Alberta AG reports cite child care overpayments, millions in ineligible pandemic payments
Alberta's auditor general has found that parents may have overpaid for child care due to a lack of provincial oversight of its subsidy program, and, that a pandemic assistance program for small businesses may have distributed more than $155 million to ineligible applicants.
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Auditor General Doug Wylie separately released on Thursday a performance audit of the Child Care Subsidy and Grants Program, and an assessment of how the province had implemented its Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant Program.
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The child care audit reported on how $1.1 billion in public funding was managed within the program during 2023-2024.
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'There is a risk of overpayment by the department and a risk that parents are overpaying for child care and educators are being under compensated,' Wylie stated in a news release.
'Albertans should have confidence that these funds are achieving the program's purpose — to reduce child care costs for families and support educators.'
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Fourteen of 25 operators sampled in a single month had at least one discrepancy, and three had more significant issues including one instance where an overstated claim led to an overpayment by the department of more than $26,000 for that month.
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Wylie also noted the program had been administered by three different ministries in as many years, leading to 'significant delays' in completing his report.
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Postmedia has sought comment from the office of Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.
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In a statement, Opposition children and family services critic Diana Batten accused the government of short-changing parents and also noted the province's April cancellation of its income-tested subsidy that some parents say has sent child care costs skyrocketing.
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'Smith and her uncaring government have delivered a double hit to parents struggling to afford child care, making it even more expensive. It's a failure to live up to their responsibility, improper management of public funds, and it's just cruel.'
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