The National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS) was introduced in 1997 to combat child poverty in Canada. The Supplement is part of the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) that replaced Family Allowance ("baby bonus" and gives the lowest income families up to $126 a month for each child under 18.

In Ontario, families on social assistance get the maximum NCBS, but the province "claws back" the benefit by reducing their social assistance benefits by almost 100% of the NCBS payment, leaving them no further ahead. The money that is saved by clawing back the NCBS is used to fund "reinvestment programs" for low-income families, but not necessarily for families on social assistance. Many of these programs are valuable in themselves but the Hands Off! campaign believes that they should be funded from other revenues, not by the most vulnerable families in the province.