Page 469

SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 12000 12400 Unclear Information 12330 Changes to TEA/Affect on SNAP Unknown

12400 Unclear Information

SNAP MANUAL 10/01/03 During a household’s certification period, a county office worker may become aware of changes in a household’s circumstances and yet not be able to determine the effect of the changes on the household’s eligibility and/or SNAP benefit amount. Such unclear information may come from a third party or from the household itself.  NOTE: See SNAP 12440 for instructions on handling changes reportedby field investigators. The worker must attempt to clarify and, if necessary, verify the household’s current circumstances using the following procedure: 1. Using a Notice of Action (DCO-1), manually issue a request for contact. The manually issued DCO-1 must clearly advises the household of the information that must be provided or the actions that the household must take to clarify its situation and that failure to respond to the Notice of Action may result in caseclosure. 2. Allow the household at least 10 days to respond to the manually issued request for contact, and clarify its situation. (The household may contact the worker by telephone or in person or by letter to explain its current situation. Or, the household may be directed to provide written documentation to verify the questionable information.) Once a household has contacted the DHS county office in response to a request for contact, the household must refuse to cooperate with the requests to clarify its situation before the case can be closed. EXCEPTION: If the household has become ineligible, the case will be closed.) If the household responds to the manually issued request for contact but cannot provide the needed verification, the worker must assist the household in obtaining the needed information. See the Glossary, definition of Verification. The following chart explains the actions to be taken after the RFC has been issued to the household: