Highlights of the Year

During the 2004/05 fiscal year, the ministry continued to focus on programs that lead to employment and self-reliance and provided assistance to those most in need. Major accomplishments have included moving clients to independence through employment programs, enhancing supports for persons with disabilities, investing in the health and well-being of young children from low-income families and leading the country in being the first province to train disaster relief volunteers through the Emergency Social Services Academy.

1. Moving clients to independence

Employment contributes to a healthy economy, the well-being of British Columbians, and is a key to independence and self-reliance. The ministry continues to emphasize employment programs to move clients to independence. In 2004/05, there were an average of 8,163 fewer families and single British Columbians who relied on income assistance compared to the previous year.

For clients with employment obligations, employment plans establish clear expectations to achieve independence. These plans are important tools for motivating people and assisting them to focus on employment goals. Employment plans outline employment objectives for clients and identify interventions, expected outcomes, and compliance requirements.

The average number of cases that received assistance declined 7.0 per cent to 107,852 this fiscal year. Particularly significant are declines in two-parent (24.0 per cent) and single-parent (14.9 per cent) families. This translated into 7,749 fewer children whose parents relied on income assistance. By reducing parents' dependency on assistance, the ministry is breaking the culture of inter-generational welfare dependency.

The Vancouver Agreement is a partnership between the federal, provincial and local governments to support economic, social and community development in Vancouver. The initial focus of the work in this agreement is the Downtown Eastside.

The ministry provided a $3.25 million grant to the Vancouver Agreement to design and manage a specialized employment strategy to help income assistance clients find and maintain employment. This grant is expected to assist 700 long-term income assistance clients over the next three years. Clients in this project receive individualized support including assessment, skills training, and referrals to existing and new programs.

	Average 2004/05	Average 2003/04	Average Change	Per cent Change
BC Employment and Assistance Cases by Family Type1
Single men	44,770	47,433	-2,664	-5.6
Single women	31,749	32,513	-764	-2.3
Child in Home of Relative	4,459	4,368	91	2.1
Couples	4,490	4,955	-464	-9.4
Two-Parent Families	3,106	4,089	-983	-24.0
Single-Parent Families	19,277	22,657	-3,379	-14.9
Total	107,852	116,015	-8,163	-7.0

Temporary assistance is provided to clients who are capable of financial independence through employment, or are unable to seek work due to short-term medical, health or family circumstances. Included in this group are persons with persistent multiple barriers to employment. Disability assistance is provided to eligible persons with disabilities who are not expected to gain full financial independence through employment. The average number of clients who received temporary assistance declined but those receiving disability assistance increased in 2004/05, compared to last fiscal year. The growing share of resources channeled towards disability assistance is an indication that the ministry is focusing on clients most in need.

	Average 2004/05	Average 2003/04	Average Change	Per cent Change
BC Employment and Assistance Cases by Type of Assistance
Temporary Assistance	54,122	65,780	-11,658	-17.7
Disability Assistance	53,730	50,235	3,495	7.0
Total	107,852	116,015	-8,163	-7.0

2. Implementing strategies for persons with disabilities

The ministry introduced the Employment Strategy for Persons with Disabilities in April 2002. Fiscal year 2004/05 was an important year as many initiatives continue to make the transition from project planning to implementation. As part of the Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities, the ministry implemented the Self-Employment Services in June 2004 by providing training and support to persons with disabilities who have the desire and ability to be self-employed. In February 2005, the ministry implemented the Public Service Employment Program for persons with disabilities. The program promotes the recruitment of persons with disabilities within the public service.

An important initiative of the Employment Strategy for Persons with Disabilities was the creation of the Minister's Council on Employment for Persons with Disabilities in 2003. The Council is a "call to action" and a positive challenge to British Columbia's business community. The principal goal of the Council is to advise the Minister of Human Resources on solutions and strategies for increasing employment, employability and independence of people with disabilities, particularly through partnerships with business and industry throughout BC. The Council has representation from the business, community, government and education sectors.

WorkAble Solutions, an initiative launched by the Minister's Council in December 2004, that connects BC employers to persons with disabilities by providing valuable employment resources and support. An interactive website, an employer handbook and a corporate video were produced as part of this initiative. They all serve to inform, educate and support the recruitment, employment and retention of people with disabilities. WorkAble Solutions is co-sponsored by the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (HRMA), and is an example of a successful Minister's Council partnership to support people with disabilities.

Further to these initiatives, the Disability Supports for Employment Fund (DSEF) was created through a $20 million endowment by the provincial government to the Vancouver Foundation. The endowment generates, in perpetuity, $1 million in DSEF grant monies available to organizations in the charitable, non-profit sector in British Columbia. The purpose of the DSEF is to initiate and fund innovative projects that will provide disability supports to enhance the capacity of adults with disabilities to secure and retain employment and volunteer placements.

3. Collaborating with ministries of Health Services and Children and Family Development

A key priority for the BC government is to have ministries who serve common clients work together in developing services and programs. In 2004/05, the ministries of Health Services and Human Resources jointly announced an investment of $47 million over the next three years to improve dental treatment for young children and low-income families. Dental decay is the most common chronic condition of childhood and directly affects a person's well-being. With the additional funding, low-income families can look forward to affordable dental care.

Improvements to the Child Care Subsidy Program, announced in early 2005, also streamlined services and improved service delivery to clients. The ministries of Children and Family Development and Human Resources jointly implemented enhancements to the program including an increase to the income threshold, new subsidies for families with young children and increased supplements for families with special needs children.

4. Leading the country in training Emergency Social Service volunteers

Emergency Social Services (ESS) volunteers respond to approximately 340 emergencies and assist over 2,500 British Columbians each year. The ESS Program delivers essential services such as food, lodging, clothing and emotional support during disasters. Several initiatives were undertaken in 2004/05 by the ESS program office. They include the opening of the 17th Emergency Preparedness Conference, distribution of the ESS Program Field Guide, full implementation of the BC Emergency Response Management System to the ESS program and a redesign of the ESS website.

The year's highlight was the opening of the Emergency Social Services Academy in June 2004, the first in the country. The ministry provided funding to train community volunteers through the academy. Training ESS volunteers is essential because it provides the knowledge and skills to respond to emergencies or disasters they may face in their own communities. The ESS Academy is part of the Emergency Management Division located at the Justice Institute of BC.

In 2004, over 2,500 people received emergency social services in 347 incidents resulting from landslides, apartment fires and wildfires across the province. For example, in August 2004, a community ESS team helped 20 evacuees when the Kuskanook mudslides closed a major highway in the Creston area. In January 2005, over 700 evacuees registered at ESS Reception Centres in North Vancouver, Keremeos, Merritt, Golden, Hixon, Prince George and Clearwater as a result of severe weather emergencies in those areas. ESS teams were also promptly formed to help with relief efforts in response to wildfires in the summer of 2004.

5. Expanding the Emergency Shelter Program

The Emergency Shelter Program offers shelter, food and other services to meet basic shelter, nutritional and hygiene needs of the homeless in BC communities. Cold wet weather beds operate as a seasonal extension of the Emergency Shelter Program to maximize the number of emergency shelter beds across BC during the winter months when they are most needed.

In 2004/05, the ministry increased funding for emergency shelters by $5.1 million to $18.2 million annually. The increased funding added 168 year-round emergency shelter beds and 208 cold wet weather beds. The cold wet weather strategy was expanded from five to six months and additional funding was provided for extreme cold winter weather. The ministry also allocated funds for shelters to purchase warm clothing, blankets, clothes dryers and related items.