The Ministry of Community and Social Services says technical difficulties with May payments resulted in 17,400 Ontario Works clients getting more money.
Windsor-Essex and London are included in the 11 municipalities affected by the error, the ministry said in a release Monday.
Windsor’s executive director of employment and social services Bruno Ierullo says 2,600 people were impacted in Windsor and Essex County.
“The information is just starting to go out. Some of them may have heard today so we’re still waiting to see what the reaction will be,” says Ierullo.
The glitch applies only to Ontario Works clients who have made prior arrangements for the municipality to deduct some of their payment in order to pay bills such as utilities or rent. The processing error caused the full amount of the Ontario Works payment to go to the social assistance client.
This means affected clients are responsible to pay their rent and or utilities for the month of May from the payment they receive.
Ierullo says they’ve done a number of things to notify the clients.
“We’ve sent cheque inserts, a flyer to advise them of the situation,” he says. “We’ve printed them on the back of the statements.”
The ministry says despite the error, all payments are being made on time and no Ontario Works client will be short-changed, nor has the error resulted in any overpayments.
Ministry staff is working with the 11 municipalities to notify the clients and vendors.
Ierullo says there’s also help for Windsor area residents with questions about the situation.
“211 is prepared to take the calls,” says Ierullo. “They can provide more info or they can call their case worker.”
