Caregiver benefits

Two EI special benefits cover the weeks when you must stop working to care for a family member. Compassionate care benefits are for a family member who is seriously ill with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. Family caregiver benefits are for a family member who is critically ill or injured and needs the care or support of another person — 35 weeks for a child, 15 weeks for an adult. Both need 600 insurable hours (for employees), a medical certificate, and the same 55% benefit rate and annual maximum as other EI benefits.

The two benefits are easy to confuse, and the distinction matters: compassionate care turns on a prognosis (a significant risk of death within 26 weeks), while family caregiver turns on the need for care (a critical illness or injury, regardless of prognosis). The same illness can qualify for one and not the other, and a family can move from one to the other as a condition changes — but the weeks are counted separately, and the medical certificate must match the benefit claimed.

Compassionate care: 26 weeks, shared

Compassionate care benefits can be shared among family members who apply and qualify — for example, two adult children can split the 26 weeks while caring for a dying parent, taking the weeks at the same time or in turns. The medical certificate must state that the family member is seriously ill with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks; it is issued by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner. The 26 weeks are counted within a 52-week window that starts with the first week of the claim, and weeks do not have to be consecutive. If the family member's condition stabilizes and the risk of death within 26 weeks no longer applies, further compassionate care weeks may stop — but family caregiver benefits may then be available if the person remains critically ill and needs care.

Family caregiver: 35 weeks for a child, 15 for an adult

Family caregiver benefits are for a child under 18, or an adult family member, who is critically ill or injured and requires the care or support of another person. "Critically ill" means the person's baseline state of health has significantly changed and their life is at risk as a result of the illness or injury — a broader test than compassionate care's prognosis test, and one that covers serious accidents and sudden critical illness as well as long-term conditions. The benefit can also be shared among family members, and — like compassionate care — it can be taken in separate blocks rather than all at once, as long as the weeks fall within the 52-week window.

For children, a related benefit exists for parents whose child has died or disappeared as a result of a probable crime: the Canadian Benefit for Parents of Young Victims of Crime provides income support for up to 35 weeks. It is administered separately from EI, but families in that situation should ask Service Canada about it, because it is frequently missed.

Applying: certificates, timing, and sharing

Apply as soon as you stop working, and obtain the medical certificate promptly — the certificate must be signed by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner (for compassionate care, the certificate includes the prognosis statement). If more than one family member will share the benefit, each person applies separately and the weeks are coordinated through the claims; the total for one family member cannot exceed the maximum. A 1-week waiting period applies, as with other EI claims. If you are already receiving another EI benefit when the need for care arises, you can switch benefit types within the same benefit period, subject to the 50-week combined cap described in the sickness and parental guide.

Sources to check: Service Canada, EI compassionate care benefits; EI family caregiver benefits; Canada.ca, Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles, Chapters 22 and 23 (caregiver maxima).