Controversial social assistance software is 'the new normal'

It doesn’t look like a controversial new case management system is going anywhere. So the city plans to spend the next few months helping local social assistance workers learn to live with it.

In the next two weeks, the city will start nudging its Ontario Works (OW) workers to start using the system in front of clients.

We’ve been told by several levels of government that going back is not an option.- Allison Jones

Workers have been doing case files by hand since the province implemented social assistance management software (SAMS) in November — a system so flawed that it resulted in about $20 million in incorrect payments province-wide.

After they do the work by hand, they send the clients away “so they don’t have to wait three hours,” said city spokesperson Allison Jones. Then they spend hours inputting the file into SAMS.

Starting in the next few days, workers will start using SAMS as clients wait in front of them, Jones said. It’s a big step. But despite calls from unions and municipal bureaucrats, SAMS isn’t going anywhere.

“We’ve been told by several levels of government that going back is not an option,” Jones said. So the goal is getting staff used to “the new normal.”

CUPE, which represents local OW workers, still wants the government to stop using SAMS until the system is improved enough to be workable.

Case workers are gods. They control every cent you get. I certainly like to talk to the person who is responsible for getting me an income every month.- John Mills, Ontario Works recipient

“The problem is that the longer it’s here, the less likely they are to pull it away,” said Sandra Walker, president of CUPE local 5167. “Payments aside, the program itself down to the core is flawed.”

John Mills is a Hamilton OW recipient and member of the Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits. He’s been trying to meet his new case worker for three months, he said, and was told it would only happen if it was an emergency.

“Case workers are gods,” he said. “They control every cent you get. I certainly like to talk to the person who is responsible for getting me an income every month.

“Month to month, it’s not crucial, but I think it’s important that you have a rapport.”

He’s skeptical that city OW workers will be able to use the system with their clients there, like they used to do.

From what he’s heard, he said, “it’s not even a possibility. It’s not geared to be able to do that.”

“It’s a travesty. What can you say?”

The city is still calculating how much in over payments went out to Hamilton OW recipients in November, Jones said. It hasn’t heard of any incorrect monthly payments in December and January.

Trainers will be working with staff to make operating the system a little easier when dealing with day-to-day clients, Jones said. “We’re going to phase it in gradually.”

For the next 12 to 18 months, she said, staff will be in “recovery mode.”

SAMS has cost the city just over $55,000 in overtime, Jones said. It still hasn’t calculated how much OW recipients were over and underpaid in Hamilton.