I APPFAL# PART C -Decision under Appeal The decision under appeal is the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation's (the ministry's) reconsideration decision of 23 October 2014 that the appellant had received unearned income as defined in Section 1 of the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Regulation in the form of a scholarship, and that the income must be deducted from the appellant's disability assistance. The ministry determined that there were no exemptions for scholarships under Schedule B of the Employment and Assistance for Personal with Disabilities Regulation, and that exemptions for education related costs in Section 8 of the EAPWDR were limited to tuition, books, supplies, compulsory student fees and reasonable transportation costs. The ministry determined that under Section 18 of the EAPWDA the appellant was required to repay $904.31 Disability Assistance for September 2014 for which she was not eligible. PART D-Relevant Legislation Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act (EAPWDA); • Section 18 and 19 Overpayments • Section 29 Reporting • Schedule A Disability Assistance rates Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Regulation (EAPWDR): • Section 1 Definitions • Section 9 Income • Section 24 Amount of disability assistance • Schedule B Sections 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 concerning deductions and exemptions EAAT 003(10/06/01)
PART E-Summa of Facts Before the hearing the Appellant indicated she intended to have an advocate attend and a Release of Information form was duly completed. The Appellant also confirmed she wished her father to attend the meeting. The Appellant provided text copies of statements she and her advocate intended to read, and a letter from her physician. The Ministry did not object to these materials. The evidence before the minister at the time of reconsideration was: • "My dashboard" summary of student costs and funding (undated, part of Ministry package dated 30 October 2014) • Letter dated July 24, 2014 from the BC Paraplegic Foundation advising of a scholarship of $2,949.90 • Emails from the BC Paraplegic Foundation dated September 4, 2014 and July 21, 2014 • Bank profile for the appellant completed by a bank dated 29 August 2014, and a printout of the account activity • A letter to the appellant dated 16 September 2014 from the ministry Investigation Office advising of overpayment. • Ministry overpayment chart and overpayment notification dated 16 September 2014. • Request for reconsideration dated 12 October 2014 including an attached statement and records of services received through a community recreation centre from May 2009-September 2014 In the request for reconsideration the appellant requested that the ministry reconsider their decision that "other disability related expenses do not fall under the definition of exemption for unearned income." The appellant stated that as a person with multiple permanent disabilities (neurological mental and physical) she faced additional challenges in pursuing her educational goals, and used mental and physical health therapy programs as a way to manage her stress and wellness. She considers these to be 'exceptional educational expenses' as they allow her to succeed in her degree level studies. At the hearing the appellant reiterated the points she had raised in her request for reconsideration, and provided additional detail on the costs associated with her education program and the sources of support for these costs. For each course she takes, the cost of additional tutoring and specialized transportation is about $2,000. She is currently taking 3 courses in the September-December semester, and intends to take 4 in the semester beginning in January. Taking fewer courses will lengthen the time required to complete her course of study and as graduation requirements are re-set every few years, may require her to take additional courses to complete different requirements for a later graduation year. Funds available to her for this academic year (both semesters) amount to $8,000 from a Canada Grant program, and additional funds available through the University. However, University funds are limited and students are advised to seek other sources of support, as the Appellant did. To date $6,000 of the $8,000 Canada Grant will be used for the 3 courses in the current semester, and there will be a gap of up to $6,000 f o r the next semester, depending on funds to be realized from the University. In this context, the Appellant sought and received support from the BC Paraplegic Foundation which was disbursed in the form of a scholarship. The A ellant also referred to additional ex enses incurred for activities EAAT 003( 10/06/01)
to e n abl e her t o complete her edu cation: invol veme m as sage and phy sio therapy. S h e rece iv e s som e discou des i gn a tion a nd partic ipa te s in them thr ou g h local c to t he pu rchase of a ta blet compute r as an o ther educa The Appellant lives i ndependently a n d he r liv ing co sts educa tion costs are cov ered through st udent f inancial a s n o ted abov e. T he App ellant's f at h er note d that the famil y had no com a n d felt t ha t the proce ss h ad b een t ra n s p a rent and that th court eous. How e ver , t h eir conce rn was th a t t he Ministr Paraplegic Fo undati o n, wh ich wa s intended to assist A pp e llant ' s disab i liti es , as inc ome. Th is th en meant th be en m a d e, whi ch h a d th e ef fec t o f r edu ci ng t he App fun ds a v a ila ble to her f o r add i tio na l e duc at ional supp The p a nel de t er mined that th e addit ional evidence presente from her physici a n confir m ing the App e llant w as a pati as it was in sup port of m e dical informa ti on he ld by the Mi dec i si on. A t the h earing t h e M i ni st r y r eaffirmed the ir position as s that beca us e t he fu nds provi d ed by the BC Pa raplegic "scho la rship " by th e Found ation, and a cheque i ssue bou n d to ap pl y the def i n i tio n of "unear ned inc ome" f which spe cifi cal ly states that " ed u ca tion or training a sch olarshi ps" a re c onside r ed u nearn ed income. The Ministry further noted that Sc of th e EA P WDR, und er whic h stu dent sch ol arshi ps by a s t udent for "tu i ti on, books , co mpulso ry s t udent fees se m e s te r." The Mini stry represent ativ e clarified th a ten d to be con s id ere d as inco me. Th e pan el m ake s the fo llo wing f indings of fact: 1. The appella nt is a PWD and is a full time student at a student loan f o r the September-December term in September 2014 that would cover tuition and fees, and a sum f o r books, s upplies, living costs and transportation. 2. The appellant received a payment of $2,989.90 described as a scholarship from the Canadian Paraplegic Foundation o n J u l y 31, 2014 to be u sed EAAT 003(10/06/01)APP E A L# I n t in phys ica l a n d ment a l recreati on al a c tivitie s, nts on thes e co st s d ue to h e r PWD om munity re creati o n fa c il itie s. S h e also refe rred t iona l expense. ar e cove red through PWD A ssi st ance. Her assistan ce a n d additi on al ed ucational sup port p laint a b out their treatment by the Min is try e w o rkers involv ed had bee n ve ry y had d efined the scholar sh ip f r om t he BC with e ducational exp ens es asso ci ated wit h t he a t t h e M in is t r y d e t e rm ine d a n over paym e nt h ad e llant's living ex p ense supp ort, and r educ i ng the ort needed as a st udent wi t h disabili t ies. d by th e A ppellant in the f o rm of a n o t e e nt and had medica l condit io n s was ad mis sibl e n i stry at the time of the r e consid era tion tated in th e reconside r ation decisio n , noting Fo u ndation ha d been defi ned as a d dir ec t ly to the Appe llant, the Mini stry was o un d in the EAP W D R Ap pend i x B Sectio n 1 ( q) l lowances , gra nts, loan s , bursaries or hedu le B Section 8 c oul d be exemp t ed, a p plied only to fu nds req u ir ed and reasonable t ranspor t ation c os ts for a t any fun ds paid directly t o an individual wo uld university. She r eceived an a mou n t in f o r the September-December 2014 term.
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 i n t h i s a p p e a l i s w h e t h e r t h e M i n i s t r y ' s d e A p p e l l a n t a s " u n e a r n e d i n c o m e " a n d t o n o t e x e m p t a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e a p p 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 I n t e r m s o f t h e d e f i n i t i o n o f u n e a r n e d i n c o m e , t h e E A P W s e c t i o n ( q ) a s : " e d u c a t i o n o r t r a i n i n g a l l o w a n c e s , g r a n t s , l o a n s , R e g a r d i n g t h e M i n i s t r y ' s a b i l i t y t o e x e m p t t h e f u n d s , S c h " e d u c a t i o n c o s t s " a s : " t h e a m o u n t r e q u i r e d b y a s t u d e n t f o r t u i t i o n , b o o t r a n s p o r t a t i o n c o s t s f o r a s e m e s t e r ; " A n d S e c t i o n 8 ( 2 ) s p e c i f i e s t h a t : " T h e m i n i s t e r m a y a u t h o r i z e a n e x e m p t i o n f o r a s a n d d a y c a r e c o s t s f r o m t h e t o t a l a m o u n t o f a . a t r a i n i n g a l l o w a n c e , b . s t u d e n t f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t a n c e , a n d c . s t u d e n t g r a n t s , b u r s a r i e s , s c h o l a r s h i p s o r p l a n r e c e i v e d f o r t h e s e m e s t e r . " F i n a l l y , S e c t i o n 1 8 ( 1 ) o f t h e E A P W D A s p e c i f i e s t h a t " I f d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e , h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e o r a n o t e l i g i b l e f o r i t , r e c i p i e n t s w h o a r e m e m b e r s o f o v e r p a y m e n t i s p r o v i d e d a r e l i a b l e t o r e p a y t o t h e p r o v i d e d f o r t h a t p e r i o d . " A p p e l l a n t ' s p o s i t i o n T h e A p p e l l a n t b e l i e v e s t h a t s c h o l a r s h i p s i n t e n d e d t o i n d i v i d u a l s t o c o m p l e t e t h e i r e d u c a t i o n s h o u l d b e e x c a l c u l a t i n g e l i g i b i l i t y f o r P W D A s s i s t a n c e . M i n i s t ry ' s p o s i t i o n T h e M i n i s t r y r e f e r s t o t h e R e g u l a t i o n w h i c h i s u n a m i n c l u d i n g s c h o l a r s h i p s , a n d t h e l i m i t a t i o n s o n w h a t c P a n e l ' s d e c i s i o n T h e p a n e l f i n d s t h e m i n i s t r y ' s d e t e r m i n a t i o n t h a t t h e A p p e l l a n t q u a l i f i e d a s " u n e a r n e d i n c o m e " a n d d i d n o i n t e n d e d u s e o f t h e f u n d s d i d n o t f a l l w i t h i n t h e d e f i n a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e a p p 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 f i n d s t h a t t 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 a t t h S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4 f o r w h i c h s h e w a s n o t e l i g i b l e a n d E A P W D A . T h e a n e l t h e r e f o r e c o n f i r m s t h e M i n i s t EAA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )I P 0 P l:: A L # c i s i o n t o d e f i n e t h e s c h o l a r s h i p r e c e i v e d b y t h e i t a s a n ' e d u c a t i o n c o s t ' w a s a r e a s o n a b l e s t a n c e s o f t h e A p p e l l a n t . D R , S e c t i o n 1 ( 1 ) , d e f i n e s " u n e a r n e d i n c o m e " i n b u r s a r i e s o r s c h o l a r s h i p s ; " e d u l e B , S e c t i o n 8 ( 1 ) o f t h e E A P W D R d e f i n e s k s , c o m p u l s o ry s t u d e n t f e e s a n d r e a s o n a b l e t u d e n t u p t o t h e s u m o f t h e s t u d e n t ' s e d u c a t i o n c o s t s d i s b u r s e m e n t s f r o m a r e g i s t e r e d e d u c a t i o n s a v i n g s s u p p l e m e n t i s p r o v i d e d t o o r f o r a f a m i l y u n i t t h a t i s t h e f a m i l y u n i t d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d f o r w h i c h t h e g o v e r n m e n t t h e a m o u n t o r v a l u e o f t h e o v e r p a y m e n t b e u s e d f o r s e r v i c e s t o e n a b l e d i s a b l e d e m p t e d a n d n o t c o n s i d e r e d a s i n c o m e i n b i g u o u s i n i t s d e f i n i t i o n o f u n e a r n e d i n c o m e a s a n b e c o n s i d e r e d e d u c a t i o n c o s t s f o r e x e m p t i o n . s c h o l a r s h i p r e c e i v e d i n J u l y 2 0 1 4 b y t h e t m e e t t h e c o n d i t i o n s f o r e x e m p t i o n a s t h e i t i o n o f e d u c a t i o n c o s t s , w a s a r e a s o n a b l e s t a n c e s o f t h e a p p e l l a n t . T h e r e fo r e t h e p a n e l e A p p e l l a n t r e c e i v e d D i s a b i l i t y A s s i s t a n c e f o r i s l i a b l e t o r e p a y p u r s u a n t t o S e c t i o n 1 8 o f t h e · s d e c i s i o n .
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.