The Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), which will start dispersing funds next month, will cost the federal government $6.5 billion over the next five years, according to a Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) report released Thursday.
The CDB received $6.1 billion of funding over six years in the 2024 federal budget. It estimated that 600,000 Canadians would benefit from the program.
The program will provide monthly payments of up to $200 to eligible people with disabilities aged between 18 and 64. The amount will be indexed to inflation and vary based on the income and marital status of the recipients and their spouses.
The CDB will cost $1.2 billion in the 2026-27 fiscal year (the first full year of payments), increasing to $1.6 billion in 2029-30, according to the PBO
Administrative costs were assumed to be 2% of the benefit cost, in line with the PBO’s 2023 CDB report.
There is uncertainty on assumptions for the CDB take-up rate and the growth of the take-up over time. There is also uncertainty around the projections of income, disability severity and inflation.
Last week, the Ontario government pledged not to claw back CDB payments for several provincial benefit programs, joining Nunavut, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador in the same commitment.