Delivering Hope to People with Disabilities
Ontario's Employment Support Program is Due for a Critical Overhaul
Aug 28, 2008
In Ontario, there is a provincial program designed for persons with disabilities. It is the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). This program has two parts: Income Supports and Employment Supports.
Income supports are provided to persons with a disability that have no other income that would meet or exceed set budgetary guidelines. One qualifies for ODSP by completing an application and getting a form filled out by a physician, nurse practitioner or psychologist, determining that the applicant has a verifiable disability or impairment that is substantial in nature and restricts the person in at least one key area of daily living. While ODSP rates are substantially higher than ‘welfare’ rates, most analysts agree they are still insufficient, particularly for those with difficulties finding and keeping a job.
Over the years, while small increases have been made to the program since 2004, the focus of the Government has been on the second component to ODSP: Employment Supports. The original purpose of Employment Supports was to purchase training, disability supports and placement services on behalf of interested persons with disabilities to lead them to employment activity, which can be a part-time job, a small business or even a full-time job.
As 2004 drew to a close, it was learned that the budget for this program as it was then operated was insufficient to meet client demand, so in February 2006 major changes were introduced to the program to save money and encourage better results on the part of organizations delivering the service. The old program paid service providers on a fee for service basis, which included case management, writing employment plans, training placement, unpaid work placement, assessments, etc. The new program no longer pays for specific employment service activity, but instead pays only for results: a placement into competitive employment of duration for at least thirteen weeks.
While service providers are paid well once successful and continued to be paid as the participant continues to remain employed, certain aspects of the program remain controversial. According to the ODSP Action Coalition, a coalition of service providers, legal clinics, organizations and recipients, they learned the new model’s economics led to certain practices, failing many sub-groups of participants. Further, many participants would be placed in a job, only to learn they were no longer able to work despite several weeks of intensive supports, thus not arriving at the magic thirteen week point.
A critical analysis of this new model befits similar analyses done on the labour market as a whole. Instead of compensating providers to aid in the development of long-term, stable employment that can lead to self-sufficiency for many ODSP clients, this model pushes some in the “first available job”, which are the fastest jobs to find: low-wage, high-turnover, unskilled employment. This can lead to participants being stuck in the "low wage" market with little chance of advancement. While some may last the thirteen weeks in these jobs, others are not interested or incapable of doing these jobs.
With new training dollars being transferred to Ontario from the federal government and a shift to a knowledge-based economy, the Employment Supports program is missing a key opportunity that can provide hope to many people. Combining new training supports, increased compensation for pre-employment supports for those requiring them, as well as resources for providers interested in serving those seeking higher level careers, as opposed to regular jobs, will make the Employment Supports program the unique support it was set up to be.
As part of Ontario’s larger poverty-reduction strategy, it must review the workings of Employment Supports to ensure that all participants benefit from high quality services that lead to hope, not more frustrated initiative.
