Survey for the Evaluation of the Take-Up of the Guaranteed Income Supplement

This requirement is for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

Title:

Survey for the Evaluation of the Take-Up of the Guaranteed Income Supplement

Objective:

The Contractor will be required to conduct a survey with approximately 1,000 individuals aged 65 or over (as of January 1, 2017) who: (1) do not file income taxes; (2) are not in receipt of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS); and (3) are eligible for the GIS. The purpose of the survey will be to gather information on reasons why some Canadian seniors who may be eligible for GIS benefits do not receive them. The survey will be conducted by telephone and will have an average expected duration of approximately 10-15 minutes. The purpose of the survey will be to enrich the information collected from other sources in order to address the relevant evaluation questions.

Background Statement:

The GIS is a monthly benefit that provides additional income to low-income seniors in receipt of the Old Age Security (OAS) pension. Its objective is to ensure, together with the OAS pension, a basic minimum level of income for seniors with little or no other income. 

Guaranteed Income Supplement take-up has remained a top priority since 2001, when a Parliamentary committee recommended that work continue in identifying and contacting elderly persons who might be eligible for the GIS.[1] The 2012 evaluation of the OAS program found that take-up increased from 75% to 87% over the 1996 to 2006 period.[2] Despite this increase, a significant number of eligible Canadian seniors remain without this benefit (based on 2006 data of 1,587,301 GIS recipients and a take-up rate of 87%, this implies that there were 237,182 GIS-eligible non-recipients in 2006). Given this gap between those eligible to receive the benefit and those in receipt, this evaluation focuses on continuing to examine take-up and barriers to take-up since the last evaluation period ending in 2006. The question of whether results (e.g. the GIS impact on reducing poverty) line up with program objectives (ensuring a minimum level of income for seniors) has been extensively researched and evidence has already established that this is the case. For this reason, identifying ways to increase GIS take-up will contribute to improving program results and reduce poverty among seniors.

An evaluation plan with two phases has been developed, with a focus on examining how GIS take-up has changed since the 2010 GIS take-up evaluation (which reported take-up rates up to 2006), barriers among GIS-eligible seniors, and the effectiveness of efforts being made to increase take-up. Phase 2 includes a number of lines of evidence, of which this survey is one line of evidence.

Proposed period of contract:

The contract period is estimated to be from the date of contract award to May 1, 2019.

File Number: 100009710

Contracting Authority: Melissa Bechamp

E-mail: melissa.bechamp@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

[1] In December 2001, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities published a report titled “The Guaranteed Income Supplement: The Duty to Reach All”. In that report, the Committee recommended that Human Resources Development Canada and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency continue to work together to identify and directly contact elderly persons who might be eligible for the GIS.

[2] The evaluation report is available at http://www12.edsc.gc.ca/sgpe-pmps/p.5bd.2t.1.3ls@-eng.jsp?pid=6655.