Summary of the Evaluation of the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, 2025

On this page

• About the Program
• Key findings
• Recommendations

About the Program

The Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities (OFPD) was introduced in 1997 to facilitate the labour market integration of persons with disabilities by providing funding to third-party organizations that deliver training, wage subsidies, and other employment supports to job seekers and employers. The Program currently uses three funding streams to support this objective: the Participant-focused Stream, the Employer Stream, and the Career Advancement Stream. The most recent stream was introduced in 2022. Funded organizations also provide a range of wrap-around supports, including self-employment activities and enhanced employer services, to help participants prepare for, obtain, and maintain employment.

Key Findings

• Program supports can contribute to an improved capacity of employers to hire and support employees with disabilities. The Program has encouraged some employers to hire persons with disabilities by reducing perceived risks and associated costs. It has also made this process easier for some employers who were already interested in hiring workers with disabilities but needed guidance with recruitment, onboarding, or training
• While all socio-demographic groups show positive net impacts on employment outcomes, certain groups may face greater barriers to employment. Evidence pointed to unique barriers for newcomers or racialized individuals, individuals with physical disabilities, individuals with mental health related or developmental disabilities, and individuals in rural or isolated communities
• When considering costs and benefits for governments and participants, the Program yielded a positive social return on investment over 10 years, with every $1 invested yielding $1.31 in return. From a societal perspective, benefits outweigh costs within 4 years
• Incremental impacts demonstrate that the Program led to positive improvements in participants' labour market attachments. On average, participants in program activities earned $1,180 more annually and had a 3.7 percentage point higher incidence of employment than similar non-participants, in the five-year post-participation period
• The Program design provides flexibility to funded organizations to offer tailored disability-focused supports to job seekers and their employers. However, limited promotion of the Program and its supports, as well as a complex application process, may limit access to the Program for certain organizations, job seekers, and employers

Recommendations

1. Continue exploring strategies to provide more support to participants facing complex barriers, or who need more intensive or longer-term assistance to join and remain in, the labour market
2. Collaborate with program stakeholders (for example, funding recipients) and partners to improve awareness of, and access to, the Program by clarifying roles and responsibilities to better promote funded services to job seekers and employers, and by simplifying the funding application process

Full report: Evaluation of the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, 2025