Province pays $35M to staff helping vulnerable people through caregiver wage support program

The province says has now distributed the full $35 million that was earmarked for people providing direct or residential care to vulnerable Manitobans during the pandemic as part its caregiver wage support program.

The program was announced last November for workers at personal care homes or in disability services, child welfare services, homeless and family violence prevention shelters or long-term care facilities.

To qualify, they needed to be making less than $25/hour.

The province processed close to 20,000 claims worth about $19 million in the second half of the program, says a news release, with each applicant receiving an average of $940 each.

In the first half of the program, more than $16.3 million was distributed to 19,400 applicants, each of whom received an average payout of over $850.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional demands on caregivers and they have risen to the challenge to protect our most vulnerable Manitobans," Families Minister Rochelle Squires said in a news release.

The program was partly funded by $17 million from the federal government.