5.8. Assignments Overview

POLICY

Authority OW Act: Sec. 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 13, 16(1), 19(2) & OW Directives: 3.8, 4.11, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5

Where an applicant/participant is expecting income that is owed or due for the same period of time that OW financial assistance was or will be issued, and such income is considered to be chargeable income, the applicant/participant is required to complete a written agreement to reimburse Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB for any duplication of assistance.

Under some circumstances, an assignment and direction may also be required as a condition of eligibility.

Assignments are required to be completed at the time of application or when the participant is eligible to receive the income in question.  Exception: EI assignments must be completed each time Ontario Works is issued.

Note: The amount of the reimbursement cannot exceed the amount of assistance issued for the same time period. In the cases of spousal support assignments, the assignment must be for the entire month’s worth of support as described by the court order.  Clients will be reimbursed the difference, if applicable, once the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB has been repaid by FRO. 

The following chart indicates the most common types of assignments and the forms required:
 

LIMITS ON MONIES ASSIGNED

Sources of income that are exempted by regulation are not subject to assignment. Examples of such income include:

• payment for pain and suffering in a civil lawsuit up to a maximum of $25,000; 
• an award or grant made by the Ministry of Education and Training to a student enrolled in a post secondary institution. 
   

DUPLICATE PAYMENTS / MONTHS INTENDED 

A retroactive or advanced lump sum payment from some sources is considered income in the months intended and not in the month received.  

Example: Where a retroactive Canada Pension payment is made which covers a twelve month period, a retroactive assistance calculation is done for each month. Likewise, a prorated income charge is made against a participant who receives a commutation from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.  

Should the retroactive payments be for periods outside the time the participant is on assistance, the payments should be viewed as assets in the month received, subject to liquid asset levels. 

To determine eligibility the most commonly encountered sources of income include:  

• child support arrears outside of the time that a participant was on assistance 

Example:  A sole support parent on OW since Feb 1, 2000 advises worker on Feb 16th that the ex-spouse paid $300 in arrears for money owing Oct - Nov’99. Case Manager determines that the individual was not on assistance at that time and money received is below her asset level. There are no deductions made on the individual’s assistance.  The income received was for a retroactive period outside of a time on assistance and is not considered income for our purposes, but is subject to current asset levels. 

• E.I. Benefits

Example: A single person on OW since Feb 1'00  advises worker on Feb 16th that they received $300 in arrears due to lost cheques for their claim period from Oct - Nov’99. Case Manager determines that the individual was not on assistance at that time and money received is below his asset level. There are no deductions made on the individual’s assistance.  The income received was for a retroactive period outside of a time on assistance and is not considered income for our purpose, but is subject to current asset levels.
 

FAILURE TO HONOUR AN ASSIGNMENT

Where assignments are not honoured or reimbursement is not received, an overpayment is established.

If a third party or person acting on behalf of a benefit unit member fails to deduct and remit money to the delivery agent, the benefit unit member remains eligible for assistance. However, if money is received that has been assigned and is not repaid to the delivery agent, an overpayment is established.
 

PROCEDURE

Every time a Case Manager completes an assignment, a copy must be filed in the electronic filing system. Case Managers must input a task in the social assistance computer system for 3 months to follow up if the assignment has been paid. If the assignment has not been paid, Case Managers should follow up with clients to determine why the assignment was not honoured.

1. When payment is received by the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB finance department from any external source (i.e. WSIB, CPP, EI, OSAP, etc.) A copy of the payment is sent to the Administrative Assistant who then posts it to the client’s file in the social assistance computer system.