Nearly 100,000 students demanded reimbursement of the CERB benefits they claimed during the COVID-19 pandemic could soon have a break.
Under a council order, adopted earlier this month, students will be able to deduct the amount they may have charged with the COVID student aid program from the amount of CERB benefits they are given. asks them to reimburse.
Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, said the government realized when it tracked the benefit payments it made during the pandemic that many students who received benefits in under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) should have applied. a different program: the Canadian Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).
While the CERB program paid benefits to workers who had lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CESB was designed to help students who were unable to find work in the first place due to the pandemic.
In some cases, students have been told to return thousands of dollars in CERB payments they have received, but that it was too late to apply for student benefit.
A remand order, passed by the cabinet on June 2, seeks to address what Qualtrough describes as “inequity.”
“If we determine you owe ten money for the CERB, you can tell, well, if I had known I wasn’t eligible for the CERB, I would have applied for student benefit because I know I was eligible for it.” Qualtrough said in an interview with CBC News. “You are the person we will help with this. You are the person for whom we are correcting this inequality.”
Qualtrough estimates the move could help about 98,000 students.
There are no other referral orders in process: Qualtrough
Although CERB payments reached $ 2,000 a month, the student benefit program paid $ 1,250 a month, Qualtrough said. He said that amount can now be used to reduce the amount of money some students are asked to return.
“This will really significantly offset any amount that people are considered owed on the CERB repayment.”
When the government first telegraphed its plans to fix the problem in the fiscal outlook last December, it budgeted $ 67.9 million to alleviate debt.
Qualtrough said the adoption of the referral order was delayed in part because the government suspended the collection of CERB overpayments due to the COVID-19 Omicron wave.
“We had decided, because of Omicron, not to actively pursue CERB debt at the time,” Qualtrough explained. “Now that we are back to the point where we are tracking people who tell them what they may owe to the CERB, we are now in a position to implement this referral order at the same time.”
See: Help on the way for students asking to return CERB money:
Help on the way for students asking to return CERB money
Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Labor Development and Inclusion of Disability, explains the new referral order to help students who are asked to return CERB benefits.
To be eligible for the referral order, a student should have applied for the CERB no later than September 30, 2020 and not receive benefits such as the CESB, employment insurance or provincial benefits from parental or maternity leave at the same time. They must also meet one of three criteria: they have not been able to work due to COVID-19; they were looking for work; they worked and earned $ 1,000 or less before taxes during the four-week CESB period they could have applied for.
The Canada Tax Agency has created a website that describes the terms of the referral order and a link to the application form.
CBC News asked the CRA if they were informing students about the referral order when they send the refund notices. Spokesman Christopher Doody says the CRA does not mention the possible disruption of students to their reimbursement notices because “it has no way of identifying the people who would be eligible under the referral order.”
If a student has already reimbursed the CERB benefits he or she received, he or she will be reimbursed for the difference, Qualtrough said.
Qualtrough said the government has no plans at the moment for any further referral order
While the government notifies some CERB recipients that they have to pay the benefits, Qualtrough said the government is “desperately trying to make this as painless as possible for the people” and allows them to make payments for months or even years.
“We’re really trying to be as flexible as possible, trying to make sure that … that doesn’t even break someone’s ability to pay their bills,” Qualtrough said, adding that most people go apply for CERB benefits in good faith. thinking they were entitled to the CERB.
A financial tight spot
Taylan McRae-Yu, director of strategy for the Canadian Federation of Students, said his group is pleased to see aid for students, but believes the government should go further.
“COVID and the cost of living crisis along with rising tuition have forced some students to choose between paying off an extra loan, basic necessities and their academic success.”
One of the former students who received a refund letter in May from the CRA is Joanna Clark. He initially applied for employment insurance and instead received benefits from the CERB. Now, the elementary school teacher is being asked to return the $ 2,000 she doesn’t have.
Clark said the government has not notified him of the remand order. She hopes she qualifies for it.
“If it means I don’t have to return $ 2,000, it would make a big difference.”