Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen says the one-month payment promised to Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) workers in lieu of notice after they were sent home, has been delayed by an ongoing audit at the ministry.

She gave the explanation while answering a question from Laventille West MP Kareem Marcelle during Wednesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives. Marcelle asked how many URP workers had been sent home and/or terminated since April 29.

Ameen said the workforce “on paper’ numbered almost 1,000, but the number was inaccurate as some of those people were not even living in TT. “When we came into office we met 928 workers on paper.