The Personal Injury Protection Plan (PIPP) covers people injured in motor vehicle accidents who, at the time of the accident, were caring for children under the age of 16 or a person who can’t work. Coverage is split into categories: Full-time Caregiver and Part-time Caregiver.
Full-time caregivers
Full-time caregivers are eligible for a Caregiver Weekly Indemnity when:
- Your main job before the accident was caring for a child or children under the age of 16 or a person who couldn’t hold employment because of poor physical or mental health. “Care” includes bathing, dressing, feeding, lifting and supervising. It doesn’t include housekeeping-type activities, such as doing laundry and cleaning. If you can’t continue to do these household tasks because of injuries sustained in the accident, personal assistance coverage applies.
- You can no longer continue to provide this care because of your injuries.
The weekly amount of the Caregiver Weekly Indemnity depends on how many children under the age of 16 or people who can’t work you were caring for at the time of the accident. The indemnity will be adjusted when circumstances change, such as when a 15-year-old turns 16.
If, 180 days after the accident, your injuries continue to prevent you from caring for children under the age of 16 or a person who can’t work, you have a choice. You can receive income replacement based on your determined employment or you can continue to receive the Caregiver Weekly Indemnity. After 180 days, you cannot receive both income replacement and the Caregiver Weekly Indemnity. This choice does not apply if you were regularly incapable of holding employment, or 65 years or older and did not hold remunerative employment at the time of the accident. Your case manager will explain this choice to you in more detail.
Part-time caregivers
Part-time caregivers are eligible to have dependent care expenses reimbursed when:
- You cared for a child or children under the age of 16 or an infirm adult part-time before the accident.
- You can no longer continue to provide this care because of your injuries.
- You were working full-time, working 28 hours or more per week part-time, or were attending school full-time.
Coverage for dependent care expenses helps pay for hiring someone to take over your caregiving duties when the injuries you sustained in the collision prevent you from performing them. The expenses must be related to the injuries sustained in the accident and not routine expenses you were paying before the accident.
You’re only eligible for the coverage if you don’t have a spouse or if your spouse can’t take over your care giving duties because of work, studies, disability or illness.
We reimburse the actual caregiving expenses you have up to a weekly maximum. Please see the PIPP benefits page for the maximum amounts payable this year.
We need legible copies of your receipts to reimburse you for dependent care expenses. Please make sure they are dated and identify the care provided and the person or company who provided it.
Please remember to send us legible copies and not the original receipts which, if submitted, will not be returned.
Caring for a person who can’t work
The Caregiver Weekly Indemnity and the reimbursement of caregiver expenses are available if you can’t care for a person over the age of 16 who is regularly unable to work for whatever reason – such as a mental or physical disability – when you were caring for that person at the time of the accident. We consider your answers to the following questions to determine if an adult is unemployable and relies on your care:
- Is the person unable to hold employment?
- What type of care were you providing to this person?
- How do the collision injuries prevent you from providing this care?
If you have been in a collision and have questions about caregiver expenses or and the coverage you may be eligible for under PIPP, please contact your case manager.