Reachable

Work and school: you can earn more than you think

Two fears stop people before they start. "If I work, I'll lose my benefits." "I could never afford school." Both are bigger in your head than they are on paper, and this page shows you the real numbers.

Checked on 3 September 2026

At a glance

What you can earn
If you have the PWD designation, $16,200 a year from work before your disability assistance is reduced. It is a yearly total, not a monthly limit.
What happens if you go over
Your assistance drops by the amount you went over — not by more, and never all at once. You keep every dollar of your wages.
School money
A $2,800 grant each year, plus up to $20,000 a year for tutors, note takers, interpreters and equipment. Grants are not loans. You do not pay them back.
Equipment for work
WorkBC Assistive Technology Services can buy it — for a job, a job search, self-employment or volunteering.
What it costs
Nothing. Every program on this page is free to apply for.

The fear, and the answer

Most people on disability assistance in BC believe that the first paycheque takes the cheque away. It is the single most common reason people never try.

It is not how the rules work.

BC gives every person with the PWD designation an annual earnings exemption. That is a set amount of money you can earn from work each year with no change at all to your monthly payment.

The sentence to remember

The government says it plainly: you always keep 100% of the money you earn. Even if you earn more than the exemption, your wages are yours. It is only the assistance payment that goes down, and only by the amount you went over.

You also do not have to work. Having the PWD designation means the ministry does not require you to look for a job or sign a work plan. If you want an employability plan, you can ask for one. Nobody can make you.

The $16,200 a year you can earn

These are the limits from 1 January 2026. They cover money you earn from a job or from self-employment.

BC annual earnings exemption, from 1 January 2026
Your householdYou can earn this much in the year
One person with the PWD designation$16,200
Two adults, one has PWD$23,400
Two adults, both have PWD$32,400

Four things make this better than most people expect:

Two catches, both small

Anything you do not use is lost on 31 December. It does not roll into next year.

And if you start disability assistance partway through the year, your limit is worked out from the months left in the year — not the full $16,200. Ask the ministry what your number is.

What it looks like in real numbers

A single person with PWD gets $983.50 a month in support, plus up to $500 a month for shelter, based on what you actually pay in rent. There is also a $52 transportation supplement, taken as cash or as a bus pass. Those rates took effect on 1 December 2025.

Here is what happens to that cheque as your earnings go up over a year.

A single person with PWD: earnings against the $16,200 exemption
What you earn in the year Roughly, per month What happens to your disability assistance
$3,000 About $250 Nothing changes. You have used $3,000 of your $16,200.
$9,600 About $800 Nothing changes. You have used $9,600 of your $16,200.
$16,200 About $1,350 Nothing changes. You have used the whole exemption, and your cheque has not moved all year.
$19,000 About $1,583 You went $2,800 over. Your assistance is reduced by $2,800 across the rest of the year. You still keep all $19,000 in wages.

The first three rows are the rule as the government states it. The last row is that same rule worked out: once you pass the limit, the extra is taken off your assistance dollar for dollar. Your own numbers depend on your household and your shelter costs, so check them with the ministry.

Notice what the table does not say. It does not say you lose the PWD designation. It does not say you lose your bus pass, your health supplements or your dental coverage. Going over the earnings exemption reduces one payment. It does not undo your status.

Telling the ministry, month by month

If you earn any money, you have to report it. This is the part that trips people up, and it is not hard once you know.

  1. Fill in a monthly report (form HR0081) for any month you earned money, or your family situation changed.
  2. Send it by the 5th of the following month. You can do it through My Self Serve online, or on paper.
  3. Report every month you work, even when you are nowhere near the limit. Reporting is what keeps the exemption working for you.
  4. Keep your pay stubs. If the ministry later asks about a month, the stub settles it in a minute.
  5. If you miss a report, phone 1-866-866-0800 and tell them. It is fixable. Silence is what causes trouble.

What to say when you phone the ministry before starting a job

"I have the PWD designation and I've been offered some work. I want to check my annual earnings exemption for this year — how much of it I have left, and how I report the income. Can you tell me my exact amount?"

Working for yourself

Plenty of people with disabilities work for themselves, because they can choose their own hours and their own pace. Selling art, repairing things, doing bookkeeping, driving, tutoring, sewing.

Money you earn from self-employment is treated as earned income, so it counts against the same $16,200. That part is clear.

Ask before you start, not after

What is not simple is how your business costs are handled. The ministry has a self-employment program with its own rules about which operating expenses are exempt. Whether those rules apply to you depends on how your work is set up.

We are not going to guess at your situation, because guessing here can cost you money. Phone the ministry at 1-866-866-0800 and ask, or get free help from an advocate at TAPS in Victoria, 250-361-3521. Do this before your first sale, not after.

Two more things worth knowing while you are working:

Getting the equipment you need to work

If a piece of equipment stands between you and a job, BC has a program that buys it. It is called WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, and it is badly underused.

It pays for things like:

Who can use it: you live in BC, you are 16 or older, you can legally work here, and you have a work-related barrier from a disability. You cannot be a full-time student, unless you are in your final year.

It is not only for people who already have a job. It also covers looking for work, self-employment, and volunteering that is part of a plan to get a job.

Depending on your finances, the cost is covered fully or partly. WorkBC does not publish a dollar cap — ask them what applies to you.

WorkBC Assistive Technology Services — equipment and workplace changes for work or job search

1-844-453-5506

The Victoria office is at 817A Fort Street. Open Monday to Wednesday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Thursday until 7:30 pm, and Friday 10 am to 3 pm.

Tell your employer this exists

Employers sometimes turn down an accommodation because they think they have to pay for it. Often they do not. If a chair, a screen reader or an interpreter is the sticking point, say the words "WorkBC Assistive Technology Services" and give them the number above.

Help finding work in Victoria

You do not have to job hunt alone, and you do not have to explain your disability over and over to strangers.

There is also a federal program, the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities. You do not apply to Ottawa for it. It pays local organisations to run job training, paid work placements, mentoring and self-employment help. In Victoria the funded projects include CanAssist at UVic and the Construction Foundation of BC. Ask any of the agencies above whether they run an Opportunities Fund program.

Volunteering counts

If going straight to a paid job feels like too big a step, volunteering is a real route back. It rebuilds a reference, a routine and a resume. And WorkBC will fund equipment for volunteering when it is part of a longer-term work goal.

Paying for school

Here is the part people are most surprised by. Students with disabilities in BC can get several grants at once, and grants are not loans. You do not pay them back.

Grants for students with disabilities, 2026
Grant How much What to know
Canada Student Grant for Students with Disabilities $2,800 a school year Full time or part time. This amount runs to the end of the 2026 to 2027 school year.
Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment Up to $20,000 a school year Pays the real cost of tutors, note takers, interpreters, readers, braillers, technical aids and specialised transport to school. Not based on the size of your income — based on what you actually need.
B.C. Access Grant for Students with Disabilities Up to $1,560 a year ($30 a week of study) Turns that much BC student loan into a grant. BC public post-secondary schools.
B.C. Supplemental Bursary for Students with Disabilities $800 a year, or $400 if your course load is 20% to 39% The $800 is for a course load of 40% or more. BC public schools only.

StudentAid BC also names a B.C. Access Grant for Deaf Students and a B.C. Assistance Program for Students with Disabilities. Amounts for those change, so check the current amount with StudentAid BC or your school's accessibility office.

Two details that change everything:

How to apply

  1. Apply for student aid through StudentAid BC. One application covers the federal and provincial grants. You apply even if you do not want a loan — grants come through the same door.
  2. Get your disability status verified. Log into your StudentAid BC Student Account, open the disability status application, and download the Disability Verification Form. (Older applications used a form called Appendix 8.)
  3. Have a qualified assessor complete it. That means a physician, nurse practitioner or psychologist registered to practise in Canada. The form asks them to describe how your condition limits the daily activities you need for study.
  4. Upload the signed form to your Student Account and submit.
  5. Allow about six weeks for the status to be verified. Start early — before the term, not during it.
  6. Also talk to your school's accessibility office. They write the letters for the services and equipment grant, and they know which local scholarships you can stack on top.

What to say to your college or university

"I'm applying to study and I have a disability. I need to get my disability status verified with StudentAid BC. Can your accessibility office help me with the Disability Verification Form, and tell me what documents you need for the services and equipment grant?"

If you already owe student loans

An old student loan stops a lot of people from going back to school, or from taking a job in case the payments start again. There are two ways out.

National Student Loans Service Centre — repayment assistance and disability benefits

1-888-815-4514

Money back at tax time

If you work at all, even a few hours a week, file a tax return. Two things are waiting there for people with disabilities who work.

The Canada Workers Benefit disability supplement

The Canada Workers Benefit is money paid back to people who work and earn a low income. If you also have the Disability Tax Credit, you get an extra disability supplement of up to $843 for the 2025 tax year, on top of a basic amount of up to $1,633 for a single person.

It is refundable, which means you get it even if you owe no tax. Up to half is paid in advance in July, October and January. There is no separate form to hunt down — it is Schedule 6 on your return, and tax software fills it in if you answer the disability question. Skipping that question is how the $843 goes missing.

The disability supports deduction

This one is almost invisible and it is worth real money. If you paid for supports so that you could work or go to school, you can subtract those costs from your income on line 21500.

It covers things like attendant care, sign language interpreting, note-taking, real-time captioning, job coaching, tutoring, talking textbooks, braille devices, voice recognition software, an ergonomic work chair and service animals.

Because it is a deduction rather than a credit, it lowers your net income — which can raise other income-tested payments you get. Most devices need a prescription and most services need a written note from a medical practitioner, so get that before you buy. Only the person with the disability can claim it. You work it out on Form T929.

Do not file this one alone if you can help it

The same expense can often go on the disability supports line or the medical expense line, but never both, and which one saves you more depends on your numbers. A free tax clinic will compare them for you in a few minutes.

TAPS in Victoria files taxes free, all year: 250-361-3521. See our guide to free tax help.

Your right to be accommodated

In BC, an employer has a legal duty to accommodate your disability. That is not a favour and it is not charity. It is the law under the BC Human Rights Code.

In plain terms, it means an employer has to change how the job is done so you can do it — up to the point of undue hardship. Undue hardship is a high bar. It is not "inconvenient", "unusual", or "nobody else asked for that".

Accommodation might look like:

You have a part in it too. You have to ask, give enough information about your limits (not your whole diagnosis), and take part in finding a workable answer. You do not have to hand over your medical file.

What to say to an employer or a manager

"I have a disability and I'd like to talk about an accommodation so I can do this job well. What I need is [the change]. I'm happy to get a note from my doctor about my limits. There's also a provincial program, WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, that may cover the cost of any equipment."

Put your request in writing, or send a short email afterwards saying what you asked for and when. If it later goes wrong, that email is the whole case.

If you are refused, the clock is one year

You can file a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal. There is no fee. But you generally have one year from the last incident to file. Late complaints are only accepted if the Tribunal agrees it is in the public interest and nobody is unfairly harmed by the delay.

Get free advice first. The BC Human Rights Clinic gives free legal help to people with complaints, including short appointments with a human rights lawyer, and has a Victoria office on Burdett Avenue. Disability Alliance BC runs a disability law clinic for low-income people across BC: 1-800-663-1278.

Why people miss all of this

Where to get help in Victoria

Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction — your earnings exemption, monthly reporting, anything about your cheque

1-866-866-0800

Or call the Reachable Line and we will look it up with you, out loud, at your pace. If you want to try work and you are frightened of what it will do to your cheque, that is exactly the kind of call we are here for.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page comes from a government page we read on the date shown. Amounts change, usually each January. If you are reading this long after the date at the top, phone the number above and check before you act.

Reachable is not a bank, a lawyer, or the government. This guide explains public programs in plain language so you can go and claim them. It is not financial advice about your own situation.

Call us

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