The new Liberal government in Newfoundland and Labrador is dropping an effort to collect on pension overpayments to more than 400 people.
The pensioners had owed amounts ranging from less than $300 to more than $30,000.
An audit dating back 20 years found the provincial payments weren’t properly adjusted when Canada Pension Plan benefits started as retirees turned 65.
As a result, 427 people were overpaid a total of $935,000 through no fault of their own.
The province says in a news release that it plans to repay the money already collected from the pensioners and it won’t make further collection efforts.
Finance minister Cathy Bennett says her government feels the collection effort placed undue hardship on those who received the overpayments.
She said as of the end of this month, the recoveries will no longer be deducted from the pension cheques of affected pensioners, and refunds will begin in the middle of next month.