B.C. Income Assistance and Disability Assistance: amounts and how it works

What Income Assistance and Disability Assistance are

British Columbia's Income Assistance gives monthly help with food, shelter and other basic needs to people who cannot meet them. Disability Assistance is a higher monthly amount for people designated as a Person with Disabilities (PWD). Both are part of BC Employment and Assistance, and the payment is made of a support allowance and a shelter allowance.

How much you get (official rate tables, July 2026)

Income Assistance (rates in force since August 1, 2023)

Shelter allowance (Income Assistance and Disability Assistance)

If your actual shelter costs are less than the minimum, you still get the minimum. If they are higher than the maximum, you get the maximum.

Disability Assistance (rates in force since December 1, 2025)

• Single person with disabilities: support allowance $983.50 plus up to $500 for shelter, so up to $1,483.50 a month.
• Couples where one partner is a PWD and the other is under 65: $1,543.50 (two persons); both partners PWD: $1,967; one-parent family where the parent is a PWD: $1,133.50 (support allowance only, before shelter).
• A Transportation Supplement of $52 a month (cash or a bus pass) is added for people with the PWD designation.

• Families also receive a monthly payment for each child under 19 (Child Benefits Top-up Supplement).
• General supplements include a Winter Supplement of $60 a year and a School Start-Up Supplement of $120 or $210 a year per child depending on age.
• Income Assistance rates have not changed since August 2023.

The whole picture: yearly income of typical households in 2025

Who qualifies and what you may keep

• You must live in B.C., be in financial need and look for work unless you have a medical or other exemption.
• To be designated a Person with Disabilities, you apply with a medical report from a doctor or nurse practitioner and an assessor's report; the disability must be severe and expected to last at least two years.

Asset limits (official table)

One vehicle used for daily transportation, RDSP savings, RESPs and non-redeemable RRSPs are exempt.

What happens when you work

• Applicants get no exemption unless someone in the family unit received assistance in at least one of the previous six calendar months; otherwise there is a one-month wait.
• Income Assistance: monthly earnings exemption of $600 (single employable), $900 (family unit with a dependent child) or $1,080 (family unit with a PPMB). Above that, your benefit falls dollar for dollar. Only the single highest exemption applies; they cannot be combined.
• Disability Assistance: an annual earnings exemption with no monthly maximum: $16,200 for a single person ($1,350 per qualifying month), $23,400 for a couple or family with one PWD ($1,950 a month) and $32,400 when two people have the PWD designation. Once the annual limit is used up, extra earnings reduce the benefit dollar for dollar. Each calendar year starts a new exemption year.

Worked example

A single Income Assistance recipient with the full shelter amount earns $800 net in a month. Exempt: $600. Counted against the benefit: $200. Benefit: $1,060 − $200 = $860. Total with earnings: $1,660.

A single Disability Assistance recipient earning $1,000 net every month for the year stays well under the $16,200 annual exemption: the benefit of $1,483.50 is not reduced at all, so the total is $2,483.50 a month.

How to apply

Apply online or by phone through the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (My Self Serve), or at a Service BC office. For Disability Assistance, add the PWD designation application with the medical and assessor reports. Report every change in income or situation each month.