Income Assistance Program – One-Time Additional Benefit
Driven by increases in the cost of living the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) announced changes to the Income Assistance (IA) program, including increasing benefit levels and income exemptions.
Unfortunately, the implementation of these changes was delayed until July 2024 due to systems issues that were outside of the Department’s control. Recognizing that this delay, coupled with increased costs of living, has been impacting vulnerable residents with being able to meet their basic needs, ECE will provide each recipient who is eligible for IA benefits with a one-time additional benefit in March 2024.
The one-time benefit will range from $343 to $717, depending on the community they live in (see Attachment 1). The intent of this benefit is to better help Northwest Territories residents with the higher costs of food.
Please see the attachment for more details.
Comments