B.C. Ombudsperson says almost 1,000 people still owed social assistance payments

B.C. Ombudsperson says almost 1,000 people still owed social assistance payments
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Almost a year after it was determined the B.C. government failed to follow the law on income assistance payments, the province's ombudsperson says about 1,000 people still haven't been paid.  Photo courtesy bcombudsperson.ca.

Almost a year after it was determined the B.C. government failed to follow the law on income assistance payments, the province’s ombudsperson says about 1,000 people still haven’t been paid.  Photo courtesy bcombudsperson.ca.

Almost 1,000 people are still owed social assistance payments from the province whose benefits were improperly calculated, according to the B.C. Ombudsperson Thursday.

Jay Chalke released an update of a May 2018 report that found the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction failed to follow the law on income assistance payments.

The report found the ministry improperly imposed a one-month suspension of an earnings exemption that allowed people to earn income over and above monthly income assistance payments.

It was determined 2,600 people were denied payments that totalled nearly $658,000, but Chalke says almost a thousand individuals still haven’t been paid by the ministry for payments totalling more than $225,000.

“I continue to be concerned that there are still many people out there who have not received the funds that they are still owed as a result of this error,” Chalke said in a statement.

“I am expecting that the ministry will pursue all reasonable avenues to locate and reimburse these individuals, many of whom face significant financial challenges.”

In his update on the report, Chalke says the ministry has implemented three of the four recommendations in the original report:

  • Ministry policy has been changed so that it is consistent with the Employment and Assistance Regulation.
  • The ministry is now making eligibility decisions in accordance with the Regulation ensuring clients who are entitled to the earning exemption are not being denied it.
  • The ministry has developed guidelines to respond to systemic and/or repetitive legal errors. Ministry Executive staff must now respond to these errors within 90 days of issues being brought to their attention.

The fourth recommendation is full reimbursement to those who received less income assistance than they should have.

“These are positive changes that will help make mistakes like this less likely in the future,” Chalke said.

“In the meantime, I am calling on the ministry to intensify its efforts to locate the remaining individuals and pay them the funds rightfully due.”

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