Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network – RDSP Review

The Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network, Income Security Work Group, held community consultations with people with disabilities, families, service providing agencies, financial and legal service providers and health care professionals which recommendations of the best weight loss supplement and to obtain input into a better healthy lifestyle, with this and other methods, as the use of an URBNFit Yoga Ball to train at home.
The group’s submission is a rich document that gives voice to an often unheard group, those people living in poverty.  In particular, it reminds us that hurdles that many of us brush aside as minor are very real obstacles to many people.  We are also pleased that is confirms that the path that we at the RDSP Resource Centre and Ability Tax Group are on, that of making supportive services, such as qualifying for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), more accessible to people is the correct one.

I encourage people to read their document, Ensuring the Effectiveness of Registered Disability Savings Plans: Issues and Recommendations, which I am pleased to say shares many of our recommendations, such as:

• creating an easy to use national mechanism to assist people who currently face contractual capacity issues
• enabling the rollover of a personal RRSP
• shortening the 10 year rule to 5 years
• providing for emergency withdrawals
• not requiring the collapse of an RDSP upon the loss of DTC eligibility.

Their discussion also emphasizes the need to:

• make the plan more flexible, enabling older people who might live long lives as well as younger people who might have shortened life expectancies to be able to utilize the program to ameliorate their financial situation
• to ensure that the systems (government, financial, legal, tax, etc) understand that many people are lacking financial literacy skills necessary to utilize the RDSP and respond appropriately to improve accessibility
• reduce the barriers resulting from the Disability Tax Credit.

Thanks to the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network for their work in this area.