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Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual Issued 02/2022 Assessing overpayments 14.1 An overpayment occurs when a family and/or provider receives more child care assistance than they were actually eligible for. An overpayment can occur due to family and/or provider actions or errors, or a combination of agency and family and/or provider actions or errors. Timeframe for overpayments

Do not assess overpayments that occurred more than six years before the overpayment was determined, unless fraud is established. Fraud overpayments must be assessed and collected regardless of timeframe. See Chapter 13 (Fraud disqualifications) for information about establishing fraud and Chapter 14.6 (Amount of Overpayment). When not to assess an overpayment Do not assess an overpayment if a family and/or provider receives more child care assistance than they were actually eligible for if the overpayment occurred solely because of agency error. Overpayment examples due to agency error The following are examples of overpayments that resulted solely from agency error that cannot be assessed or collected.

• Family reported a change timely, but the CCAP agency did not act timely Family’s eligibility approved with incorrect income • Family’s service authorization increased without schedule verification • Family’s copayment reduced without income verification • CCAP agency incorrectly enters an accreditation for a provider Provider’s county of care entered incorrectly resulting in incorrect maximum rates When to assess an overpayment Assess an overpayment if a family and/or provider receives more child care assistance than they were actually eligible for if the overpayment occurred: • Solely as a result of family and/or provider actions or errors. • Because of a combination of agency error and family or provider actions or errors. Overpayment examples due to family error The following are examples of overpayments that resulted solely from the family’s error that can be assessed and collected.

• Family’s failure to report at application and redetermination • Family’s failure to report during the 12-month eligibility period