Hundreds not on PATH list get payouts

A MAJOR discrepancy was unearthed by the Auditor General’s Department (AuGD) in one component of the Government’s COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme with more than 700 people appearing on the May list for payment, despite being ineligible for the benefit.

The Pamela Monroe Ellis-led AuGD found that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security approved payment last month in the sum of $5,413,100 to 776 people who were not qualified to receive a benefit under the Programme of the Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

The auditor general urged the ministry to “review its systems to ensure that the controls in place to enforce the eligibility requirements for PATH beneficiaries are operating effectively to reduce the risk of irregular or erroneous payments”.

Monroe Ellis said that the ministry should also take the necessary steps to ensure that only legitimate beneficiaries who have satisfied all the requisite criteria are paid the COVID-19 PATH grants.

The error was attributed to the ministry’s Beneficiary Management Information System (BMIS).

In her report, which was tabled in Parliament Tuesday afternoon, Monroe Ellis said that her department found that an additional 8,933 beneficiaries were added to the May 2020 payroll of PATH beneficiaries, resulting in an increase of $58,770,400 in approved benefits over April 2020.

“Our review of the beneficiary information in the BMIS revealed that only 3,145, or 35 per cent of the 8,933 additional beneficiaries, had a ‘registered’ status, indicating that they had met all criteria for programme and had submitted the required documents and signed the requisite agreement,” the auditor general highlighted.

HOLD ON PAYMENTS

Monroe Ellis reported that in response to the findings of her audit, the ministry placed a hold on the payment for the 8,933 beneficiaries and conducted a review to determine the actual eligibility status of each of the additional persons.

The ministry acknowledged that 4,354 new beneficiaries did not sign the agreement letter as required by the PATH Operations Manual, but they satisfied the other requirements of the programme for eligibility.

The ministry also indicated that for the May 2020 payment, “the requirement to sign the agreement letter was relaxed, owing to social distancing, reduced office hours, and other measures implemented by the Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic”. It advised that arrangements were being made for the beneficiaries to sign the agreement letter.

Further, the ministry said that 660 of the beneficiaries added in May 2020 relate to applicants who successfully completed the reapplication process but did not re-sign an agreement letter.

Persons enrolled in PATH were scheduled to receive two equal payments in the period April to June 2020.

However, the COVID-19 PATH grant added another payment of equal size, increasing the total number of payments in the April to June 2020 period to three.

The ministry utilises the BMIS to maintain and manage the PATH beneficiaries. Applications for PATH are entered on the BMIS at the 13 parish offices islandwide.