Disability supplement must be flexible: advocate

The New Brunswick government should be more flexible when it comes to handing out disability supplements aftera man was cut off for earning $1.70 too much, according to an advocate for the poor.

The rules governing disability supplements flared up when a Moncton man with multiple sclerosis came forward with his situation where he lost his annual $1,000 cheque because his federal disability pension put him over the limit.

'If we start being flexible then that changes the cutoff point for the program.' Alison Aiton, Department of Social Development

Laura Selig, a member of the Greater Moncton Homelessness steering committee, said the provincial government should start dealing with these delicate situations on a case-by-case basis.

Selig said it might be better for the man to not receive that $1.70.

"Really what does that do for him each month? It might buy him, well not even hardly a loaf of bread whereas $1,000 could make quite a difference as he prepares for the winter,"she said.

Kennedy's monthly federal disability cheque is $619, which is $1.70 over the provincial cutoff for the disability supplement.

Kennedy said for the past three years that disability supplement gave him enough money to help pay his heating bills.

Not possible to be flexible

Alison Aiton, the director of communications for the Department of Social Development, said it's not possible to be flexible in this situation.

"As with any program there's a cutoff for a reason," Aiton said.

"At a certain point, you have to say that people aren't eligible for programs. And so, you know, if we start being flexible then that changes the cutoff point for the program."

The provincial government has been giving out the annual disability supplement since 2000.

Aiton said she could notsay how many others are in the same situation as Kennedy and no longer qualify for the supplement this year.