Letter imperfect

The mother of a 21-year-old woman with developmental disabilities complained to us that she had not been reimbursed by the province’s Passport program for support services that she purchased for her daughter. She was told that she had run out of funding, even though she thought she still had money to spend. She was initially approved for $5,000 for her daughter’s needs for 2019-2020, but in late 2019 received a letter by email, stating that she was approved for $17,000. She believed this meant she had an additional $17,000 to spend, although she did not spend the entire amount. After we asked Passport to review the case, they discovered that their letter – based on a Ministry template – failed to provide a breakdown of the available funding or explain that it was prorated over six months. Their staff had also not contacted the woman to discuss it, as required by policy. We raised the case with Ministry officials, who provided the woman with a one-time payment to cover the expenses, and committed to review their template letter.

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