Social assistance software leaving everyone confused

A new, 250-million dollar computer software system has left social service workers in Hamilton beyond stressed according to the city’s head of social services. And it’s causing some headaches for the premier, as well.

December is here. Christmas is coming. And it’s going to be tough to bend the budget for a lot of typical Ontario families, let alone the families who struggle every month to make ends meet. And the technical issues with the government’s new software system for social assistance payments is making it impossible, for some.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath offered some concrete examples of the kinds of serious problems some families are facing, as the opposition continued to take the government to task: “The premier was saying that problems with social assistance management systems were just minor glitches. But this is what people were facing. One parent was owed $170.35 for the transition child benefit. But instead, she got $1.79.

And a family with 5 children got an assistance cheque for $5 speaker. That minor glitch might be the difference between making rent or not.

Premier Wynne: “I am absolutely in agreement with the member opposite that people who are dependent on the social assistance system need our support and we need to make sure that they get the money that they rely on. Because it is imperative that they have that every month. The minister is working on that Mr. Speaker and I wish that this technological issue hadn’t happened but the system will be better for those clients in the long run Mr. Speaker.”

Horwath says the premier was warned in a letter from union workers nine months ago that there were serious concerns about the software program.

Wynne says the province sends out $570 million in assistance payments every month and that over, and under-payments under the new system last month, amounted to a total of 123-thousand dollars.

An update from the ministry within the last hour says there are now only 90 clients remaining province-wide who are affected by the computer snafu, and the ministry is following up, as quickly as possible, to ensure that those mistakes are not repeated in the next cycle of payments, at the end of this month.