Ohio works first, and refugee cash assistance: verification and reporting requirements

(b) The name of the agency or business contacted, when appropriate;

(c) The date of the contact; and

(d) An accurate summary of the information.

(B) What is to be verified?

(1) All eligibility factors necessary to establish initial and continuing eligibility and items subject to change is to be verified at the time of application, reapplication and when a change in circumstances occurs in the assistance group. A change in circumstances includes the discovery of a discrepancy in income and a change in income amounts.

(2) All income of a member of the assistance group and any person whose income affects the assistance group are to be verified.

(C) What happens when verifications are not received?

(1) It is the assistance group's responsibility to provide the information necessary to establish eligibility.

(2) When the assistance group is aware of the requirements of verification but refuses to provide both consent and necessary verification, the county agency shall deny or terminate assistance as eligibility cannot be established.

(3) Assistance will not be terminated when the assistance group refuses to cooperate in validating past eligibility because past eligibility has no bearing upon present need and eligibility.

(4) The assistance group will not be compelled to cooperate in giving testimony or records that may prove guilt of a crime because of protections of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

(D) When is verification not necessary?

(1) When the assistance group's own statement on the application establishes that the assistance group is ineligible for cash assistance, verification is not necessary. The county agency is to confirm the statement on the application to assure it was an accurate statement and not a mistake in completing the form.

(2) Verification of earned or unearned income is not necessary when the assistance group either alleges no income or employment in the current period and there is no reason to question the statement, or the assistance group reports earnings sufficiently high to make them clearly ineligible for benefits.

(3) Verification is not necessary when some other factor of eligibility, such as age or citizenship, is clearly not met.

(E) What are the county agency's responsibilities? The county agency is to:

(1) Explain what verifications and information are necessary to establish eligibility for cash assistance programs. Explain where and how to obtain necessary verifications.

(2) Assist in securing all necessary verifications to establish eligibility when the assistance group requests such assistance because of an inability to provide them without the agency's help.

(3) Obtain the verifications when the assistance group is not financially able or is not competent to secure them. This is not to be interpreted as noncooperation, nor is it to be used to deny assistance.

(4) The JFS 07341 "Applicant/Recipient Authorization for Release of Information" is to be obtained each time verification of an eligibility factor is necessary.

(a) Written consent for verification of information from public records is not necessary.

(b) Verification need be obtained only once when the eligibility factor is not subject to change.

(F) How is verification handled between reapplications?

(1) The county agency is to pursue clarification and verification of the assistance group's circumstances by issuing the JFS 07105 "Verification Request Checklist" or the Ohio benefits integrated eligibility system generated equivalent, that clearly advises the assistance group of the verification it is to provide or the actions it is to take to clarify its circumstances.

(a) The JFS 07105 or the Ohio benefits integrated eligibility system generated equivalent are to afford the assistance group at least ten days to respond and to clarify its circumstances, either by telephone or by correspondence, as the county agency directs. It is to further state the consequences when the assistance group fails to respond to the county agency.

(b) When the assistance group does not respond to the county agency, or does respond but refuses to provide sufficient information to clarify its circumstances, the county agency is to terminate the cash assistance case.

(c) When the assistance group responds to the county agency and provides sufficient information, the county agency is to act on the new circumstances and adjust the budget accordingly.

(G) What happens when verification is not available or there is a discrepancy?

(1) When verification is not available through no fault of the assistance group, the determination is based on the best possible evidence.

(2) Where information from another source contradicts statements made by the assistance group, the assistance group is to be afforded a reasonable opportunity to resolve the discrepancy prior to an eligibility determination.

(3) In situations that there is no available verification, the county agency is not to deny or terminate the case but is to accept a signed affidavit, a third-party statement, notarized statement, or the statement on the application as verification when the information is consistent with other facts and statements.

(4) When the statement provided is incomplete and/or inconsistent and the assistance group is unable to clarify the statement, the county agency is to deny or terminate the case as eligibility cannot be established.

(5) The county agency is to exhaust all possibilities for verification before accepting these statements. The use of a statement is to be on a case-by-case basis. This approach is not to be used for the sole purpose of meeting the promptness requirement of rule 5101:1-2-01 of the Administrative Code.

(6) Homeless and migrant assistance groups may have difficulty accessing necessary verifications that may exist. In order to ensure that these assistance groups do not experience a lengthy delay in receiving Ohio works first (OWF) or refugee cash assistance (RCA) benefits, the following procedures are to be followed:

(a) Once the homeless or migrant assistance group has submitted verification of identity, the county agency is to approve the application for assistance when the assistance group appears to meet eligibility criteria based on statements on the application or a signed affidavit, and the best evidence available.

(b) The county agency is to attempt to obtain verification of all other eligibility factors by the next reapplication. When the verifications cannot be obtained by the next reapplication, the county agency is to continue the attempt and document in the case record.

(7) The methods used for verification are to be thoroughly documented in the case record. All documents submitted to the county agency are to be photocopied and retained in the case record.

(H) What are the assistance group's change reporting requirements and the time frames?

(1) The following changes are to be reported within ten calendar days of the date that the change occurs for OWF, or RCA assistance groups:

(a) Change in the source of earned and unearned income. This includes new employment, loss of employment, changing of jobs and initial receipt of unearned income;

(b) Change in the amount of gross monthly income of more than fifty dollars;

(c) Changes in the legal obligation to pay child support;

(d) Change in the assistance group composition;

(e) An assistance group member becomes pregnant, or a pregnancy ends when there are no other children;

(f) Change in residence;

(g) Withdrawal from school for individuals subject to the learning, earning and parenting program requirements;

(h) Change in address, job or other information related to an absent parent;

(i) Change in living arrangement for a minor parent;

(j) An assistance group member violates a condition of his probation or parole or becomes a fugitive felon.

(2) The county agency is to use the time frame provisions described in rule 5101:1-2-01 of the Administrative Code when calculating the ten day reporting time period.