Can I appeal a decision about ODSP?

When the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) makes a decision about your assistance, they’re supposed to put it in writing. This is called a Notice of Decision.

The Notice of Decision is supposed to include the reasons for the decision.

The Notice of Decision comes from:

• the Disability Adjudication Unit, if the decision is about whether you’re a person with a disability
• your local ODSP office, if the decision is about anything else, such as whether you qualify financially

Being refused for financial reasons

Your local ODSP office decides whether you qualify financially for income support.

If they say that you don’t qualify financially and you appeal that decision, you should still go ahead with the next step in your application. You can do this while you wait for the Social Benefits Tribunal to decide about your appeal.

Completing the Disability Determination Package

For most people, the next step in their application is completing the Disability Determination Package. You do this to show that you’re a “person with a disability”.

You get a Disability Determination Package from the ODSP worker. The forms have to be completed and you have to send them to the Disability Adjudication Unit.

It’s important to do this. If you win your appeal about qualifying financially, you might be able to get income support from the date that the Disability Adjudication Unit received your completed application.

But if you’re someone who does not need to prove that they meet the ODSP definition of a "person with a disability", you don’t have to do this. This is because your application is complete when you give the local ODSP office all the information they need to decide whether you qualify financially.

If your income support is being cut off or reduced for financial reasons

You may want to contact your ODSP worker if:

• you don’t understand the decision
• you don’t understand the reasons for the decision
• you can give ODSP information that might change the decision

Talking to your worker might help. But you don’t have to do this. And if your income support is cut off or reduced because of a decision by the Disability Adjudication Unit, your worker can’t change that decision.

Getting help

For help and advice about appealing, contact a community legal clinic.

Sign and date your written request for an internal review. Make sure you keep a copy.

You can send your request by fax or mail. The address is on the Notice of Decision.

And, if your request is going to the local Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) office, you or someone else might be able to take it there.

Proving when you made your request

If you fax your letter, get a report from the fax machine to show the date the fax was sent.

If you mail it, make a note of the date you put it in the mail.

If you take the letter to your local ODSP office, ask for a receipt to prove when you delivered it.

Some decisions about income support from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) can be appealed to the Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT). 

But even if you can appeal to the SBT, you have to first ask for an internal review. See Step 2.

Decisions you can appeal

You can appeal to the SBT if the decision is about:

• qualifying financially for income support
• qualifying as a person with a disability
• qualifying as someone who does not have to prove that they’re a person with a disability
• changing the amount of income support you get
• having your income support cut off
• having an overpayment
• sending your cheque to a trustee

You can also appeal other types of decisions that affect you, such as whether:

• you or someone you live with qualifies for a special diet allowance
• ODSP will pay benefits for certain costs related to a disability, such as costs for a guide dog, hearing aids and mobility devices, and the part of the cost for an assistive device that’s not covered by the government’s Assistive Devices Program
• ODSP will give you an employment and training start-up allowance to pay for certain costs related to working or training
• ODSP will pay for certain health care supplies or travel costs that you have for medical reasons

Decisions you cannot appeal

You cannot appeal to the SBT if the decision is about:

• giving you a date for a medical review to check if you still qualify for income support as a “person with a disability”
• getting “discretionary benefits”, such as paying for a funeral
• making payments to someone else, for example, if ODSP decides to pay your rent directly to your landlord
• refusing to give you extra time to ask for an internal review

If a decision cannot be appealed

Even if the law says that a decision can’t be appealed, you can still ask for an internal review.

Explain why you think the decision should be changed and include any information that supports your reasons.

If you were refused extra time to ask for an internal review, talk to a community legal clinic about other things you might be able to do.

If you’re not sure

If you’re not sure if you can appeal the decision, you can still start an appeal.

Talk to a community legal clinic if you want to appeal a decision but aren’t sure if you can.