AOB, applicants assign their EI benefits to the ministry authorizing the federal government to reimburse the ministry directly through weekly deductions from their EI benefit payments and eliminate dual payments.

The AOB determines:

• the period in which hardship assistance is recovered from EI benefits because the client received both – EI benefits and hardship assistance – for the same period of time
• the amount of hardship assistance issued weekly, and
• the minimum weekly living allowance (MWLA). 

The MWLA applies every week of the assignment period.  This ensures that the federal government deducts only the portion of clients’ EI weekly payments that exceeds the MWLA to reimburse the ministry for the hardship issued to clients eligible for EI benefits. 

People who are awaiting EI Maternity and Parental Benefits and EI benefits for Parents of Critically Ill Children should not complete an AOB form (HR2528). 

Recipients of income assistance do not receive hardship assistance if they apply for EI while already in receipt of income assistance and an AOB should not be completed in these circumstances. Recipients of income assistance are responsible to declare EI benefit payments received on a Monthly Report (HR0081).

Effective:  April 4, 2023

Applicants with the Persons with Disabilities designation, who are awaiting Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, should be issued disability assistance rather than hardship assistance.

An EI Assignment of Benefit (AOB) form (HR2528) is to be completed until the applicant receives EI benefits or is found to be ineligible for EI benefits.

By signing the AOB, applicants assign their EI benefits to the ministry authorizing the federal government to reimburse the ministry directly through weekly deductions from their EI benefit payments and eliminate dual payments.

The AOB determines:

• the period in which disability assistance is recovered from EI benefits because the client received both – EI benefits and disability assistance – for the same period of time,
• the amount of disability assistance issued weekly, and
• the minimum weekly living allowance (MWLA). 

The MWLA applies every week of the assignment period.  This ensures that the federal government deducts only the portion of clients’ EI weekly payments that exceeds the MWLA to reimburse the ministry for the disability assistance issued to clients eligible for EI benefits.  

Applicants who are awaiting EI Maternity and Parental Benefits and EI benefits for Parents of Critically Ill Children should not complete an AOB form (HR2528).

Recipients of disability assistance that apply for EI while already in receipt of disability assistance should not complete an AOB form (HR2528) and will continue to receive disability assistance.  Recipients of disability assistance are responsible to declare EI benefit payments received on a Monthly Report (HR0081).  

Effective:  December 14, 2011

In cases where a client’s spouse is awaiting Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, an EI Assignment of Benefit (AOB) form (HR2528), must be signed by the spouse.  If more than one family member is waiting for EI benefits, the AOB form should only be completed by the applicant who is most likely to receive EI benefits.

In cases where the spouse is the EI benefits applicant, hardship assistance or disability assistance must always be issued via a supplier cheque to the spouse so that the cheque will have the same name as the AOB. To avoid the additional steps associated with issuing a supplier cheque, the worker should set up the initial case with the EI benefits applicant as the primary applicant, if possible.

Effective:  February 6, 2023

Before issuing the initial and any subsequent assistance under this category, staff must verify that the applicant has completed an Employment Insurance (EI) benefits application with the federal government.  Staff verify the status of the applicant’s EI benefits application by using WebAOBLink to determine if an EI benefits claim has been filed, approved, denied or in pay. 

Alternatively, to assess an initial application for assistance, staff may confirm the applicant’s EI benefits status by verifying Service Canada’s Confirmation and Information form, provided by the applicant. 

For applicants who have not applied for EI benefits, staff may assess their likelihood to qualify for EI benefits by reviewing the applicants’ Record of Employment and accessing the federal government’s website to confirm the required number of insurable hours within a specific EI benefits economic region.  If applicants are likely to be eligible for EI benefits, refer them to Service Canada [see Systems Instructions – WebAOBLink].  

Effective:  February 6, 2023

To reduce the assistance to be repaid, applicants may choose to accept less than the maximum amount. Conversation to be had between the applicant and ministry worker.

[For information on Disability Assistance see the Rate Table.]

Determine the Employment Insurance (EI) application date.  

Note: Assistance is issued for the waiting period and this amount is included in the AOB.  However, when the federal government calculates AOB deductions, the assistance issued for the one-week waiting period is not deducted from EI benefits.

To issue hardship assistance under this category or disability assistance to an applicant, ministry staff are to complete the following steps:

1. Client’s case is set up as hardship assistance or disability assistance.  In cases where the spouse is the EI applicant, hardship assistance or disability assistance must be issued by a supplier cheque to the spouse.  The cheque and Assignment of Benefit (AOB) form (HR2528) must be the same name as the pending EI benefit applicant. Service Canada will only reimburse the ministry if all three names match.
   Note: The ministry cannot make direct payments to landlords for the rent portion when the person is awaiting EI benefits.
2. Inform the applicant of their responsibility to complete and submit the Monthly Report form (HR0081) as eligibility for hardship assistance must be re-established each month. Disability assistance recipients must submit a Monthly Report to report income and changes in circumstances (see related Links- Monthly Reporting Requirements).
3. At cheque pick up, on printed AOB, staff print and sign their name, and fill in ‘Date of Payment’ field, applicant signs and dates the AOB form.
4. Offer copy of the AOB to the person awaiting EI benefits.  The original AOB must be scanned first then to Financial and Administrative Services Branch (FASB). 
   Note: Administrative staff are required to mail AOBs to FASB on a weekly basis, preferably on Mondays.  FASB mails the received AOB to Service Canada every second day.
5. Each AOB record can be viewed using the EI Assignment of Benefits.
   Note: If applicants claim that Service Canada deducted from their EI benefit weekly payments more than the weekly amount of the assistance (as stated on the AOB) to reimburse the ministry, staff can request a review of applicants’ assignments by contacting FASB by e-mail [see Contacts].

Cancelling and Deleting EI Assignments

If a cheque is printed and then cancelled, the AOB is also automatically cancelled. 

Terms in the AOB Form

Minimum Weekly Living Allowance (MWLA)

• The maximum monthly amount of assistance for the specific family unit divided by 4.33 and rounded down to the nearest dollar.

Weekly Amount

• The amount of issued assistance divided by the number of Sundays within the month and rounded down to the nearest dollar. 

Sunday Start Week Date

• The Sunday of the first week of the month for which assignable assistance was issued.

Saturday Last Week Date

• The Saturday after the last Sunday of the month for which assignable assistance was issued.

 Last Week Amount

• The amount of assignable assistance issued divided by the number of Sundays within the month.  The last week amount includes amounts ‘rounded off’ in the earlier weeks. 

Effective:  July 29, 2009

Recipients continue to be eligible for hardship assistance until they start to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.  Each subsequent issuance of hardship assistance will require reassessment of recipients’ eligibility and completion of a separate AOB. 

Effective:  February 6, 2023

If the federal government deems a person ineligible for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, then the case can be converted from hardship assistance to an income assistance application if all other eligibility criteria are met.

Note: This procedure is not intended for clients who are disentitled or disqualified by Service Canada.

Effective:  February 6, 2023

Once recipients start receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, either of the following may apply:

• if their EI income is less than the applicable assistance rate for the family unit, they may be considered for non repayable assistance, and the EI will be deducted as unearned income [For information on EI income, see Related Links – Income Treatment and Exemptions]
• if their EI income is greater than the applicable assistance rate for the family unit, they are no longer eligible for assistance.

Effective:  July 29, 2009

Hardship – Awaiting EI Benefits
Supervisor	Approving assistance to meet the short-term need pending verification of eligibility for Employment Insurance.