The Government of Alberta has procedures to respond to emergency situations where a learner household requires immediate financial assistance.

Whenever possible the procedures outlines in the Emergency Benefits policy should be used.

Not all emergency allowances require emergency processing. Examples of situations requiring emergency processing include:

• learner household does not have safe accommodation (e.g., resulting from a fire, or fleeing an abusive situation)
• there is a threat to the health or safety of the learner and/or a member of the learner’s household (e.g., no heating source in cold winter weather)

POLICY

The Government of Alberta may consider emergency processing using the following guidelines:

• The situation occurred due to unforeseeable circumstances,
• The situation was beyond the control of that person,
• The situation presents a serious health or safety risk, and
• The learner cannot wait for the next benefit period or access other resources.

PROCEDURE

If emergency processing is being requested because of delays in normal processing of an EMP 5569 Learner Income Support Application (Full Time Study), the following questions should be considered:

• Has a freeze been placed on the learner’s award?
• Are there any outstanding information requests that the applicant has not responded to?

Procedures are established for emergencies that are during working hours and outside working hours. Before issuing an emergency benefit the following questions should be asked:

• has an emergency allowance already been issued for the same situation?
• does the learner have access to alternate sources of funding to deal with the emergency?

If no alternate sources of funding are available, determine the learner’s eligibility for an emergency allowance.

Emergency During Working Hours

If a learner or a member of the learner’s household has an emergency situation that can be reported to the Government of Alberta during regular working hours:

1. The learner contacts the Learner Income Support Office (LISO) toll free at 1‑800‑222‑6485 or in Edmonton at 780‑427‑3722.

LISO:  

1. Issues the appropriate emergency allowance benefit.
2. Records this activity in Mobius Notes to document the reason for issuing the benefit, the amount of benefit(s) issued to the learner, and any other relevant information.

Benefits issued through LISO are direct deposit whenever possible.

Emergency Outside Working Hours

If a learner or a member of the learner’s household has an emergency situation that must be reported to the Government of Alberta outside of regular working hours:

• The learner contacts the Income Support Contact Centre (ISCC) toll-free in Alberta at 1‑866‑644‑5135 or in Edmonton at 780‑644‑5135.
• ISCC:
  1. Confirms that an emergency allowance has not already been issued for the same emergency situation.
  2. Determines if the learner has access to alternate sources of funding to deal with the emergency.
  3. If no alternate sources of funding are available, determine the learner’s eligibility for an emergency allowance.
  4. Issues the appropriate emergency allowance benefit.
  5. Enters comments in Mobius Notes to document the reason for issuing the benefit, the amount of benefit(s) issued, and any other relevant information.

If abuse of the emergency process is suspected, an alert and Notes are entered on the Mobius system. An alert may influence the Government of Alberta's decisions to provide emergency assistance to a learner in the future.

APPROVAL

Learner Benefit Coordinator, LISO
Advisor, ISCC