Information about Find financial help during COVID-19

Note: The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) transferred ownership of the product to Service Canada (SC) in July 2020. This documentation does not reflect further iterations past July 2020.

Find financial help during COVID-19 (the “benefit finder”) was built to help people living in Canada during the COVID-19 crisis. Guided by a set of digital principles, this tool was designed for and with users, to ensure they can get accurate and timely information. The benefit finder helps people determine which government benefit programs best meet their needs.

After anonymously answering a few simple questions, individuals are presented with a personalized list of financial benefits available based on their specific circumstances.

These include federal, provincial and territorial benefit programs, as well as the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) top-up, and measures such as mortgage and student loan deferrals.

The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) partnered with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Service Canada (SC) to build the benefit finder. Work started on March 23, 2020. On May 22, 2020, after only 10 weeks of collaboration, the benefit finder was officially launched for public use.

Several media articles, a blog post, and a social media thread describe this work: