THUNDER BAY -- Nearly a year after new provincial software caused major problems, the local social services board says things are better.
But The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board heard Thursday morning that there's still a long way to go.
The Social Assistance Management System was introduced in November of 2014. Almost immediately problems started to occur, from doubling applications times to incorrect cheques being mailed out.
Some people received too much money, others didn't get any. Family members disappeared from dental plans. Vendors were receiving cheques for no reason. People couldn't register for temporary programs if they were already in the system.
The cost of the program is now around $294 million, including overtime and training pay the province had to give social services boards. The ministry says it will still cost $5 million less per year to run than the old program and well below the estimated $750 million price tag.
The local DSSAB, which eventually had to hire security to deal with frustrated clients, was one of the first to highlight a number of problems to the Ministry of Community and Social Services. The ministry eventually listened.
"A number of issues were being identified to the (provincial) project team. They were basically being told 'no that isn't an issue in no uncertain terms,"DSSAB CAO Bill Bradica said.
But they were issues, some of which are still impacting the DSSAB and clients today. Work-arounds are now in place for a number of those issues but application times, while now at an hour from the 90 minutes it originally took, are still not at the 45-minute mark that they once were.
The DSSAB still ran its programs, unlike some other boards in the province, during the height of the issues. The board has been reimbursed for the overtime and training it needed but Bradica wonders what the social costs to clients were.
"That's the hard thing to quantify. It's what is the effect on the clients and applicants in the longterm," he said.
The board will hear another update in the spring.
"We'll continue to monitor that to see if there are additional gains that might happen," Bradica said.
