2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report Ministry of Human Resources

Ministry Role and Services

Vision:

The Ministry of Human Resources envisions a province in which those British Columbians in need are assisted to achieve their social and economic potential.

Mission:

The Ministry of Human Resources provides services that move people toward sustainable employment and assist individuals and families in need.

Principles:

The Ministry of Human Resources' guiding principles directly reflect and support the government's broader strategic plan and priorities. The government's core values are: integrity, fiscal responsibility, accountability, respect and choice.

The ministry's guiding principles are:

• Personal responsibility
• Active participation
• Citizen confidence
• Fairness and transparency
• Clear outcomes
• Accountability for results

During 2002/03, the Ministry of Human Resources operated 136 service delivery offices in 63 communities throughout British Columbia. Approximately 2,500 full-time ministry staff played a key role in achieving the government's vision of a prosperous and just province, whose citizens achieve their potential and have confidence in the future.

The ministry encourages and enables those who are able to work to find sustainable employment. For those who are not able to achieve self-reliance through employment, the ministry provides continuous assistance.

The ministry's approach is depicted in the following diagram.

Ministry Operating Context

External factors

A number of factors external to the ministry contributed to a decline in the need for income assistance during 2002/03:

• The B.C. economy produced approximately 78,000 new jobs in 2002, with a further 25,000 new jobs created during the first quarter of 2003. New jobs, and the movement of workers in the labour market that they create, account for over 500,000 vacancies in B.C. during a typical year.
• In 2002/03, the provincial unemployment rate fell by one per cent. Each one per cent change in the B.C. unemployment rate affects ministry expenditures by approximately $12 million annually.
• Average weekly wages in B.C. rose by 2.8 per cent in 2002/03; which meant that people needed fewer hours of work to achieve independence from income assistance.
• Continuing increases in the Canada Child Tax Benefit raised some family incomes to the point where fewer families needed income assistance.

Two external trends could contribute to increased demand for income assistance in the future:

• The province's population is projected to grow by a little over one per cent per year from 2003 to 2005.
• The proportion of persons with disabilities is increasing relative to the total population. Persons with disabilities are more likely to need income assistance than those without disabilities.

Internal factors

A number of internal factors also contributed to the ministry's ability to achieve its goals and objectives:

• In 2002/03, the ministry underwent a significant cultural shift to support the implementation of the BC Employment and Assistance program (BCEA).
• The transition to BCEA required that field and headquarters staff be trained and new tools be developed and implemented. To support staff in the implementation of BCEA, an electronic field guide was developed, as was a web-based reference tool. Learning Services introduced a course library in January of 2002 that included 500 course titles in the subject areas of leadership, team building, communications, call centres, personal development, project management, customer focus, financial services, and human resources. These courses are available to staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the internet through the ministry's E-Learning Café.
• A series of web-based services available to the public were introduced, making it easier for people to get information on their own. The ministry also provided some services through telephone service centres and automated telephone inquiry systems that make services accessible, even in more remote areas of the province. E-learning modules were written to introduce the legislative, policy and procedural changes resulting from the proclamation of the new legislation.
• The organization adopted a project management approach to designing, developing and implementing complex policy and legislative changes. Project teams were established across all ministry divisions to make use of the broad range of expertise available throughout the ministry and lead the implementation of new programs and policies.
• Accountability agreements were established for each region, and new Employee Planning and Development Plans were introduced to support an environment of professional development and ongoing learning.

Core Business Areas

In 2002/03, the Ministry of Human Resources redefined income assistance in British Columbia, implementing the BC Employment and Assistance (BCEA) program. BCEA emphasizes self-reliance and personal responsibility, and reduces long-term dependence on income assistance for those who can work. For those unable to work because of a disability or persistent multiple barriers to employment, BCEA offers assistance. It also provides supports such as emergency shelter and health-related services to those most in need.

BCEA is guided by two pieces of legislation: the Employment and Assistance Act; and, the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act. Both acts came into force in September 2002.

The ministry delivered BC Employment and Assistance programs and services in 2002/03 through five core business areas, each of which was directly tied to the ministry's vision, mission and goals:

1. Employment Programs assisted clients to find and maintain employment, including programs that supported persons with disabilities. Employment and Assistance applications and employment plans were completed by clients as a condition of eligibility. Individualized employment plans may include referral to directed job search, job placement programs and/or specific training for employment.

2. Temporary Assistance was available to eligible individuals who were capable of financial independence through employment. Some persons with disabilities were eligible to receive temporary assistance while seeking work. Those unable to work because of a short-term medical condition, because they were a single parent caring for a young child, or because they were caring for a disabled family member, could be temporarily excused from seeking employment.

3. Continuous Assistance was available to eligible individuals who were not expected to gain independence through employment. This included individuals with disabilities and those with persistent multiple barriers to employment.

4. Supplementary Assistance provided health assistance to persons with disabilities and some clients temporarily excused from work. Other programs and services included emergency social services, child care subsidies, bus passes, hostels and emergency shelters, travel assistance, and user fees for continuing care and for alcohol and drug facilities.

5. Corporate Services and Service Delivery. This core business area provided for executive direction and direct operating costs of delivering BC Employment and Assistance for research and performance measurement, employee services, financial services, information technology and information management.

Organizational Chart

Update on New Era Commitments

In a June 25, 2001 letter to the Honourable Murray Coell, Minister of Human Resources, Premier Gordon Campbell identified three key projects for the ministry:

1. Continue to streamline regional service delivery to clients of income assistance.

2. Implement training and support programs to assist income assistance clients in returning to the workforce.

3. With the Administrative Justice Project, develop a single internal appeal process.

1. Streamlining regional service delivery

A long-term Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) initiative was developed as part of this project. Over time, the ESD initiative will allow staff to spend more time serving clients, improve public access to ministry information, and improve the ministry's capacity to meet its goals. During 2002/03, the ministry expanded its use of information technology to deliver services, including an income assistance estimator for people to assess their eligibility for income assistance, a child care subsidy estimator for parents to assess their eligibility for a subsidy, and a web-based orientation for clients.

2. Implementing training and support programs to assist income assistance clients in returning to the workforce

Four new programs began operation in 2002/03 to assist income assistance clients in returning to the workforce:

• The Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities was announced in April 2002. It provided a range of specialized services to support persons with disabilities to take on voluntary employment or employment-related activities. The program included employment planning and pre-employment and employment services. It provided supports for persons with disabilities in the workplace. Clients who were not seeking independence through employment were supported to work part-time or participate in volunteer activities in their communities. The program is expected to be fully implemented by July 2003.
• The Job Placement Program was implemented on July 1, 2002, following successful completion of a pilot project (the Jobs Partnership Program Pilot). In partnership with contracted agencies, the program provided a range of services that included assessing clients' job-readiness, supporting client's to find employment, monitoring clients' progress in the workplace and providing support to employers. In its first nine months of operation, the program placed 6,620 clients in employment.
• The Training for Jobs Program Pilot was implemented on December 1, 2002. It provided short-term, integrated training to enable clients — especially those who face barriers to employment, and those who had not been successful in finding employment with the assistance of other ministry programs – to enter or return to sustainable employment as quickly as possible. Contracted service providers worked with clients to identify their training needs, provide skill-specific training, place clients in employment and support them to sustain that employment over a period of 18 months.
• The Confirmed Job Supplement Program was initiated in November 2002 to assist clients who had found employment, but were unable to start work because they did not have money for an essential support, such as work clothing or transportation. Through this service, the ministry removed immediate barriers for clients who might not otherwise have been able to start employment they had been offered. The supplement directly assisted clients to become independent of income assistance.

3. Developing a streamlined appeal process

• The Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal was introduced in September 2002. Developed in conjunction with the Administrative Justice Project, the new tribunal provided a single, streamlined, independent process for reviewing clients' appeals in an open, fair and timely way. It replaced the previous multi-step appeal process, under which appeals sometimes took as long as six months to be concluded. With the new process, regional panels adjudicated appeals in as little as two weeks much more quickly.