Every Ontario employer with Workplace Safety and Insurance Board coverage has been paying premiums at new 2026 rates since January 1, but two numbers moved this year, not one, and they pull in opposite directions. The headline is a rate cut — the seventh in ten years. The quieter number is a higher earnings ceiling, which expands how much of each employee's pay is subject to that lower rate. Late summer, before Q4 payroll planning and year-end budgeting begin in earnest, is a good time for a Toronto-area employer to confirm both are actually reflected in this year's numbers, not just the one that made headlines.
What changed for 2026
WSIB set the average premium rate for Ontario businesses at $1.23 per $100 of insurable payroll for 2026, down from $1.25 in 2025 — the lowest average rate in more than 50 years, and the seventh consecutive annual reduction in the past decade. WSIB estimates the cut saves Ontario employers roughly $60 million compared with 2025, and puts cumulative employer savings from premium reductions and surplus distributions at approximately $21.5 billion over the past ten years.
Source: WSIB — News release: WSIB reduces average premium rate for Ontario businesses.
As with any province-wide average, this is not a promise about your specific bill. WSIB sets a class rate for each of its more than 20 industry classes, then places individual employers into risk bands within that class based on claims experience — each band differing from the next by roughly 5%. An employer whose projected rate would otherwise jump or drop sharply is limited to moving a maximum of three risk bands per year (about 15%) toward their target rate, so both increases and decreases phase in gradually rather than landing all at once.
Source: WSIB — 2026 premium rates.
That mechanic matters for two reasons. First, a Toronto business in a higher-risk class, or one with a recent claims-cost increase, may see little or none of the province-wide cut — its own risk-band movement could offset or exceed the average decline. Second, if your account was mid-transition toward a target rate before this year's average moved, your actual 2026 rate reflects both changes layered together, not simply "2025's rate minus two cents."
The other number that moved: the earnings ceiling
The change that affects the bill directly, independent of your class or risk band: WSIB's maximum insurable earnings — the ceiling on how much of each worker's annual earnings are subject to premiums — rose to $121,700 for 2026, up from $117,000 in 2025. Once an employee's earnings for the year reach that maximum, no further earnings need to be reported or assessed for that individual.
Source: WSIB — 2026 premium rates.
A higher ceiling means more of your payroll for better-paid staff is now premium-bearing, which can partly or fully offset the benefit of a lower headline rate. For a Toronto-area business with employees earning between the old $117,000 ceiling and the new $121,700 one, the extra $4,700 per employee is newly subject to WSIB premiums this year — worth checking against last year's assumptions rather than assuming the rate cut is a straightforward win on its own.
| WSIB figure | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Average premium rate | $1.25 per $100 of insurable payroll | $1.23 per $100 of insurable payroll |
| Maximum insurable earnings | $117,000 | $121,700 |
How you actually report and pay
WSIB reporting frequency — monthly, quarterly, or annual — is assigned based on the size of your estimated annual insurable earnings, and it changes what you're reporting against. Monthly and quarterly reporters calculate and remit premiums against actual insurable earnings for the period just ended, with quarterly filers reporting in April, July, October, and January for the prior quarter. Annual reporters remit against an estimate of the year's insurable earnings instead. If you report monthly, you also owe a reconciliation by March 31 each year, comparing what you remitted through the year against your actual 2026 insurable earnings.
Source: WSIB — How to report insurable earnings.
The practical implication for a mid-year check: if you report monthly or quarterly, confirm your payroll software or bookkeeping process is applying the new $121,700 per-worker cap correctly to each higher-paid employee's actual earnings, rather than carrying forward last year's $117,000 ceiling. If you report annually on an estimate, confirm that estimate reflects your actual 2026 hiring and wage growth — the same logic that applies to any estimate-based statutory remittance, since a stale figure only becomes a problem when it is trued up.
A Q3 WSIB checklist for Toronto-area employers
- Confirm your industry classification is still current. A business that has added a service line, changed its primary activity, or restructured since its last WSIB classification review may be sitting in the wrong class, which affects the class rate applied to your entire assessable payroll.
- Check your actual 2026 rate, not the provincial average. Your account-specific rate, driven by class and risk band, is what determines your bill — the $1.23 average is a directional signal, useful for budgeting comparisons but not a substitute for your own statement.
- Verify the new $121,700 ceiling is applied per worker, per year, especially for any employee whose 2026 earnings will clear the old $117,000 mark.
- Reconcile actual year-to-date insurable earnings against what you've remitted, particularly if you report monthly or quarterly, so you aren't carrying a growing gap into your March 2027 reconciliation.
- Fold the confirmed 2026 numbers into H2 and 2027 payroll budgeting, using your own rate and the new ceiling rather than a flat percentage adjustment to last year's figures.
Where this fits with your other 2026 payroll costs
WSIB premiums are one line in a broader statutory payroll-cost stack that includes CPP and the second additional CPP contribution (CPP2), EI premiums, and — for Ontario employers whose payroll exceeds the relevant threshold — the Employer Health Tax. None of these move in isolation, and a mid-year review is a natural point to check them together rather than one at a time as each filing season arrives. See our Ontario Employer Health Tax guide for the current EHT exemption and instalment thresholds alongside your WSIB numbers.
Key takeaways
- WSIB's average 2026 premium rate is $1.23 per $100 of insurable payroll, down from $1.25 in 2025 — the seventh consecutive annual reduction, saving Ontario employers an estimated $60 million versus 2025.
- The maximum insurable earnings ceiling rose to $121,700 for 2026, up from $117,000 — a higher ceiling that expands premium-bearing payroll for better-paid employees, partly offsetting the rate cut.
- Your actual rate depends on your industry class and risk band, which can move a maximum of about three bands (roughly 15%) per year — the average is a directional figure, not your bill.
- Monthly and quarterly reporters remit against actual insurable earnings; annual reporters remit against an estimate; monthly reporters owe a reconciliation by March 31.
- Review WSIB alongside CPP2, EI, and the Employer Health Tax for an accurate H2 2026 and 2027 payroll-cost forecast.
If you want your 2026 WSIB classification and premium reporting checked against actual payroll, or your full statutory payroll cost stack modelled into an H2 and 2027 budget, RN Canada works with Toronto-area owner-managed businesses on exactly this kind of mid-year payroll check-up.