Program directory · Employment and Social Development Canada
Canada Emergency Response Benefit
- Department
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Program code
- BGO24 (HRSD)
- Core responsibility
- Learning, Skills Development and Employment
- In Departmental Plans
- 2021-22 – 2024-25 · Appeared and later dropped
What it does
Part of the Government’s Covid19 Economic Response Plan, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) provided a taxable benefit of $2000 every 4 weeks for up to 28 weeks to eligible workers who had stopped working or whose work hours were reduced due to Covid19. Canadian residents who were at least 15 years old and had employment or self-employment income of at least $5000 in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to application were eligible for the CERB. To deliver payments to Canadians in a fast and easy way, the CERB was jointly delivered by Service Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency on an attestation basis.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2020-21. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Emergency Response Benefit | This program | 2020-21 – 2026-27 | $41.2B |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | Employees (FTEs) 293, against 11 in 2020-21 (+2564%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2021-22 | Spending $186M, against $40.7B in 2020-21 (−100%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Employees (FTEs) 228, against 293 in 2021-22 (−22%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Spending $132M, against $186M in 2021-22 (−29%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Indicators added: Total number of unique CERB beneficiaries. | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Indicators dropped: Number of successful Canada Emergency Recovery Benefit applications processed in the first week (April 6 - April 10 2020) | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Spending $92.1M, against $132M in 2022-23 (−30%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2024-25 | Spending $50.3M, against $92.1M in 2023-24 (−45%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025 | Budget 2025 measure “Continuing Collection of Emergency Benefits Overpayments”: $123M in total over its years (linked to this program by name, a best-effort match). | Budget 2025, PDF page 233 |
| 2025 | Budget 2025 measure “Ensuring the Integrity of Emergency COVID-19 Benefits”: $6M in total over its years (linked to this program by name, a best-effort match). | Budget 2025, PDF page 286 |
| 2025-26 | Planned employees (FTEs) 0, against 206 in 2024-25 (−100%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2026-27 | Planned spending $2.1M, against $62.4M in 2025-26 (−97%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Not applicable | — | Not available The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was an emergency response measure, commencing in March 2020 and concluding in December of 2020, to quickly support Canadians who had stopped working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the CERB concluded in December 2020, there are no further results available. The program remains as wind down activities continue. Actual results were reported in 2021-22. | No result reported |
| 2024-25 | Not applicable | 2025 | Not available The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was an emergency response measure, commencing in March 2020 and concluding in December of 2020, to quickly support Canadians who had stopped working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the CERB concluded in December 2020, there are no further results available. Actual results were reported in 2021-2022. The program remains in the program inventory due to… | No result reported |
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | — | 2022 | 3139980 The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is a temporary response that commenced in March 2020 and concluded in December of 2020, to quickly support Canadians who stopped working due to the pandemic. Given the nature of the program and the exceptional circumstances in which it was created, there was no data to inform target development or set a baseline. A target was not set for this indicator… | No result reported |
| 2022-23 | Not applicable | 2023 | Not available The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was an emergency response measure, beginning in March 2020 and concluding in December of 2020, to quickly support Canadians who had stopped working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the CERB concluded in December 2020, there are no further results available. Actual results were reported in 2021-2022. | No result reported |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
No indicators in the 2026-27 plan.
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | — | $40.7B |
| 2021-22 | $10.5B | $186M |
| 2022-23 | $217M | $132M |
| 2023-24 | $122M | $92.1M |
| 2024-25 | $89.2M | $50.3M |
| 2025-26 | $62.4M* | — |
| 2026-27 | $2.1M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | — | 11 |
| 2021-22 | 306 | 293 |
| 2022-23 | 298 | 228 |
| 2023-24 | 260 | 241 |
| 2024-25 | 180 | 206 |
| 2025-26 | 0* | — |
| 2026-27 | 0* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 plan | $10,513,483,353 | $85,944,185 | $60,369,168 | |||
| 2022-23 plan | $216,581,685 | $103,736,593 | $92,814,201 | |||
| 2023-24 plan | $122,448,473 | $87,365,111 | $60,294,453 | |||
| 2024-25 plan | $89,238,849 | $62,424,172 | $2,131,202 | |||
| Actual | $185,617,478 | $131,541,918 | $92,061,143 | $50,285,620 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
