Tuesday July 18, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated July 19, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
More than 285,000 families throughout B.C. will see bigger payments in their bank accounts starting this month, thanks to the permanently increased BC Family Benefit.
“Global inflation and higher interest rates continue to be hard on many families right now,” said Grace Lore, Minister of State for Child Care. Lore hosted the outdoor media announcement about this, in her own downtown riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill.
“The BC Family Benefit is one way we’re helping families provide the food, clothes and opportunities their kids need to have the best start possible,” Lore said in a news release today.
“The announcement acknowledges hardworking parents through reducing financial stress,” said Ravi Parmar, MLA-elect (Langford-Juan de Fuca) in a Tweet afterward.
Inflationary cost of living:
Consumers across the country are dealing with the continuing grind of inflationary impacts on the cost of nearly everything, with generally no reprieve at all in the cost of groceries. Rent levels and mortgages costs are increasing significantly in a way that most incomes cannot keep pace with.
The Bank of Canada chose to increase their base interest rate again last week (by 25 basis points to 5.0%). Their blunt tool to try and tamp down the rate of inflation back under 3.0% seems to have been achieved today (latest inflation rate — based on June 2023 — came in at 2.8% today). But all the pain caused in the economy to control interest rates falls almost entirely on people who can least afford it. And the cost of basics like groceries (as well as insurance, which pushes up the cost of nearly everything) continues to increase.
BC has shown leadership with their affordability credits, including a one-time BC Hydro credit at the end of 2022. As well, the federal government (pushed by the federal NDP) have issued additional affordability payments this year (GST payment doubled in January and also in July — called the ‘grocery rebate’ in July 2023).
BC has a website about the Cost of Living for families, at gov.bc.ca/savemoney with tips on accessing free or low-cost services, income support, direct funding and tax relief to help people offset the cost of global inflation.
Regular monthly payment:
The BC Family Benefit is a regular monthly payment from the provincial government. Eligibility is based on income and number of children. The benefit reaches families with yearly earnings below $106,908 with one child and $143,783 with three children.
As of July 2023, the benefit increased by an additional $250 per year for a two-parent family of four and as much as $750 for a single-parent family with two children. Approximately 95% of single-parent families in BC receive the benefit, with payments averaging $2,254 over the year.
Helping, amidst global economic forces:
“While we can’t control global forces, we can lower costs for people and take some pressure off families,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Finance.
“The increase to the BC Family Benefit, the expanded climate action tax credit, record investments in child care, and free contraception for everyone in B.C,” said Conroy in today’s news release.
“These are just some of the actions we’re taking to put more money in people’s pockets,” the finance minister said.
The BC government says that other recent affordability measures by the Province include a new credit for renters coming in 2024, a rent cap below this year’s inflation, and increases to the BC Family Benefit for the first three months of 2023.
How BC Family Benefit works:
- The BC Family Benefit payment is issued around the 20th day of each month.
- The payments are now 10% higher than last year, and single parents can get up to $500 a year on top of that.
- People will see their increased payments delivered through the Canada Revenue Agency combined with the federal Canada Child Benefit program.
- Eligibility is determined automatically when families register for the Canada Child Benefit.
- People who receive the BC Family Benefit also see money back through the Climate Action Tax Credit.
- The B.C. government will not contact recipients about the B.C. Family Benefit by text message. If people get a text message about the credit, it may be fraud. If unsure, contact: ITBTaxQuestions@gov.bc.ca
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends (and its genesis publications MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, and West Shore Voice News 2014-2020) delivers socioeconomic news insights about life on the west shore of south Vancouver Island.
All news is posted at IslandSocialTrends.ca . Editor Mary P Brooke has steered the publication for 15 years. Published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc. | Never miss a story: PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION SIGNUP