Ontario Ombudsman finds families unfairly denied COVID-era school payments

Ontario's Ministry of Education has accepted all 14 recommendations from a new Ombudsman investigation that found five direct-payment programs launched between 2020 and 2023 unfairly denied funds to eligible families.

The report, Catching Up on Fairness, details how parents and guardians seeking financial support during school disruptions were repeatedly turned away because someone else had already claimed payments for their child. The Ombudsman's Office received more than 200 complaints across the five programs, from the early Support for Parents and Support for Families initiatives in 2020 to the Catch Up Payments issued in 2023.

While the programs distributed over $2 billion to families, investigators found they were rushed, inconsistently managed, and repeated the same flaws each time. Acting Ombudsman Barbara Finlay determined that first-come, first-served applications allowed anyone to claim funds for a child with no custody verification. Parents in high-conflict or abusive situations were told to "work it out themselves," even when ex-partners with no contact claimed the money.

Finlay noted that by the final program, the Ministry had received tens of thousands of complaints and could not keep up. The Ministry did not track improperly distributed funds, leaving the total amount unknown. Among her recommendations: any future direct-payment programs must be properly planned and staffed, with clear eligibility rules and consistent verification methods built in from the start.