The Ministry of Social Services received six recommendations from Provincial Auditor Tara Clemott on improving the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program.

Clemett found that the Ministry needs to improve in six key areas:

• Provide potential clients with better access to apply for SIS benefits
• Establish a reasonable timeframe for completing initial planning meetings with SIS clients requiring support
• Regularly follow up with clients on their individualized case plan goals
• Provide referrals (e.g., to employment services, addictions counselling) consistently and follow up on referrals timely
• Periodically analyze overall causes of SIS client evictions and unpaid utilities
• Implement further performance measures to assess SIS’s effectiveness

The report found that while the Ministry provides potential clients with options to apply for SIS online, over the phone, or in person, they found the application process is not easily accessible for potential clients. They found the Ministry received over 255,000 calls to its SIS phone line (including almost 50,000 calls specific to SIS applications) over six months, with over 60 per cent of those calls going unanswered.

Peter Gilmer, an advocate with the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry, said he wasn’t surprised by the auditors finding.

“The report identifies many of the concerns that we have identified over the course of the last four years since the SIS program initially came into effect in the summer of 2019. We know and have known right from the beginning that there are significant issues in terms of people being able to connect with the Ministry.”

“We are not surprised to hear about the amount of unreturned calls or the inability of people to get through,” he continued. “That’s something that we hear every day from people. Making it easier for people to make that connection is something that we see as important.”

Gilmer said that ensuring a prompt response from the Ministry is very important.

“People don’t make a call to social services generally unless they’re at a point of desperation. When people are in survival mode, they’re desperate, and they need to connect. Making that process as easy as possible is certainly important.”

Gilmer said that too much is spent on connecting people with the Ministry.

“We know that too much time is spent on people being forced into survival mode, having to jump through hoops to gain benefits, jumping through hoops to maintain benefits, and that’s time that’s being spent doing what’s possible in terms of moving into the workforce.”

The report also listed that data obtained from SaskPower and SaskEnergy found over 5,200 SIS client accounts outstanding for more than 30 days with unpaid amounts greater than $100, almost $4.2 million.

“That was really the first thing that we identified back in 2019,” Gilmer said. “The biggest problem with the SIS program was the wrapping of basic utilities of power, energy, and water, along with basic phones, into what’s a very inadequate shelter allowance. Looking at moving to the actual cost of utilities of basic utilities is something that we as being absolutely essential.”

Gilmer said they saw their highest caseload in the Anti-Poverty Ministry’s history in 2022, with those numbers continuing in 2023. The highest growth in their caseload was dealing with utility coverage.

“In the SIS program, there’s not a remedy for that. We think that the auditor highlighted some very important concerns that have been raised again and again by the community, and we certainly hope the provincial government takes them seriously.”

Gilmer said he is happy to see the auditor’s report but would have liked to see the auditor take their review of the SIS program further.

“I think that it could have looked at the adequacy piece a little more closely. I think that our benefits are and continue to be very inadequate, and I think that’s something that potentially should have been highlighted along with the service provision question.”

It will now be up to the Government of Saskatchewan to implement changes.