5.3 Overpayments

POLICY

If an amount of Child Care Fee Subsidy is paid to a Child Care Program, on behalf of the client, in excess of the amount to which the recipient was entitled, the amount of the excess may be assessed as an overpayment.  

There are 2 types of overpayments: those that are a result of information provided, or not provided, by applicants and those that are a result of administrative error on the part of the Subsidy Office.  Overpayments that result from administrative errors will not be recoverable from the client. 

Overpayments generally occur when the applicant provides incorrect information regarding their financial circumstances, or fails to notify the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB, when changes affecting eligibility have occurred.  An overpayment is the difference between the amount of fee subsidy received by an applicant less the amount they were actually entitled to receive. 

PROCEDURE

The Executive Director or designate may recover the amount of the overpayment from the recipient by: 

1. Requesting full and immediate recovery; or
2. Establishing a periodic repayment scheme (e.g. a minimum of 10% of the amount owing to be paid to the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB on the first of every month). 

Recovery of a Child Care Fee Subsidy overpayment may be temporarily waived if such action will cause undue hardship. 

In cases where Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB provides Child Care Fee Subsidy, and money is owing to a Child Care provider directly by the parent, the amount owing to that provider may not be established as an overpayment with the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB, see appendix C for worksheet. 

Decisions regarding overpayments are appealable, see policy F.8.7 of the Child Care Policy Manual.

Overpayments resulting from administrative errors can occur in situations where fee subsidy was issued and cannot be recovered because the applicant was unaware that a mistake was made.