Background

Federal law requires states to reduce TANF Cash Assistance grants by at least 25 percent for failure to cooperate with support requirements. State law requires DHS to reduce the Cash Assistance allowance by 25 percent when a person fails, without good cause , to cooperate with support requirements.

T he enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 reclassified parents who are not on the Cash Assistance grant as “work-eligible” and must be considered when determining the state’s work participation rate. DHS has decided to implement the 25-percent-reduction policy in a manner that does not result in child-only cases.

Noncooperation with support requirements as described in Section 131.3 will result in a monthly cash benefit reduced by 25 percent. All mandatory budget group members will be eligible and must cooperate with RESET requirements.

The CAO should p rocess a reduction in a cash assistance grant by 25% for failure to cooperate with support requirements in eCIS . When the CAO is accessing the case in eCIS they can impose the 25% cash reduction due to non-compliance with support requirements through the "Absent Relative" screen. Select "No" from the "Cooperating to seek support payment" drop-down menu. Click "Next" and continue to run eligibility.

Note: The 25% reduction is only applied to grant groups that have noncooperation with child support requirements if more than one grant group is in the case record.

The CAO should r emove the 25% cash assistance reduction when the CAO receives the alert from BCSE indicating cooperation with child support requirements. To remove the 25% reduction when the client regains compliance with support cooperation requirements select "Yes" from the "Cooperating to seek support payment" drop down menu on the absent relative screen . M ake sure the Referral date is the current system date. Click "Next" and continue to run eligibility.

Updated May 3, 2024, replacing February 8, 2013