CDSS Programs CalFresh Resource Center Quarterly Reporting QandA

CalWORKs Only Questions & Answers

  • Disregards
    • How often can the HH switch between actual and standard (40%) self-employment deductions during the redetermination period for the CalWORKs program? Answer
  • IRT
    • The quarter is July/Aug/Sept. The family consists of Mother, one cash-aided child, and one SSI child. On 8/3 the recipient calls her worker and reports that she believes her income increased in July to a level whereby she is mandated to report. The worker asks for and receives information from the client about the income that's been reported. The child received one SSI check for $643, and the mother received two paychecks from her job totaling $898. The IRT for this family is $1361. Because the total income of $1541 exceeded the IRT Mom reported it to the CWD.
      • A) Should the CWD exclude SSI/SSP from the combined gross income prior to determining whether the income exceeds the IRT?
      • B) Our county will not act on the reported information until verified. So, as of the day the client called, do we document and evaluate the reported information and send a no change NOA? Or do we document the reported information, verbally request verification and recalculate only when the verification has been received? Answer
  • Mid-Quarter Changes
    • Add Person
      • When an optional person is requesting to be included in or removed from the AU, when should the individual and/or his income be added and/or discontinued from the case? Answer
      • Please clarify the contradiction on pages 49 & 54 of ACL 03-18. Page 49 states the MFG child shall be added to the AU the first of the month of the upcoming QR Payment Quarter. However, page 54 states the MFG child is added effective the first of the month following the month in which the birth was reported after all verification has been provided. Which is the correct statement? Answer
  • NOAs Forms
    • Question: Will we have Senior Parent and Sponsored Non-Citizen QR 7s? Answer

CalFresh Only Questions & Answers

  • Deductions Expenses
    • Can the HH switch Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) or Actual expenses in the Food Stamp Program when they move? ACL 03-18 states that they can only do so at certification and once during the certification period. Answer
    • Please clarify the contradiction on pages 49 & 54 of ACL 03-18. Page 49 states the MFG child shall be added to the AU the first of the month of the upcoming QR Payment Quarter. However, page 54 states the MFG child is added effective the first of the month following the month in which the birth was reported after all verification has been provided. Which is the correct statement? Answer
  • Mid-Quarter Changes
    • Income Change
      If a voluntary report results in no change or decrease to the CalWORKs grant, but the FS would increase because of the reported change, would FS act to increase benefits? Answer
    • Mandatory
      What happens to a mixed FS HH when the CW grant is decreased due to a drug/fleeing felon or probation/parole violator? Should the FS case result in an increased benefit? Answer
  • Over/Under Issuances
    • ACL 03-18 states (on page 76), “The Food Stamp Program does not allow offsetting overissuances with underissuances.” Is this a correct statement? What is the policy regarding offsetting overissuances with underissuances? Answer

CalWORKs and CalFresh Questions & Answers

  • Deductions/Expenses/Disregards
    • For CalWORKs, are the $225 and 50% disregards applied to each month’s income or to the averaged income? Will deductions for the FSP be applied similarly? Answer
  • Income Averaging
  • Mid-Quarter Changes
    • Add Person
      Add a Person Flowchart
    • Address Change
      What is the policy for handling Inter County Transfers or recipients moving from an MRRB county to a QR/PB county and vise versa? Answer
    • Income Change
      If the client reported in the first month of a quarter that their income was going to be decreased for the second and third months of a quarter, and the CWD has already done a new average for the last two months’ income, what action should the CWD take if the recipient reports the same decrease in month three?
      Example: Jan/Feb/March Quarter. In January, client reports loss of her $1000/month job and expects $500 in February and $0 in March. The CWD uses an average monthly income amount of $250 for the benefit calculation for February and March. The client comes in during March and reports that her income dropped from $500 to $0. Answer
    • Multiple Changes
      What should the CWD do if the client reports two different changes on a voluntary report where one change would result in increased benefits and the other would result in decrease benefits? Should the net action be taken or should each change be evaluated independently? Answer
  • NOAs Forms
    • CalWORKs currently shows a budget computation for cash aid on Notices of Action (NOAs.) The FSP also requires it but does not require a standardized budget on their NOA.
      • A) Now that there is a new budgeting methodology, do the budgets on the NOAs need to be modified?
      • B) When displaying how we figured an AU/HH’s benefits, does the CWD also need to show how it arrived at the averaged monthly income amount? Answer
    • On the No Change NOA, can we eliminate the budget computation from the NOA? It may be confusing to the participant if later in the month the CWD either further decreases benefits or subsequently increases them. Or can we eliminate this NOA, since the AU/HH will be receiving another NOA informing them that as a result of their reporting, their benefit level will change "as of ___ to ___?" Answer
  • Request for Disc
    • We do not require 10-day notice prior to discontinuing the AU/HH or the out-of-home or optional individual, who no longer wishes to receive cash aid, when the request for discontinuance is in writing. We must provide a 10 day notice when the AU/household or the out-of-home or optional individual requests discontinuance verbally. Do these rules apply for both CalWORKs and Food Stamps programs? Answer
  • Treatment of Income
    • How should infrequent income and charitable contributions be treated? Answer
    • (Refer to page 29 and 30 of ACL 03-18.) Should the averaged income cents be rounded or dropped? The example in the ACL drops the cents. Should the cents be dropped when averaging each income type separately (UIB, earnings, etc.)? Answer