The Department of Social Development will be collecting overpayments it made to certain social development clients in the form of duplicate Emergency Food and Fuel Benefits in January.
The benefit consists of a payment of $225 for single individuals or $450 for families who already receive low-income or housing benefits from Social Development.
NB Coalition for Persons with Disabilities founder Murielle Pitre said some of the organization’s members received a second payment in late January.
“It just started trickling in. People were asking, ‘Why do I have another payment?'” she said in an interview.
“We didn’t know so we started digging, we called a few of our contacts and we found out it was indeed a mistake.”
Social Development spokesperson Rebecca Howland sent Global News a statement on Thursday confirming the error.
“In some cases due to data entry or missing data, duplicate cheques were sent,” the statement read.
“The Department estimates that duplicate cheques will amount to just 1% of total expenditures under the second round of the Emergency Food and Fuel benefit program.”
Common Front for Social Justice co-chair Robert Mackay is concerned for those who may not be able to pay the money back.
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“(The province) had better deal person to person on this so that nobody on the first of March gets a direct deposit or a cheque in the mail from Social Development that’s $225 less than they expected,” he said in an interview.
Mackay is unable to work full-time due to various physical and neurological issues.
Between Canada Pension Plan payments and the benefits he receives from Social Development, he “squeaks by” on a little less than $1,000 a month.
“I’ve had times over the years when I’ve been on social assistance. It’s been hell. And it is hell for a lot of people out there. Nobody chooses this,” he said.
Pitre understands that the province has to take the money back, but said a large deduction could prevent some people from putting food on the table.
“If they have to claw it back, perhaps if they removed $20 a month for the next while, that’s what we hope we will see happen so that it doesn’t impact our members and other members of the community,” she said.
According to Social Development’s statement, the department’s internal collections process involves “verifying that an over-payment has been made, notifying the client of the overpayment, and providing instructions on how repayment can be made.”
That process “may also involve recovering payments through source deduction or registration with the Canada Revenue Agency’s Refund Set-Off program in certain situations.”
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