How to Apply for the Nova Scotia Seniors Care Grant

The short answer

The 2026–27 grant is $750 per household, and applications close December 1, 2026. The Nova Scotia Seniors Care Grant helps seniors with the cost of household and healthcare services and home heating, so they can stay in their own homes longer. Apply online with an email address, or by paper form mailed to Seniors Care Grant, P.O. Box 160, STN Central, Halifax, N.S. B3J 2M4. Only one person per household can apply, and there is no cost to apply.

Who qualifies

To qualify for the grant, you need to be 65 or older by March 31, 2027, and meet all of the following criteria:

• have a household net income of $45,100 or less
• live in your own home or apartment
• have your name on the property title, Land Titles Initiative Certificate of Claim, or residential lease agreement, or a Band administrative letter issued by a First Nation community (reserve)
• have paid, or will pay, for household and healthcare services and home heating between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027

You need to apply by December 1, 2026. Only one person per household can apply. Applications for this round opened September 1, 2026.

What the grant covers

Eligible household and healthcare services and home heating costs include services that help you stay in your home:

• cooking and meal preparation, and grocery and meal delivery — excluding the cost of food
• healthcare services for your health and wellness, like foot care, physiotherapy, and mental health support
• home heating, like furnace oil, natural gas, propane, firewood, wood pellets, and electricity, plus home heating repairs and regular heating maintenance
• home cleaning, organizing, and help with downsizing or moving; laundry
• medication and prescription delivery — excluding the cost of medications and prescriptions
• outdoor work, like driveway maintenance, landscaping, lawn care, snow removal, stacking wood, and tree removal
• phone, cellphone, and internet services — excluding the cost of devices
• small home repairs, like windows, doors, roof, plumbing, electrical, decks, fencing, siding, and painting
• transportation, like taxis, ride shares, shuttles, and other methods of transportation, and public and community transit, like the bus, Access-A-Bus, and ferry

The cost of devices, food, medical and assistive devices (like eyeglasses, dentures, dental implants, braces, orthopedic supports, and personal alerts), and medications, prescriptions, supplements, and vitamins is not eligible. You can also apply to the Heating Assistance Rebate Program for help with the cost of home heating — that is a separate program with its own application.

Heating help too: the $400 Heating Assistance Rebate

The Seniors Care Grant covers home heating costs, but if heating is your main worry, there is a second, separate program: the Heating Assistance Rebate Program. It pays $400 per household for 2026–27. You can apply from October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 — a later deadline than the Seniors Care Grant's December 1, 2026.

To qualify you must pay for your own home heat and meet one income test: a 2025 net income of $30,000 or less if you live alone with no kids or dependants, or a combined 2025 net household income of $45,000 or less if you live with kids, dependants, or other adults. Apply online or with the paper form; there is no cost to apply, and it should take about 8 weeks to get the rebate. It is a separate application from the Seniors Care Grant — apply to each program on its own.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

• all adults on the application available to sign the form
• Social Insurance Numbers and dates of birth of all adults in your home
• the total amount spent, or that you will spend, on household and healthcare services and home heating between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027

The Department of Service Nova Scotia may contact you and ask you to provide proof of income, home ownership or lease agreement, and receipts for household and healthcare services and home heating. If you need to provide proof of home ownership or lease agreement, you can use a property tax bill, property assessment notice, mortgage statement, Land Titles Initiative Certificate of Claim, Band administrative letter issued by a First Nation community (reserve), utility bill that shows your home address, or a residential lease agreement with your name on it.

How to apply online

Apply online for the grant through the official Seniors Care Grant page. When you apply online, you need an email address. The Seniors Care Grant emails you if it needs more information to process your grant. Submit your completed application before December 1, 2026.

How to apply by mail

If you are unable to apply online, use the Seniors Care Grant application form (PDF) from the official page. Send your completed application — both sides of the application — and any supporting documents by mail to Seniors Care Grant, P.O. Box 160, STN Central, Halifax, N.S. B3J 2M4. If you want to receive a paper application by mail, contact the program. Print applications are available at Access Nova Scotia centres or by calling 1-800-670-4357 (toll-free).

Keep your receipts

Keep a copy of your receipts for household and healthcare services and home heating for your records. You only need to provide receipts if the Seniors Care Grant contacts you and asks you to provide receipts. Do not send receipts with the application itself.

Acceptable receipts include receipts on a piece of paper or in a notebook (written or signed by the service provider), in a receipt book (written or signed by the person or business providing the service), or from a business. Receipts need to include the name of the person receiving the service, the type of service received, the cost of the service, the date of the service, and the name and address of the person or business providing the service.

After you apply

It should take 8 weeks to get your reimbursement. It can take longer if more information is needed or if your application has not been filled in correctly. If more information is required to process your grant, the Department of Service Nova Scotia contacts you by email.

If your income tax refund is direct deposited, your reimbursement is too. If not, your reimbursement is mailed to you. The Seniors Care Grant can help you with the application process and answer questions about proof of income, home ownership or lease agreement, and receipts. For questions, call Service Nova Scotia toll-free at 1-800-670-4357 or at 902-424-5200.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened program page lists only two numbered steps under "How to apply" — apply online, then submit the completed application — and its paper-form paragraph ends without giving the mailing address in the page text itself, so the mailing address in this guide comes from the Government of Nova Scotia news release that opened the 2026–27 round, which states the same address. The opened pages do not state whether a paper application can be dropped off at an Access Nova Scotia centre or only picked up there, so this guide says only that print applications are available at the centres. The pages do not state a payment date, only the 8-week reimbursement timing. This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify — that is the province's decision when it assesses your application.

Related guides

• How to Apply for the Nova Scotia Child Benefit — Nova Scotia's child benefit, another provincial benefit with its own application.
• How to Apply for Nova Scotia Income Assistance — Nova Scotia's last-resort income support, a separate program with its own application.
• How to Get an MSI Health Card in Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia health coverage, the card most grant applicants already hold.
• How to Apply for the Guaranteed Income Supplement — the federal top-up for low-income seniors receiving Old Age Security.
• How to Apply for Old Age Security in Canada — the federal pension that sits underneath most provincial seniors' benefits.
• How to Start Getting Your Prescription Drugs Covered in Canada — drug coverage routes, including Nova Scotia's Seniors' Pharmacare.

Sources

• Government of Nova Scotia, Apply for help with household, healthcare and home heating costs: Seniors Care Grant — the $750 grant amount, the eligible and ineligible cost lists, the eligibility criteria including the $45,100 household net income limit and the April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 cost window, the December 1, 2026 deadline and one-person-per-household rule, the online route with the email requirement, the receipts rules, the 8-week reimbursement timing, and the direct-deposit-or-cheque payment rule.
• Government of Nova Scotia, Seniors Care Grant Applications Open — the September 1, 2026 opening, the $750 amount and $45,100 income limit, the mail route to P.O. Box 160, STN Central, Halifax, N.S. B3J 2M4, paper applications at Access Nova Scotia centres or by calling 1-800-670-4357, and the December 1 deadline.
• Government of Nova Scotia, Apply for a heating assistance rebate: Heating Assistance Rebate Program — the $400 rebate per household, the October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 application window, the $30,000 single and $45,000 household income tests, the 8-week timing, and no cost to apply.