Program Overview

Gift cards may be used in exceptional circumstances to address specific needs of clients who are facing barriers in reaching their employment goals. An exceptional circumstance includes, but is not limited to, clients that are facing immediate financial hardship and require the urgent purchase of resources. Decisions should always be based on value for money.

Service providers must obtain itemized receipts verifying that gift cards were used to purchase eligible items. All receipts must be retained in the client file.

In this case, service providers are encouraged to purchase the item for the client.

No, gift cards may not be used to reward clients for participating in Employment Ontario activities.

Gift cards for gas may be considered as a last resort if public transportation is not available, for example, in rural or remote communities. They should not be purchased in bulk and may not be purchased in denominations greater than $100. Receipts for gas cards must be retained, and if possible, receipts for the gas purchases should be obtained as well.

Service providers may use gift cards from these stores in exceptional circumstances and must ensure they obtain receipts verifying that gift cards were used to purchase eligible items. All receipts must be retained in the client file. However, the recommended approach would be for the service provider to purchase supports with their corporate account on behalf of the client.

No, gift cards should only be purchased as needed.

These gift cards may be used in exceptional circumstances to address the specific needs of clients who are facing barriers in reaching their employment goals. Service providers must obtain receipts verifying that gift cards were used to purchase eligible items. All receipts must be retained in the client file.

Service providers must obtain receipts verifying that gift cards were used to purchase eligible items. All receipts must be retained in the client file.

Service providers must attempt to recover the funds for the unverified purchase pursuant to the wrongdoing clauses in their transfer payment agreements.

Service providers must attempt to recover the funds for the value of the ineligible purchase pursuant to the wrongdoing clauses in their transfer payment agreements.

A client with a balance remaining on their gift card must return it to the service provider.

No, service providers should review the Audit and Accountability Requirements (Schedule “H”) of their transfer payment agreements to determine appropriate program-specific use of financial supports.

The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is launching direct-to-participant follow-up surveys for SDF-TS Round 4 participants via SurveyMonkey, an external survey platform. The follow-up data collection strategy will collect SDF-TS R4 participant outcomes at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up timepoints post programming.

Please note: This SurveyMonkey-based follow-up strategy was designed for SDF-TS Round 4 only. Transfer Payment Recipients (TPRs) will be responsible for collecting SDF-TS Round 5 follow-up data using Employment Ontario Information System – Case Management System (EOIS-CaMS).

The surveys are designed to capture the experiences of participants over time to see if the program is meeting participant needs, and to measure the impact of the program based on participants’ employment outcomes. This survey is to bolster data collection efforts through tracking more robust participant outcome data.

Only SDF-TS Round 4 workforce development full-service participants who have provided their contact information will be contacted.

The ministry-based Employment Ontario Contact Centre (EOCC) will be available to receive calls from participants to answer questions and complete follow-up surveys over the phone for participants who choose this option.

The ministry-based Notify application tool will be used to send participants SMS/text-based reminders to complete the survey via e-mail.

The Round 4 follow-up strategy will commence April 2025 and continue until March 31, 2026. Follow-up surveys will collect 3-, 6-, and 12-month outcome data from participants after program completion.

The 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up surveys were designed for the following reasons:

• Assessing longer-term outcomes: Multiple data collection checkpoints inform the impacts of training on participant outcomes over time.
• Increasing opportunities for participation: Multiple checkpoints provide additional chances for participants to respond if they haven’t previously.

Follow-up surveys further support the ministry in making continuous improvements to programming to better serve Ontarians.

Participants will be contacted via SurveyMonkey to the e-mail address they provided their service providers. The ministry will also send automated SMS/text-based reminders via the Notify application to participants who provided a phone number to their service providers.

Yes, participants can choose to opt out at any time from receiving future survey invitation e-mails and/or SMS/text-based reminders. Instructions on how to opt out will be outlined in survey-related correspondence sent to participants.

Yes, participation is optional.

Yes, survey participation does not affect eligibility/participation in any future Employment Ontario or other ministry programming.

Participants will have 28 days to respond to each survey. After that period, the survey link will be deactivated and no longer accept responses.

No, all participants will receive a new survey link at each of the three follow-up checkpoints, even if they didn’t complete the previous survey(s). One exception is participants who withdrew from Skills Development Fund programming; those participants will only receive the 3-month follow-up survey.

Participant data will only be reported at an aggregate level. No personal identifiers will be used in reporting. All data collection protocols will adhere to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

We do not know at this time if and when survey results will be shared. If results are shared, they will be reported at an aggregate level; no personal identifiers will be reported.

The surveys will not directly ask participants to provide personally identifiable information. However, participant responses will be linked to the e-mail address used to send them the survey. Therefore, participant responses will not be anonymous. However, as mentioned earlier, all survey data will be reported at an aggregate level. No personally identifiable information will be reported.

Beginning in Round 5, Skills Development Fund Training Stream (SDF-TS) will be onboarded to the Employment Ontario Information System – Case Management System (EOIS-CaMS) to improve data collection and reporting processes for workforce development full-service participants.

Transfer Payment Recipients will be responsible for conducting follow-up surveys for Round 5 at multiple time intervals and recording this data in EOIS-CaMS.

Please contact skillsdevelopmentsurvey@ontario.ca for more information.