Alberta confirmed Wednesday that new payment processing software sent out incorrect AISH and ADAP amounts for August. Some people got too much, some got too little, some got nothing at all.
Press secretary Jonah Pickle told CBC News about 2 per cent of recipients were affected. The province's notice on alberta.ca says outstanding benefit payments will be processed by the end of the month, meaning Friday, July 31.
That accounts for the mistake. It does not account for the other two things that changed this month, and plenty of people looking at a smaller deposit are looking at policy rather than a bug.
If you have no money for food or rent tonight
Sort that out before working out whose fault it is.
The Income Support Contact Centre runs 24 hours at 1-866-644-5135. Emergency assistance exists for exactly this and you don't have to wait for the correction to clear.
Dial 211 to reach food banks and emergency supports in your community.
If a rent payment or pre-authorized debit bounced, tell your landlord or the biller in writing that the province has publicly acknowledged a payment system failure. The alberta.ca notice is a dated public statement and you can point them to it.
The glitch
It came out of the rollout of new payment processing software, arriving on top of the AISH to ADAP transition that took effect July 1. August is the first full benefit period under the new system and it broke on the first run.
It went in both directions. If you received more than you should have, don't spend it. It gets reconciled, and reconciliation comes off future payments.
Two per cent sounds small. Roughly 79,000 Albertans were receiving AISH before the transition, so the figure likely lands somewhere near 1,600 households, though the province has not published a number and has not confirmed the current combined caseload.
Couples lost 12 per cent, deliberately
This one is policy and it will not be reversed.
From the August benefit period onward, where two adults in the same household both receive disability income assistance, each partner gets 88 per cent of the maximum individual benefit instead of the full amount. Alberta's stated reasoning is that it reflects shared household costs and matches how other jurisdictions structure couples' benefits.
Run it against the published rates and the size becomes clear. AISH's 2026 maximum is $1,940 a month, so 88 per cent is $1,707.20, a reduction of $232.80 per person. ADAP's core benefit is $1,740, so 88 per cent is $1,531.20, down $208.80. For a couple both on AISH that is $465.60 less every month. Both on ADAP, $417.60. Those are our calculations against the province's published maximums.
One thing Alberta has not clarified. Clients who moved from AISH to ADAP in July receive $1,740 plus a $200 transition benefit, totalling $1,940. The province says the 88 per cent applies to the maximum individual benefit, but has not said publicly whether that means 88 per cent of the $1,740 core rate or of the $1,940 total. The difference between those readings is roughly $24 a month per person. If you are in a couple and transitioned in July, that ambiguity is worth putting to your worker directly.
Child benefit rates were rewritten this month too
Also effective with the August benefit period, and also not an error.
Monthly child benefits under both programs are now $300 for the first child, $117 for the second, $88 for the third, $59 for the fourth, and $30 for each one after.
Alberta says the recalibration accounts for other child-related supports including the federal Canada Child Benefit, and that roughly 7,000 families will see their child benefits increase. Families with one child come out ahead, since the previous first-child rate was lower. Larger families should compare July and August line by line rather than looking at totals, because the direction of this change depends entirely on how many children are in the household.
The $200 that should still be showing up
AISH clients moved to ADAP in July receive a $200 monthly transition benefit, holding their financial benefit at the previous AISH amount until December 31, 2027. A transitioned client who was receiving the AISH maximum should still see $1,940 in total, made up of the $1,740 ADAP core plus the $200 top-up.
That is the most useful number for diagnosing your own payment. ADAP's permanent rate does sit $200 below AISH, but the gap is not supposed to reach anyone until January 2028. If you transitioned in July and August came in roughly $200 light, the transition benefit may not have applied, and that one is worth a call.
Anyone applying for ADAP for the first time after July 1, 2026 gets no transition benefit and receives up to $1,740 from the start.
Put July next to August
Down about $200, and you moved to ADAP in July? Possibly a missing transition benefit. Call.
Down about 12 per cent, and you and your partner both receive AISH or ADAP? That is the couples rule. Policy, not error.
Child benefit line moved? Recalibration.
Nothing arrived, or the number matches none of the above? That is the software, and Alberta says it is resolved by Friday.
The province's AISH and ADAP benefit estimator will tell you what your payment should be. Our ADAP calculator, AISH calculator and AISH payment dates tool do the same.
The reporting requirement that can cost you a year from now
Sitting on the province's ADAP page is an obligation almost nobody is discussing, and it is the kind of thing that becomes an overpayment recovery notice much later.
If you receive ADAP, you are required to tell the program whether your Canada Disability Benefit or Disability Tax Credit application was approved or denied. Both outcomes. A denial is not a non-event you can leave alone. The update goes through the Apply for Federal Disability Supports form on alberta.ca, not through a phone call to your worker.
This matters because the federal Canada Disability Benefit interacts with provincial benefit calculations. Someone who does not report an approval can accumulate an overpayment they knew nothing about, and recovery comes off future monthly payments. In a month where the payment system has already shown it can produce wrong numbers, an unreported federal decision sitting in the background is the last complication you want.
If you have had a decision on either application and have not reported it, do that this week.
What advocates are asking for
Disability advocate Zachary Weeks says he has heard from Albertans whose rent payments and essential purchases were declined this week, and that the government needs to state publicly how many people were affected, what caused it, and what prevents a repeat. So far the only figure released is the 2 per cent.
NDP MLA Marie Renaud, shadow minister for community and social services, called the rollout a disaster and said severely disabled Albertans are now receiving underpayments, overpayments or nothing at all. AISH ran for 47 years before the change, she said. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees also criticised the transition on Wednesday, with vice-president Curtis Jackson saying it was pushed through without planning or consultation.
The numbers you should be getting
AISH's maximum monthly living allowance for 2026 is $1,940, up 2.05 per cent from $1,901 under the province's CPI indexation. ADAP's core financial benefit is $1,740.
Earnings exemptions are one of the bigger practical differences between the two programs. Single ADAP clients can earn $700 a month before it affects their benefits. ADAP parents can earn $1,100. Cohabiting partners on either program can earn $1,500. AISH singles and parents remain at $350. ADAP clients can earn up to $45,240 a year and keep receiving financial benefits, which the province says is the highest such ceiling in Canada.
Payments arrive four business days before the first of the month, at midnight for direct deposit. If that date falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the previous business day.
More on how the programs work is in our guides to applying for ADAP, AISH payments and the July changes, choosing between AISH and CPP Disability, and what Alberta mayors have said about the changes.
Sources:
Government of Alberta, Alberta Disability Assistance Program: https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-disability-assistance-program
Government of Alberta, Disability Income Assistance: https://www.alberta.ca/disability-income-assistance
Government of Alberta, AISH and ADAP benefit estimator: https://www.alberta.ca/aish-and-adap-benefit-estimator
Government of Alberta, Apply for federal disability supports: https://www.alberta.ca/aish-apply-for-federal-disability-supports
AISH/ADAP Policy Manual: https://manuals.alberta.ca/dia-policy-manual/
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