Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction

Decision Information

Decision Content

APPEAL# : PART C -Decision under Appeal The decision under appeal is the Ministry's reconsideration decision dated July 9, 2014 which held that the appellant was not eligible for back payment of disability assistance before being designated as a Person with Disabilities. The Ministry held that the appellant was approved for Persons with Disabilities designation (PWD) on March 7, 2014 and became eligible for disability assistance on April 1, 2014 under s. 23(1) (a) of the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Regulation. Hence, no disability assistance was payable before that date. PART D -Relevant Legislation Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Regulation (EAPWDR) -Section 23 Effective date of eligibility EAA T003( 10/06/01)
PA RT E Sum marv o f F acts A r e l e a s e of Infor mat ion form for a re pres entat ive the ap pe lla n t nor the appe l lant's repres entat ive was in at tha t the a ppell a nt was notif ied, t h e h e a rin g pr o ceeded und had request ed t h e presence of an o b s erver for training thei r p e rmi ss ion cou l d no t b e sou gh t, a nd perm i ssion The e v iden ce before t h e min ister a t reconsid e r ation A re ques t for reconsideration dat ed June 1 6, 20 c hild/ adult in car e an d tha t the l ate a pplicat a nd tha t th e t r an s fer shou l d hav e b een done by t A letter f r om the a ppell ant' s careg iver dated May 13, 20 It stated that: the app ell ant ha d b ee n a ch ild with sp eci Fami ly Develo pment ( MCFD); the app ell ant tur ned 19 year s o ld in October 201 MCFD t o Com mun i ty Li vin g BC ( C LBC) neither the MCFD nor CLBC r es on sible a nt ici pation of t he ap pellan t ' s 19 h birthd the a pp l ic ation fo r as sistanc e was not comp the perso ns provi ding sh elter and foo d to O c to b er 20 13 up to Ap r i l 1 20 14 ha d not b The appellant signe d par t 2 of an In come Ass The PWD de s igna t ion was gran ted on M arch 7 T h e reconsi de r a t ion de cision stated that " The Reconsid Ministry pol icy based on the cir cum stance of your case t ype of re que st. " At t he hea r in g th e Min istry re prese nta tive reit erated the noting that it was unfortu n a te that application for PWD designation had not been ma t he appellan t 's 19th b irthday b ut t hat t he Ministr y under its a ss ist ance for a period before a n app l icant ha d applied for assi ack n o wledged t h at i t h ad b een the r e sponsibility of another Ministry (MCFD) and of workers/advocat es for the app ellant to ensure that the application was made on time to ensure a smoo t h transition from support as a child to support as an adult PWD. there were no concerns or questions regarding the appellan T he Minis try confirmed that in cases w h ere t h e Mini misplacing an application) they were able to correct this. claims had been made that an application on behalf of the a 31, 2014. The Ministry also informed the panel that support and shelter allowance for February and March 2014 had subsequen t ly been paid to the appellant under the EAR, as per the reconsideration decision. The panel determined the additional oral evidence was admissible under s. 22(4) of the Emolovment EMT003(10/06/01) '.AP PEAL# f or t h e app el la nt was r e cei ved and not ed . Ne i the r tendance a t th e hear i n g . Af ter confir m in g e r section 86(b ) of t he E A R. Th e M i n i stry pu rpose s, but in t h e absence of the app e llan t to atte n d as an ob s e r ve r was denied. wa s: 1 4 s tati ng t h at the appellant is a perma nent ion w a s becaus e t ra nsi tio n i n g from yo uth to a d ult h e minis tri e s th at were i nv o lved. 14, providi n g backgroun d to t he issu e. a l ne e ds in ca re w i t h the M in istr y of Ch i l d r en a n d 3 and respons ib ility fo r care m oved fr om officials com p let ed a PWD ap pli cation i n ay l eted until J anu ary 201 4 t he a p pellan t from the appe llan t' s 1 9t h birt hday in e en paid for their s ervice s. ist ance application on 31 J anu ary 2 0 14. , 2014 e ff ective Apri l 1, 2014 . e r a t ion Officer e xplore d oth er res ourc es an d ; however there ar e n o exem p ti ons for th is poi nt s mad e i n the rec ons ider ation dec ision, de on or before legis la t ion was unable to provi de sta nc e . The Ministry represent ati ve The Ministry further stated that t 's eligibility for designation as a PWD. stry h ad made an ad minis tr ati v e error (such as However, there was no evidence and no ppell ant ha d been made prior t o January
and Assist a n ce Ac t a s it was in s u p por t o f the re c or i t confirmed and ex pand ed on t he d ates of applicatio res p ec t t o early ap plica t i o n an d t h e p ra cti ces of the Mini EMT 003( 10/06/01) : A P P F A L # ds before t h e ministe r a t r econs ide rat ion because n a n d t h e pro v i s ions o f t h e l e gislat ion wi t h st ry i n the case of a dmi n i str a tive err or.
P A R T F R e a s o n s f o r P a n e l D e c i s i o n T h e i s s u e b e f o r e t h e P a n e l w a s w h e t h e r t h e M i n i s i n e l i g i b l e f o r b a c k p a y m e n t o f d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e D i s a b i l i t i e s w a s a r e a s o n a b l e a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e l e g T h e E A P W D R , s e c t i o n 2 3 ( 1 ) ( a ) , p r o v i d e s t h a t a n d a y o f t h e m o n t h a f t e r t h e m o n t h i n w h i c h t h e a p p l F u r t h e r m o r e , s e c t i o n 2 3 ( 5 ) s p e c i f i e s t h a t a s s i s t a n i n c u r r e d b e f o r e t h e c a l e n d a r m o n t h i n w h i c h a s s i s p e r s o n s a g e d 1 7 t o a p p l y f o r d e s i g n a t i o n a s a P W f r o m t h e i r 1 8 1 h b i r t h d a y . T h e M i n i s t r y a r g u e s t h a t : T h e E A P W D R d o e s n o t p e r m i t p a y m e n t o f d a p p l i c a n t b e c o m e s e l i g i b l e t h e f i r s t d a y o f B e c a u s e t h e d e s i g n a t i o n o f t h e a p p e l l a n t a s d a t e o f e l i g i b i l i t y f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e w a d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e t o b e p r o v i d e d f o r s e r v i w h i c h t h e P W D d e s i g n a t i o n i s e f f e c t i v e . T h e a p p e l l a n t d i d c o m p l e t e a n a p p l i c a t i o n f o 2 0 1 4 , a n d a s s u c h i s t h e r e f o r e e l i g i b l e t o r e c m o n t h s o f F e b r u a r y a n d M a r c h 2 0 1 4 , p r o r a t c o s t s t h a t w e r e u n p a i d o n J a n u a r y 3 1 , 2 0 1 4 T h e a p p e l l a n t a r g u e s t h a t a n e r r o r w a s m a d e i n t h e c a r e o f t h e M C F D t o a n a d u l t P W D . A n a p p l i c a t i o n c o m p l e t e d o n t h e a p p e l l a n t ' s b e h a l f b y t h e r e s p o n s a p p e l l a n t ' s 1 9 t h b i r t h d a y t o e n s u r e a s m o o t h t r a n s i w a s n o l o n g e r e l i g i b l e f o r s u p p o r t a s a c h i l d i n c a r e p r o v i d e r s f o r t h e a p p e l l a n t f r o m N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3 t h p a y m e n t t o c o v e r t h e c o s t o f s h e l t e r a n d f o o d f o r t h r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e e r r o r , t h e M i n i s t r y s h o u l d a l l o w T h e p a n e l f i n d s t h a t t h e l e g i s l a t i v e r e q u i r e m e n t f o r a s s i s t a n c e s t a r t i n g o n l y o n t h e f i r s t d a y o f t h e m o n t T h e p a n e l a l s o f i n d s t h a t t h e d e s i g n a t i o n w a s m a d e 2 0 1 4 . T h e p a n e l n o t e s t h a t t h e l e g i s l a t i o n p r o v i d e s f r o m t h e i r 1 ? 1 h b i rt h d a y , a n d t h a t i t w a s t h e r e s p o n s o v e r s i g h t o f t h e a p p e l l a n t , a s a c h i l d i n c a r e o f t h e O c t o b e r 2 0 1 4 , t o e n s u r e t h a t a l l a p p r o p r i a t e p r e p a r a d u l t w a s m a d e , i n c l u d i n g a p p l y i n g f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s T h e r e f o r e , t h e p a n e l c o m e s t o t h e c o n c l u s i o n t h a t t w a s n o t e l i g i b l e f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e u n t i l A p r i l 1 m o n t h i n w h i c h t h e m i n i s t e r h a d d e s i g n a t e d h i m a s C o n s e q u e n t l v , t h e o a n e l f i n d s t h e M i n i s t r y ' s d e c i s i o E AA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 ) A _ P _ P _ E _ A _ L _ # _ _ _ _ _ _ ___J I t r y ' s d e c i s i o n t o d e t e r m i n e t h e a p p e l l a n t w a s b e f o r e b e i n g d e s i g n a t e d a s a P e r s o n w i t h i s l a t i o n o r r e a s o n a b l y s u p p o r t e d b y t h e e v i d e n c e . a p p l i c a n t i s n o t e l i g i b l e f o r a s s i s t a n c e u n t i l t h e f i r s t i c a n t h a s b e e n d e s i g n a t e d a s a P W D . c e i s n o t p r o v i d e d f o r s e rv i c e s p r o v i d e d o r c o s t s t a n c e i s r e q u e s t e d . S e c t i o n 2 3 ( 1 . 1 ) a l l o w s f o r D s o t h a t t h e y a r e e l i g i b l e f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e p r i o r t o t h e d a t e o n w h i c h a n t h e m o n t h f o l l o w i n g t h e i r d e s i g n a t i o n a s a P W D . a P W D w a s m a d e d a t e d M a r c h 7 , 2 0 1 4 , t h e f i r s t s A p r i l 1 , 2 0 1 4 . T h e E A P W D R d o e s n o t a l l o w f o r c e s o r c o s t s i n c u r r e d b e f o r e t h e c a l e n d a r m o n t h i n r i n c o m e a s s i s t a n c e p a r t 2 f o r m o n J a n u a r y 3 1 , e i v e s h e l t e r a n d s u p p o r t a s s i s t a n c e f o r t h e f u l l e d s u p p o rt f o r J a n u a r y 3 1 2 0 1 4 , a n d a n y s h e l t e r . a p p e l l a n t ' s t r a n s i t i o n f r o m s t a t u s a s a c h i l d i n f o r P W D d e s i g n a t i o n s h o u l d h a v e b e e n i b l e c h i l d o r a d u l t s o c i a l w o r k e r i n a d v a n c e o f t h e t i o n . T h i s w a s n o t c o m p l e t e d a n d t h e a p p e l l a n t f r o m O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3 . T h e c a r e g i v e r s a n d h o m e r o u g h t o t h e e n d o f M a r c h 2 0 1 4 h a v e r e c e i v e d n o e a p p e l l a n t . S i n c e t h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t i s b a c k p a y m e n t s f o r t h e 5 m o n t h s t h a t w e r e m i s s e d . e l i g i b i l i t y f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e i s p r e c i s e , w i t h h f o l l o w i n g d e s i g n a t i o n o f t h e a p p l i c a n t a s a P W D . o n M a r c h 7 , 2 0 1 4 , b e i n g e f f e c t i v e o n A p r i l 1 , f o r a p p l i c a t i o n f o r d e s i g n a t i o n a s a P W D o f a c h i l d i b i l i t y o f t h o s e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e c a r e a n d M C F D u p t o t h e a p p e l l a n t ' s 1 9 1 h b i r t h d a y i n a t i o n f o r t h e a p p e l l a n t t r a n s i t i o n i n g t o c a r e a s a n s i s t a n c e . h e M i n i s t r y r e a s o n a b l y d e t e r m i n e d t h e a p p e l l a n t , 2 0 1 4 , b e i n g t h e f i r s t d a y o f t h e m o n t h a f t e r t h e a P W D u n d e r s . 2 3 o f t h e E A P W D R . n w a s a r e a s o n a b l e a o o l i c a t i o n o f t h e a o o l i c a b l e
e n a c t m e n t i n t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s o f t h e a p p e l l a n t a E AA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 ) A P P E A L # n d c o n f i r m s t h e d e c i s i o n .
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