Work First Users Manual - Change Notices

CHANGE NOTICE FOR MANUAL

DATE: December 23, 2004

MANUAL: Work First User's Manual

CHANGE NO.: 3-2004

TO: County Directors of Social Services

EFFECTIVE January 1, 2005, make the following changes to the Work First User's Manual.

I. BACKGROUND

The purpose of this change notice is to provide an update to the Work First User’s Manual to support the implementation of the Work First changes in the TANF State Plan approved by the General Assembly (P.L. 104-193). These changes are effective on January 1, 2005.

This Change Notice also updates several sections of the manual for clarification and inclusion of information that was inadvertently left out of the last manual update.

II. GENERAL INFORMATION

The TANF State Plan includes changes to sanction policy and new procedures for applying sanctions. These changes include a new payment type for cases in sanction status, new change codes, and new approval codes.

A. Changes in Sanction Policy

(1) Child Support Sanctions: The entire family is ineligible for a Work First payment for one month or until compliance when a parent or adult caretaker does not cooperate with child support. The adult is not eligible to receive Medicaid until compliance with child support. The children remain eligible to receive Medicaid.

(2) Mutual Responsibility Agreement Sanctions (MRA):

• MRA: The entire family on a Work First case is ineligible for a Work First payment when a parent or adult caretaker does not comply with the requirements of his/her MRA.

• Substance Abuse: The adult is ineligible to receive a Work First payment when he/she (without good cause) does not comply with the substance abuse treatment plan. A protective payee is required for the case.

B. New Procedures for Applying Sanctions

(1) A new payment type ‘S’ identifies Work First cases in sanction status. Cases with payment type ’S’ do not receive a Work First payment. The individuals remain eligible for Medicaid.

(2) The sanction percentage and amount on the Work First budget screen are no longer valid. If keyed, the error message, “E09 AS OF 2005/01 STANDARD COUNTY MRA/IVD SANCTION % AND AMT MUST BE 0” is displayed.

(3) If the sanction is due to substance abuse, the type is entered as MRA on the budget. The sanction is displayed as SUB on the Sanction Tracking (SA) screen in EIS. A protective payee is required for the case.

(4) Work First payments not issued due to sanction (payment type code ‘S’) will be posted on the Pay After Performance (PP) screen. These checks will be displayed for informational purposes only. These checks cannot be released from this screen. EIS will track these payments on the PP screen. EIS will automatically transfer the case to two months Medicaid after non-receipt of three Work First payments.

(5) A new approval code, D1, has been created. This approval code will be used with application type 3 and 6 only. This code will be used after ending a IV-D sanction to add the adult back to the Work First case. The text reads,

“____________ will get Work First Family Assistance because he/she complied with Child Support requirements and met all rules found in the Work First Family Assistance Manual.”

(6) A new approval code, S1, has been created. This approval code will be used to approve a case in a substance abuse sanction. The notice text reads,

“Your family has been approved for Work First Family Assistance, but an adult in your home failed to comply with the treatment plan. You will not receive cash assistance for that person. He remains eligible for Medicaid and must still comply with other Work First requirements.”

(7) A new approval code, S2, has been created. This code is a sanction application approval code. The text reads,

“You did not cooperate with Child Support and did not comply with your MRA. You cannot get Medicaid until you cooperate with Child Support, but your child(ren) can get Medicaid.”

(8) A new change code ‘6U’ has been created. This code is a new Medicaid program transfer code indicating an automatic transfer or worker keyed transfer to MAF-C payment type ‘9’. The notice text reads,

“You failed to comply with sanction requirements. Your Medicaid continues under another category.”

(9) A warning message has been added to the consolidated error screen in EIS. If a worker changes an AAF case from payment type ‘1’ or ‘S’ to payment type ‘2’, and there are not two individuals with family status ‘P’, a warning message will display that reads, “TWO ADULTS ON CASE WITH FAMILY STATUS P & PAY TYPE = ‘1’.” This is an alert for the worker to determine if the payment type is correct.

(10) A county transfer and an Aid Program Category transfer are no longer allowed at the same time on the same DSS-8125. EIS will display the error message, “CO TRANSFER AND AID/PRO TRANSFER NOT ALLOWED AT SAME TIME.”

III. CONVERSION

On the night of December 29, 2004, EIS will change the payment type from ‘2’ to ‘S’ on all Work First cases in an active sanction with one or two parents included. EIS will update the Payment Effective Date, Medicaid Effective Date, and the IE segments for each individual on the case to display payment type ‘S’.

NOTE: EIS will not convert any cases with a Payment Review Period thru date less than 200502 since this conversion occurs after pull deadline in December.

A new report will be created that lists all Work First cases updated in the conversion. This report will be available in NCXPTR under the name, DHREJ AAF CASES UPDATED TO PAY TYPE S.

EIS will not change:

• Cases in payment type ‘1’ with an active sanction. These cases will remain in payment type ‘1’ and will be allowed to finish the reduced payment sanction period;

• Cases in payment type ‘2’ with only one adult included on the case and NO active sanction.

IV. MODIFIED REPORTS

The following reports have been modified.

• DHREJ AAF AUTO TRANSFERS TO MAF: This report displays all Work First cases automatically transferred by EIS to Medicaid. A new type code of ‘SA’ has been added to this report to indicate the transfer was due to the AAF case in sanction.

• DHREJ NOTICE REGISTER: This report has been modified to display payment type ‘S’ for those cases in payment type ‘S’.

• CASEWORKER/SUPERVISOR REPORT: This report will now include actions on cases in payment type ‘S’.

• DHREJA WF CASES IN SANCTION: This report displays all Work First cases in an active sanction. Payment type ‘S’ will now be displayed on this report for payment type ‘S’ cases.

• DHREJA CUM WF SANCT CASES: This is the cumulative report of all Work First cases in sanction. Payment type ‘S’ will now be displayed on this report for payment type ‘S’ cases.

V. SPECIFIC CHANGES

A. The Table of Contents is being revised to include Section 610, Reports.

B. Section 100, EIS Logon/Logoff Procedures, is revised to update functions of the EIS Update and Inquiry Menus.

C. Section 104, General Use, is revised to include instructions to complete an address.

D. Section 400, Verification Inquiries, is revised to include the link to Employment Security Client System (ESC) and to provide information for FIRST STOP screens.

E. Section 610, Reports, has been added to provide details and instructions on reports generated by the State Office.

F. Section 700, Codes, is revised to update codes as a result of the TANF State Plan implementation and to correct the notice text.

G. Section 900, Automated Child Support Referrals, has been updated. Section 900.04 updates the child support EIS/ACTS interface and the IV-D Worklist. Section 900.05 updates the payment data.

H. Section1000, Automated Budget, has been modified as follows:

• 1000.03 is revised to:

Ø Delete the instructions of entering percentage and amount under the sanction field;

Ø Include Substance Abuse Sanction keying instructions. A Substance Abuse Sanction should be keyed under the MRA sanction field;

Ø Delete information regarding entering percentage/amount for MRA and IVD sanction under payment calculation.

Ø Delete instructions for keying percentage/amount for MRA and IVD sanctions under payment calculation;

I. Section 1100, DSS-8125 Screen Instructions, is modified to add payment type ‘S’ as a valid payment type.

J. Section 1300, Pay After Performance, is revised to include Work First payments not issued due to sanction (payment type code ‘S’) being posted on the Pay After Performance (PP) screen. These checks will be displayed for informational purposes only. These checks cannot be released from this screen. EIS will track these payments on the PP screen. EIS will automatically transfer the case to two months Medicaid after non-receipt of three Work First payments.

K. Section 1400, Tracking Functions, is revised to delete information regarding repayment of Benefit Diversion.

VI. INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE WORK FIRST USER’S MANUAL

Remove Sections	Remove Pages	Insert Sections	Insert Pages
Table of Contents	1-2	Table of Contents	1-2
WF100	1-3	WF100	1-3
WF104	1-4	WF104	1-4
WF400	1-10	WF400	1-9
WF610	Nothing to Remove	WF610	1-16
WF700	1-30	WF700	1-29
WF900	1-12	WF900	1-23
WF1000	1-15	WF1000	1-16
WF1100	9-24	WF1100	9-25
WF1300	1-2	WF1300	1-2
WF1400	1-8	WF1400	1-8

If you have any questions, please contact your Work First Representative.

Sincerely,



Hank Bowers, Chief

Performance Reporting and Automation

HB/abs/jm

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