Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in July 2024 the government announced improvement to the income assistance program that resulted in increased benefit levels and income exemptions and reduced barriers to accessing the program. What step is the department taking to align income support with employment and training programs so that recipients are encouraged, not penalized, for pursuing work or education? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of ECE.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the biggest change that occurred with the changes that were made in regard to income assistance, in regards to pathways to employment, was the ability of residents who are on income assistance to keep an increased amount of earned income, so that's -- they've increased it to $500 per adult plus 25 percent of income over that. And so what that does is it provides people a grace period to re-enter enter the workforce where they're not going to get clawbacks. And so it's a safety step for residents who are on income assistance and a critical part for us being able to support that transition. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has the department conducted any reviews or evaluations to access how current income assistance policy may be discouraging recipients from pursuing employment or education? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 19th Assembly an extensive review of the income assistance program was done by Education, Culture and Employment, and the changes that we saw take place last year were the result of that work. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Member from Monfwi. Final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the department track how many income support recipients successfully transition into employment or education and if so, what are the current outcomes? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do our best to make sure that we have an idea of, first of all, where people are at, what their goals are, and how we can support them to get there. This program is just now entering into its second year of being the new directive by Education, Culture and Employment in its current form, and that's not information that I have in front of me here, nor information that we would have had the opportunity to collect and analyze so young into the infancy of this next program. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECE. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
