44-340 UNDERPAYMENTS

.1 General

.11 An underpayment shall be corrected in accordance with the regulations in effect on the date of discovery.

.12 Underpayments occur when the applicant or recipient receives less than the amount to which he/she is entitled in a given month or months. Failure to apply for or request aid does not create an underpayment.

.13 The county shall take all reasonable steps necessary to correct promptly any underpayment that comes to the county's attention.

.131 Any underpayment which is due to the erroneous denial of an application for aid shall be corrected even though the applicant failed to perform an act constituting a condition of eligibility when such failure was caused by the denial. Acts which constitute conditions of eligibility shall include, but are not limited to those contained in Sections 40-105.21, 42-625, 43-106, 43-119.23, 44-103.23, and .24.

.132 For the purpose of determining the beginning date of aid for correcting an underpayment which is due to the erroneous denial of an application, see Section 44-317.8.

(SAR) .133 If information reported on the SAR 7 or SAWS 2 results in an increase in cash aid, and the county cannot increase the grant by the first day of the month of the next SAR Payment Period, a supplement shall be issued for that month, and cash aid increased for the remaining months of that SAR Payment Period. A supplement will be provided for the month the decrease in income is reported or the month the change actually occurs, whichever is later, after all verification has been provided (see Section 44-316.31(SAR).

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STANDARDS OF ASSISTANCE

(AR/CO) If information reported on the SAWS 2 results in an increase in cash aid, and the county cannot increase the grant by the first day of the month of the next AR/CO Payment Period, a supplement shall be issued for that month, and cash aid increased for the remaining months of that AR/CO Payment Period. A supplement will be provided for the month the decrease in income is reported or the month the change actually occurs, whichever is later, after all verification has been provided (see Section 44-316.31(AR/CO).

.14 A mid-period supplemental payment resulting from a voluntary mid-period report which was correctly computed based on a recalculation of reasonably anticipated income and/or other changed AU circumstances shall not be considered an underpayment and is not subject to an overpayment offset.

.2 Investigation of Underpayments

.21 When there is a reason to suspect that an underpayment may have occurred, the worker must investigate and determine whether an underpayment did occur.

.3 Calculating the Underpayments

The calculation of the underpayment is as follows:

.31 Calculate the correct grant for each month in question, compare the correct grant to the amount actually paid to the recipient for each month; and if the amount to the recipient in any month is less than the correct grant for that month, an underpayment exists.

.32 An underpayment occurs when the AU receives less cash aid than the AU was entitled to receive and would be based on regulations in effect at the time the underpayment occurred.

.321 The county shall not reconcile actual verified income against prospectively budgeted income that was used in the grant calculation as income that was reasonably anticipated at the time benefits were calculated.

(SAR) .33 No underpayment shall be established when a change in circumstances occurs or actual income received is less than what was reasonably anticipated for the SAR Payment Period and the recipient did not voluntarily report the change in circumstances or the decrease of income during the SAR Payment Period in accordance with Section 44-316.31(SAR).

(AR/CO) No underpayment shall be established when a change in circumstances occurs or actual income received is less than what was reasonably anticipated for the AR/CO Payment Period and the recipient did not voluntarily report the change in circumstances or the decrease of income during the AR/CO Payment Period in accordance with Section 44-316.31(AR/CO).

STANDARDS OF ASSISTANCE

.4 Correction of the Underpayment

.41 Underpayments are corrected through retroactive payments.

.42 If an assistance unit has both an underpayment and an overpayment, the county shall balance one against the other before making a retroactive corrective payment.

.43 (Repealed by Manual Letter No. 82-26, effective 04/02/82.)

.44 The month of discovery is the month in which the county obtained any information which could have reasonably led to a determination that an underpayment occurred.

.45 (Repealed by Manual Letter No. 82-26, effective 04/02/82.)

.5 (Repealed by Manual Letter No. 82-26, effective 04/02/82.)

.6 For purposes of determining continued eligibility and amount of assistance, retroactive payments shall not be considered as income or as a resource in the month paid nor in the next following month.

.7 Repealed by DSS Manual Letter No. EAS-89-06, effective 10/1/89.

NOTE: Authority cited: Sections 10553 and 10554, Welfare and Institutions Code. Reference: Sections 11004.1, 11265.1, 11265.2, 11265.3, and 11450.5, Welfare and Institutions Code.

STANDARDS OF ASSISTANCE