Seed money

A report from the NSCSW Council Treasurer

Our Context

Spring is budget season, and the Nova Scotia government has no more money for social assistance this year. Despite the increasing cost of living, including ever-climbing grocery prices, Nova Scotians receiving provincial assistance are being “targeted” for support with benefits for specific causes such as rent and the cost of raising children. Rather than supporting Nova Scotians to live with dignity and decide for themselves where they most need to spend, Premier Tim Houston claims his government is “supporting people in the ways that we think we can best support them.”

In their 2022 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-NS) details how government transfers can directly affect those living in poverty, provide money to feed people, and combat the growing price of food and other aspects of living – NSCSW and our policy partner CCPA-NS recommend substantial increases to income assistance.

There is much to be hopeful about, as Nova Scotians are resilient and tenacious. We call for our provincial government to make the kind of substantial investment in people that is required to pull us out from shameful levels of poverty and destitution. We’ve been doing more with less for a long time; let’s do even more with more investment.

Our Money

This past year we have used our resources to realize our mission of protecting the public and supporting social workers in their professional practice. We are so fortunate and appreciative of our dedicated staff and volunteers who seamlessly integrate our strategic goals and vision through their day to day work, producing excellent results.

Due to a modest fee increase, some advertising revenue, and a new policy requiring out-ofprovince telepractice registration, our revenue increased substantially. As has been the trend over the past few years, licensing and application revenues came in above projected and this has placed us with $80,000 more income than expected.

The usual diligence and accountability of College staff have kept our expenses on track for this past year. The trend of high rates of complaints continues, however the College was able to spend less on legal fees as our complaints committee and College staff become more knowledgeable about the intricacies of this difficult process.

We are all experiencing the frustrations of rising costs and our College expenses are likewise subject to increasing costs. Insurance and bookkeeping are just two of the services we require which have increased in price. College staff continue to find creative and responsible ways to manage our finances and get the best service for our money. Our commitment to investing in the people who make our College run makes this creativity possible.

We will institute a 1% increase on membership fees for 2023. These small, annual increases provide the College with the resources necessary to address increasing costs for services and other business and support the College with realizing our purpose. Surplus monies are allocated to special projects which fulfill our mandate of protecting the public. Advocating with our clients in the health, child welfare, and correctional systems is an essential aspect of our role and is meant to amplify your voices as you advocate for your clients directly in the work that you do.

Our Future Plans

Revenues are projected to be more than $1 million again this year. We remain committed to dispersing and stewarding these funds with utmost care.

As mentioned, costs are rising and we have prepared a budget that is responsive to those increases. We will continue to invest in decent salary and benefit packages for staff and are proud to continue to bring on more staff as the work of the College grows.

For the first time in three years we will see our staff out on the road and travel costs have been adjusted accordingly.

We have committed to compensating expertise that we rely upon for the business of the College, such as we have in the past few years for the complaints committee, so 2023 will see the introduction of a spending category for our decolonizing social work committee as

Our partners at the Canadian Association of Social Workers have increased membership fees; we are prepared to cover that increase as they are such an invaluable resource for our members, both to stay connected to the profession of social work in other jurisdictions and also the continuing education opportunities for our members.

We are proposing a $5200 surplus for 2024, and with Council consideration and approval we will continue to allocate that surplus to special projects for essential advocacy work.

Due to responsible management, we have a surplus of $84,000 for 2022, which will be allocated to our special projects, as usual. We have for another year maintained the balance required by our governance policies in both the operational fund at $639,346 and the discipline fund at $219,121.

Our total assets as of December 31, 2022, were $1,776,662

BY KATE MATHESON PREST, NSCSW TREASURER

References

Seguin, N. (2023, March 24). N.S. Budget doesn’t raise income assistance rates, shocks anti-poverty advocates | CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ nova-scotia/ns-income-assistance-ratesunchanged-1.6788662