Latest news with #incomeSupport
CTV News
6 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ontario Works cheques and payment cards to be distributed in person in August
The City of Windsor will once again implement their contingency plan to ensure Ontario Works clients receive their August income support cheques and reloadable payment cards (RPCs), due to the ongoing potential for a Canada Post work disruption. The city outlined several in-person options for August. Direct Deposit Recipients All recipients who receive payments through direct deposit will continue to do so, as direct deposits will not be affected by a postal disruption. Cheque Recipients Ontario Works clients who receive payment by cheque or Direct Bank Deposit statements with a bus pass and those issued a new reloadable payment card will be able to pick up their August monthly assistance at the locations listed below. Cheque Distribution Centres August monthly assistance cheques will be available for pickup as follows: Windsor Office Recipients: Thursday, July 31, 2025, and Friday, August 1, 2025:9 a.m. to 4 p.m.400 City Hall Square East, Suite 102, Windsor Leamington Office Recipients: Thursday, July 31, 2025, and Friday, August 1, 2025:11 a.m. to 4 p.m.33 Princess Street, Leamington Recipients must bring two pieces of government-issued identification, one of which must have a photo. Individuals cannot pick up cheques or reloadable payment cards (RPCs) on behalf of another individual. Before proceeding to the cheque distribution location, please call 1-800-808-2268 to ensure your cheque has been printed and is ready for pick-up. Status of payment can also be viewed on the MyBenefits app. Cheques Daily cheques will continue to be held for pick-up by clients. For vendors and landlords that support Ontario Works clients, cheques will be mailed.
CTV News
29-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
In-person distribution of Ontario Works cheques and payment cards continues in Windsor
The City of Windsor is implementing their contingency plan to ensure Ontario Works clients receive their income support cheques and reloadable payment cards (RPCs). Officials say in-person distribution of Ontario Works cheques will be implemented this week due to the ongoing potential for a Canada Post work disruption. July monthly assistance cheques will be available for pickup as follows: Windsor Office Recipients: Monday, June 30, 2025, and Wednesday, July 2, 2025 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 400 City Hall Square East, Suite 102, Windsor Leamington Office Recipients: Monday, June 30, 2025, and Wednesday, July 2, 2025 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 33 Princess St., Leamington Recipients must bring two pieces of government-issued identification, one of which must have a photo. You can call 1-800-808-2268 to ensure your cheque has been printed and is ready for pick-up before proceeding to the cheque distribution location.
The Sun
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Exact date to qualify for this year's Winter Fuel Payment following MAJOR shake-up
THE government has revealed the exact date that qualifies pensioners for this year's Winter Fuel Payment after a major shake-up. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed the up to £300 payment will be made to those with an income of or below £35,000 this winter in a huge u-turn. 1 The free cash was only paid to state pensioners on Pension Credit in 2024/25. But ministers have faced backlash and been accused of leaving older households out in the cold after changing the eligibility criteria. The government says the new criteria for this year means around 9million people in England and Wales will qualify for a payment. Eligibility is based on a person's age and where they live during the qualifying week. This year, that week is the third of September (September 15 to September 21). A person needs to have reached state pension age by September 21 to be eligible for a payment. Of course, your income will need to be at or below the £35,000 threshold by this date as well. Pensioners aged up to 80 will receive a Winter Fuel Payment worth £200 while those aged 81 or over will get £300. Pensioners above the £35,000 threshold will receive the Winter Fuel Payment but have it deducted automatically via PAYE, or a self-assessment tax return. Pensioners who want to opt out of getting a payment will also be able to do so. Three key benefits that YOU could be missing out on, and one even gives you a free TV Licence The government says it will reveal further details on how they can do this at a later date. Ms Reeves said: 'Targeting Winter Fuel Payments was a tough decision but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government. 'It is also right that we continue to means test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone including the wealthiest. 'But we have now acted to expand the eligibility of the Winter Fuel Payment so no pensioner on a lower income will miss out. Biggest u-turn in history By Jack Elsom, Political Editor AS political u-turns go, Rachel Reeves' retreat on winter fuel payments will surely go down as one of the biggest - and messiest - in history. Her first act as Chancellor to snatch the cold weather cash from 10million pensioners has today been spectacularly dumped. Nine million OAP will now get the benefit, meaning all but the richest will claw back the £200-£300 sum. With a price tag of £1.25billion, this whole palaver has only saved the Treasury £450million. It's chicken feed in the grand scheme of things, and a tenth of the annual migrant hotel bill. But the political cost has been devastating. Labour insiders trace their spanking at last month's local elections back to Ms Reeves' toxic decision in the weeks after the election. That the winter fuel policy was still coming up on doorsteps 10 months later was a sign it was destined for the shredder. Yet rather than ripping off the plaster cleanly, the past few weeks have seen an agonising u-turn mired in chaos and confusion. Four years is a long time until the next general election, and Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves will be hoping voters would have since moved on. But - even with today's backing down - the winter fuel debacle is likely to live long in the memory of the electorate and haunt Labour for a very long time. 'This will mean over three quarters of pensioners receiving the payment in England and Wales later this winter.' The decision to limit the Winter Fuel Payment to only those who claimed Pension Credit was one of Labour's first acts in Government. Ministers made the move in a bid to balance what was described as a £22billion 'black hole' in the public finances. The shake-up meant the number of pensioners receiving the payment was reduced by around 10million, from 11.4million to 1.5million. The Treasury claims the new arrangement will cost £1.25billion in England and Wales, while means-testing winter fuel will save the taxpayer £450 million.
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘My claim had been denied': Centrelink mistake that almost cost a young mum $15,000
A simple paperwork error on a Centrelink form turned into a 'nightmare' and almost cost an Aussie mum $15,000. Lexi, 26, explained that when she was filling out her Centrelink paperwork in 2022 for her maternity leave, she made one mistake that almost cost her the entire payment. 'It was an absolute nightmare. I had filled it all out before my son arrived, after my son got here, I sent through all the documentation I needed to,' she said in a video shared on TikTok. 'Three weeks later, I was sent an email from Centrelink saying that my claim had been denied because my husband earned too much money.' Lexi told that it was 'devastating' to receive the letter that said she was denied the payment. 'We had been counting on that money and we knew it'd be a struggle without it,' she said. The young mum was applying for parental leave pay, a government benefit for primary carers of newborns. You can be entitled to receive up to $915.80 weekly for up to 22 weeks, but this is dependent on your taxable income. As of 2023, couples can earn a combined income of up to $364,350 a year and still be entitled. You must have also worked for 10 of the 13 months before your child's birth and be either a permanent visa holder or an Australian citizen. The 26-year-old had done her research and thought she and her partner qualified for the benefit and the couple were then 'gutted' to be denied the payments. 'We were counting on that money. We knew it was coming and, honestly, to be denied it, we were just in a spiral,' she said. At that point, Lexi didn't know she'd made a mistake. She just assumed they couldn't qualify and they'd have to deal with the $15,000 loss. It wasn't until she spoke to a mate, who was also about to go on maternity leave, that she learned about a standard error people make. On the form there's a box you can tick that means you're applying for both paid parental leave and the family tax benefit. If you tick the box for both, your entire claim will be denied if you're ineligible for just one of the benefits. Lexi had also applied for the family tax benefit but wasn't eligible for it, so her entire claim was denied. 'This wrong box gets ticked all the time. I can't imagine the amount of people going around thinking they're not eligible for this money when they actually were,' she said. Lexi argued that there are likely so many people who have no idea they just ticked the wrong box because people get denied with 'no explanations' and don't realise their mistakes. 'If they'd turned around and said 'yes you're eligible for this part' but 'not this part', I would have been fine,' she said. 'They said a blanket 'no', so I thought I wasn't entitled.' General Manager of Services Australia, Hank Jongen, told that it is important to remember different payments have different criteria. 'You don't need to submit a separate claim for Parental Leave Pay and Family Tax Benefit if you want to claim both,' he said. 'The payments have separate eligibility criteria, in particular, different income tests, so what you are eligible for depends on your circumstances. You may be eligible for one, both or neither. 'Our' having a baby' website page is a great place to start researching your eligibility, but it's important to not self-assess. When you are completing your claim online, you can select what payments you want us to assess you for, and we'll check your eligibility.' Mr Jongen said that you'll be notified about the outcome of your claim by sending you a letter or to your MyGov inbox. 'If you don't agree with the outcome of your claim, you can ask us for an explanation or to review our decision,' he said. Parental Leave Pay has changed over the years and is increasing. For children born from 1 July 2025, it will be up to 24 weeks and 26 weeks for children born after 1 July 2026. From 1 July 2025, it will also include superannuation. You need to meet an income test, a work test and the residence rules to be eligible. Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is a 2-part payment available to low and middle income families to help with the day-to-day cost of raising children. How much you get depends on your situation, including how many kids you have and the level of care. Your payment is worked out based on the FTB rate and income test for the current financial year. You may be eligible for one part and not another, it depends on your circumstances. You cannot get Family Tax Benefit Part B while you are getting Parental Leave Pay. Lexi has previously gone viral for sharing that she's a stay-at-home mum and has always wanted to be financially dependent on her husband. The young mum previously told that she's frustrated people assume she's somehow not financially savvy purely because she's not the one making money. 'Some people think there's an 'issue' with what I've chosen to do or that it must not be a choice or it isn't the right choice or it isn't a smart one,' she said. 'Just because I'm financially dependent on my husband doesn't mean I'm financially unaware.' Lexi stressed that she and her husband make financial decisions together and are very open about money. 'My husband and I have complete transparency. Just because I'm not earning the income doesn't mean I don't get to have a 50/50 say in how we spend it,' she said.
RNZ News
29-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Couple owes $20,000 Working for Families debt 'through no fault of our own'
Just a quarter of 'squared up' Working for Families recipients are getting the right amount. Photo: RNZ Phoenix Ruka says he and his wife owe about $18,000 to $20,000 in Working for Families debt, despite always doing their best to ensure that they supplied the correct details about their income and circumstances. "We've always stayed up-to-date with my salary and what we received from them and updated my salary every time it went up and down," Ruka said. "What were receiving was what they assured us we were entitled to. But then we got a massive bill saying they had overpaid us." He said his wife had been "relentless" in trying to work out what had happened. It was discovered that a couple of years they had been underpaid, by many thousands of dollars, which they were reimbursed, but one year they were paid too much, which left them with the debt. "I think the really frustrating part is that it's through no fault of our own. We owe a substantial amount of money. Now they're taking $350 a fortnight out of our bank account," Ruka said. "We've gone back and forth and shown them our expenses, that we actually can't afford the amount they're taking. We've shown them our bills, our mortgage - they told us that they can't keep taking money if we can't afford it but we can't." He said there had been multiple times where the money that was being taken to repay the debt was all that was left in their bank account. It's an issue the government is attempting to tackle with proposed changes to the way that income is assessed for Working for Families. As part of the Budget, it was announced that the threshold at which entitlements start to abate was to be increased slightly, and the government would look at options to help avoid the issue of Working for Families debt. Inland Revenue's discussion document said 85 percent of Working for Families households received their payments weekly or fortnightly during the 2022 tax year, based on an income estimate. Only 15 percent were receiving their credits annual based on the family's actual income once income tax had been assessed. Those who were being paid weekly or fortnightly were subject to an end of year "square up" process by Inland Revenue, the document noted, although they were expected to update IRD with any relevant changes during the year. In the 2022 year, only 24 percent of households receiving weekly or fortnightly payments and squared up by IRD had received the right amount of Working for Families credits. Those who were overpaid are left with a debt to repay. The document said debt was a particular problem for low- and middle-income families because it reduced their ability to meet their day to day costs in the future. "Debt undermines the intent of the Working for Families scheme to support low to middle income families to meet basic needs and incentivise work." The amount owed by Working for Families recipients has been steadily increasing over the years. The document noted that in June 2024, 56,800 accounted for $273.5 million of Working for Families debt. There were 21,418 instalment arrangements in place to clear $50 million of debt. "Having to estimate annual income in advance is the most common reason why families do not receive the right amount during the year," the document said. "For many families, estimating yearly income is difficult to do with any accuracy. Under the current income estimation model, families can still be overpaid when their income increases unexpectedly. For example, something as simple as a promotion or starting a new job towards the end of the year could cancel out their Working for Families entitlement and leave them in debt." But the document said assessing people's income very regularly could mean a lot of changes in what people received. If someone was paid fortnightly, some months could have two paydays and some three. Someone who was paid every four weeks would occasionally be paid twice in one month. "Families would need to check in more often to report or confirm their income so that Inland Revenue can recalculate their payments. This would mean an increase in time spent interacting with Inland Revenue and its systems. This could also mean payments would vary every week or month, making it harder for families to budget and plan." The discussion document said the government's current thinking was that a quarterly assessment could strike the right balance between responsiveness, certainty and recipient effort. It was seeking feedback on the idea. The government also suggests a shift from calculating a recipient's Working for Families on the recipient's estimate of future income over the coming year to basing the calculation on past income they actually received. This would help to prevent people going into debt. It is also proposing to simplify the residence criteria for Working for Families and require both caregivers and children to be physically present in New Zealand to qualify. Susan St John, associate professor at the University of Auckland and Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson, said she thought the review was limited. "There are huge difficulties for self-employed in more regular assessment. For income that is not earned regularly it can cause volatility and add to the admin or compliance load. There are other ways - in Australia they hold a portion back until the end of the year." She said the review did not address the problems of Working for Families in a meaningful way. "They arise because the threshold is way too low and the rates of clawback way too high." She said the scheme was confusing with the different types of credits available, and the poorest 200,000 were excluded from the full package, missing out on about $5000 a year. Revenue Minister Simon Watts said the government knew that it could be distressing to have debt to Inland Revenue. "We are interested in what people think of the proposals." Another woman, Amy says she's still paying off the $12,000 in Working for Families debt she was landed with three years ago, amid a messy divorce. She and her husband were shareholders in a business and, she says, he incorrectly reported some of the business profit as income in her name. That prompted the government to think she had been overpaid credit and she was landed with a bill. She now can only receive $172 a week in Working for Families credits for her three children because she is paying back the debt. She is a single parent also paying a mortgage. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
