Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefit (CRCB)

The proposed Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefit (CRCB) would provide a $500 taxable benefit for up to 26 weeks per household for workers who miss at least 50% of their normal time at work during a week to care for someone for reasons due to COVID-19.

Reasons that a worker could claim the CRCB include caring for a child under 12 or another family member[^1] 12 or over who cannot be left alone without supervision: whose school, childcare, or other type of care program is closed due to COVID-19; whose normal caregiver cannot provide care due to COVID-19; or who is staying home because they have an increased risk of severe health consequences if they become infected with COVID-19.

Eligible workers must have earned at least $5,000 in any of 2019, 2020, or the span of 12 months before they apply for the CRCB and are ineligible for the CRCB if they are receiving certain other benefits (e.g. the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, EI benefits). This benefit would be available from September 27, 2020 to September 25, 2021.[^2]

PBO developed a model to predict which households would become eligible for the CRCB. Beneficiaries would be households in which a parent or independent adult must be absent from work to care for a child under 12 or family member 12 or over who must stay home due to COVID-19.

Combining COVID-19 projections, data from Quebec school closures, class sizes from different provinces, and childcare information, the model estimated the monthly number of households affected by school or childcare closures for children. The number of households in which children would stay home from school or childcare for the whole eligibility period was based on information about children’s underlying health conditions. Caregiver-related tax credit data was used to estimate the number of CRCB beneficiaries among households with family members 12 or over frequiring care.

Due to the CRCB being a taxable benefit, federal income tax rates were based on households who were expected to use the program.

PBO estimates total net cost of this measure to be $1.188 billion in 2020-21 and $214 million in 2021-22.

Due to limited data availability on care services for adults who need supervision, there is uncertainty about the usage of the CRCB amongst their caregivers.  

In addition, the estimates depend on the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic among children and variation in parents’ choices about children’s school and childcare attendance. Any significant increases in COVID-19 cases amongst children would result in much higher costs of the program.

Furthermore, the estimates are sensitive to how the program is administered.

• Estimates are presented on an accrual basis as would appear in the budget and public accounts.
• A positive number implies a deterioration in the budgetary balance (lower revenues or higher spending). A negative number implies an improvement in the budgetary balance (higher revenues or lower spending).
• “-“ = PBO does not expect a financial cost