SAMS (Son of SAMS); Ontario's New Social Assistance Computer Disaster
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
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In November 2014 Ontario launched a new computer program to manage social assistance payments to its citizens. This includes people who are on Ontario Works (formerly known as welfare) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The cost of this program, according to OPSEU, was $242 million.
The sad part is, the system has been an utter failure. Cheques were sent out to people who weren't eligible to receive them, others didn't get their cheque at all, and still others (like me) got a whole host of other errors like too much money for some things, too little for others, and I just learned on Feb 17th, a cheque suspension for the second time in a row for allegedly not reporting work-related income (from a job I no longer have). My caseworker said in her phone message on February 17, 2015, that she has no idea why the new computer program keeps cutting my cheque off. Thank God she's vigilant and keeps checking for these errors in advance and can correct them.
I can't imagine being an ODSP caseworker right now. Just to correct the errors for my cheque alone, my worker has had to waste hours and hours and hours of her time.
The computer system was installed in November, and in February it's clear the problems are still not resolving.
The dedication, shown by my caseworker and many of the other caseworkers, has almost elevated them to sainthood status in my books. I'm obviously being a bit sarcastic here, but I seriously mean it when I say that the ODSP Caseworkers deserve medals for the amount of extra time and effort they've been putting in to trying to fix up this mess.
The worst part about it, is finding, with a bit of research, that the government KNEW there'd be problems before they even launched the new SAMS program. From as far back as 2010 when the Social Services Solutions Modernization Project (SSSMP) was implemented, problems have been reported.
Here are details about some of them:
In September 2014, the city of Brantford gave a report to City Council naming the steps being taken to implement the new SAMS computer system. On reading it one can learn that the date to implement the new program was pushed off several times. The original launch date for SAMS was June 2013. It was then delayed to November 2013, to May 2014, and finally to November 11, 2014. After much lobbying by municipalities, the Province also agreed to provide more funding to help defray the costs of implementing the new program.
In a research report from CUPE, evidence was gathered to show many examples of how SAMS has failed in the US. See: Backgrounder: Social Assistance Management System (SAMS)
In Lennox and Addington, a report to council reveals more of the same; that there were problems encountered when trying to implement the program and more money was needed to properly train the staff on the new software. It also states that the Data Conversion takes longer than previously anticipated. Included in this report, on page 7, there's another interesting point raised in a written memo from the Province dated May 9, 2014. It says, “As communicated in my memo on December 27, 2013, the ministry had finally allocated $3 million in one-time provincial funding and identified temporary administrative relief measures for Ontario Works. The additional $2 million in funding brings the total provincial contribution to $5 million.”
To learn more about what IBM/Curan says about the advantages of this new "Off the Shelf" Social Assistance Management System (SAMS), read: "The Curan Solution for Social Assistance."
This program may be good for some Social Assistance Programs, but it's clearly not able to handle the Social Assistance Program that exists in Ontario, with all its 800 rules.
The outcome of the province's decision to implement this new program has not only been costly and a nightmare for the OPSEU workers, but it's also been a nightmare for those of us who are disabled and must depend on social assistance.
The mess with my cheque has still not been sorted out. I'm not even sure if I'm up money or down money. I eventually gave up on trying to budget. I skimp and save even more and just hope that, when it all comes out in the wash, I won't find out I owe the government too much money.
Here is a long list of stories that were published in the Toronto Star about SAMS:
Computer glitch sends $20M in overpayments to social assistance recipients (Nov. 28, 2014)
Critics slam Premier over welfare payout ‘glitch’ (Dec. 1, 2014)
Social assistance computer errors go from ‘glitch’ to ‘serious’ (Dec. 2, 2014)
Queen’s Park has paper solution to welfare computer woes (Dec. 23, 2014)
Toronto man wrongly receives welfare cheques (Jan. 5, 2015)
Disabled nurse sitting on $5,700 cheque issued by mistake (Jan. 9, 2015)
MPPs unaware costs for computer system hit $16M (Jan. 13, 2015)
Ontario’s welfare computer glitches are not the first (Jan. 15, 2015)
Internal memo shows welfare computer system problems drag on (Jan. 30, 2015)
Stop blaming ‘computer glitch’ for welfare woes: Goar (Feb. 5, 2015)
Liberals order independent review of welfare computer woes (Feb. 10, 2015)
Social Assistance Glitch Could Lead to Man's Eviction (Mar. 4, 2015)
Despite all these news items identifying the problems, here is what the government had to say in a meeting with the OSDP Action Coalition and the bureaucrats who work for the Ministry of Community and Social Services:
Already people on ODSP are unable to make ends meet due to the severe inadequacy in the funds that we get. It's really hard to accept that we're constantly under the gun and being scrutinized for every penny we earn (and sometimes what we don't earn), while a costly decision of this magnitude is continuing to swallow up funds that we, as recipients, could really use in the form of an increase on our cheques.
Please read my other Blogs
Transportation: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Barrier Removal: http://wheelchairdemon-fixit.blogspot.com
The sad part is, the system has been an utter failure. Cheques were sent out to people who weren't eligible to receive them, others didn't get their cheque at all, and still others (like me) got a whole host of other errors like too much money for some things, too little for others, and I just learned on Feb 17th, a cheque suspension for the second time in a row for allegedly not reporting work-related income (from a job I no longer have). My caseworker said in her phone message on February 17, 2015, that she has no idea why the new computer program keeps cutting my cheque off. Thank God she's vigilant and keeps checking for these errors in advance and can correct them.
I can't imagine being an ODSP caseworker right now. Just to correct the errors for my cheque alone, my worker has had to waste hours and hours and hours of her time.
The computer system was installed in November, and in February it's clear the problems are still not resolving.
The dedication, shown by my caseworker and many of the other caseworkers, has almost elevated them to sainthood status in my books. I'm obviously being a bit sarcastic here, but I seriously mean it when I say that the ODSP Caseworkers deserve medals for the amount of extra time and effort they've been putting in to trying to fix up this mess.
The worst part about it, is finding, with a bit of research, that the government KNEW there'd be problems before they even launched the new SAMS program. From as far back as 2010 when the Social Services Solutions Modernization Project (SSSMP) was implemented, problems have been reported.
Here are details about some of them:
In September 2014, the city of Brantford gave a report to City Council naming the steps being taken to implement the new SAMS computer system. On reading it one can learn that the date to implement the new program was pushed off several times. The original launch date for SAMS was June 2013. It was then delayed to November 2013, to May 2014, and finally to November 11, 2014. After much lobbying by municipalities, the Province also agreed to provide more funding to help defray the costs of implementing the new program.
In a research report from CUPE, evidence was gathered to show many examples of how SAMS has failed in the US. See: Backgrounder: Social Assistance Management System (SAMS)
In Lennox and Addington, a report to council reveals more of the same; that there were problems encountered when trying to implement the program and more money was needed to properly train the staff on the new software. It also states that the Data Conversion takes longer than previously anticipated. Included in this report, on page 7, there's another interesting point raised in a written memo from the Province dated May 9, 2014. It says, “As communicated in my memo on December 27, 2013, the ministry had finally allocated $3 million in one-time provincial funding and identified temporary administrative relief measures for Ontario Works. The additional $2 million in funding brings the total provincial contribution to $5 million.”
To learn more about what IBM/Curan says about the advantages of this new "Off the Shelf" Social Assistance Management System (SAMS), read: "The Curan Solution for Social Assistance."
This program may be good for some Social Assistance Programs, but it's clearly not able to handle the Social Assistance Program that exists in Ontario, with all its 800 rules.
The outcome of the province's decision to implement this new program has not only been costly and a nightmare for the OPSEU workers, but it's also been a nightmare for those of us who are disabled and must depend on social assistance.
The mess with my cheque has still not been sorted out. I'm not even sure if I'm up money or down money. I eventually gave up on trying to budget. I skimp and save even more and just hope that, when it all comes out in the wash, I won't find out I owe the government too much money.
Here is a long list of stories that were published in the Toronto Star about SAMS:
Computer glitch sends $20M in overpayments to social assistance recipients (Nov. 28, 2014)
Critics slam Premier over welfare payout ‘glitch’ (Dec. 1, 2014)
Social assistance computer errors go from ‘glitch’ to ‘serious’ (Dec. 2, 2014)
Queen’s Park has paper solution to welfare computer woes (Dec. 23, 2014)
Toronto man wrongly receives welfare cheques (Jan. 5, 2015)
Disabled nurse sitting on $5,700 cheque issued by mistake (Jan. 9, 2015)
MPPs unaware costs for computer system hit $16M (Jan. 13, 2015)
Ontario’s welfare computer glitches are not the first (Jan. 15, 2015)
Internal memo shows welfare computer system problems drag on (Jan. 30, 2015)
Stop blaming ‘computer glitch’ for welfare woes: Goar (Feb. 5, 2015)
Liberals order independent review of welfare computer woes (Feb. 10, 2015)
Social Assistance Glitch Could Lead to Man's Eviction (Mar. 4, 2015)
Despite all these news items identifying the problems, here is what the government had to say in a meeting with the OSDP Action Coalition and the bureaucrats who work for the Ministry of Community and Social Services:
The ODSP Action Coalition’s Steering Committee met with MCSS officials yesterday. Jeff Bowen, the Director of Social Assistance and Municipal Operations branch, provided this information on their computer problems: 1st, he stated: “core of the system is working well; it has produced three pay runs now, getting the payments out to over 500,000 clients. But, we recognize there are some real challenges and issues that are impacting our staff and clients”If you agree this problem is severe and it is affecting not only the ODSP recipients, but the Caseworkers, OPSEU, CUPE, and the TAXPAYING PUBLIC, please write to your MPP and protest. It's time SAMS is put to rest once and for all.
These issues include:
- accuracy of some payments and benefits; #1 priority is to immediately triage those issues when brought to our attention
- accuracy and content of letters generated by the program
To address these:
- intake issues—backlog in getting people on
- Working group of OW/ODSP staff to identify and prioritize issues;
- Weekly releases of computer updates on specific problems
- Have provided additional resources—extra staff (both caseworkers and clerical)
- Provisional SWAT teams across the province to provide additional support
Main concerns we raised, with their responses:
- Experts in the program sent to local offices to provide coaching
- Delays in people accepted as disabled getting on ODSP: They now have a special team focussing on intake; there are a # of reasons this backlog of applicants has grown; it is a priority to address that
- Suspension letters: There were 21,000 computer generated suspension letters sent out Jan 19, which was the cut off date this month for income reporting. That compares to average 12,000 per month on SDMT. Normally these are dealt with when clients call in or send in info, and suspensions lifted before the end of the month when the required info is entered into the system. No suspensions were done in November and December, which is why this issue just hit this month. It was an unusually large volume so more difficult to address than anticipated
- People being unable to reach their worker; voice mailboxes full; no return calls, etc: stated they understand clients’ frustrations and are providing extra staff to deal with the pressures.
- Overpayment recovery amounts being raised, where a lesser recovery amount had been negotiated: they had originally advised that some OP deductions would go up because they are now including special diet in the total amount to which the recovery percentage is applied; the recovery rate shouldn’t change if a specific dollar amount was negotiated
The Client Portal, where clients will be able to enter their income and other information on line and have access to benefit statements, letters, etc, was supposed to start being rolled out February/March. It is being delayed. They are going to test it with a very small group of OW and ODSP clients first and gradually roll it out.
- Internal review decisions not being given in writing (one ODSP caseworker advised a clinic staff that the system could not generate a written IR decision letter; officials advised us that is not the case, must be a training issue
Already people on ODSP are unable to make ends meet due to the severe inadequacy in the funds that we get. It's really hard to accept that we're constantly under the gun and being scrutinized for every penny we earn (and sometimes what we don't earn), while a costly decision of this magnitude is continuing to swallow up funds that we, as recipients, could really use in the form of an increase on our cheques.
Please read my other Blogs
Transportation: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Barrier Removal: http://wheelchairdemon-fixit.blogspot.com
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