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S N A P M A N U A L

40 household must have a face-to-face or telephone interview at recertification. (See Section 15.3 Simplified Reporting Households). The individual interviewed may be the applicant/Primary Informant (PI), spouse, any other responsible member of the household, or an authorized representative. The applicant may bring any person he or she chooses to the interview. The interviewer must not simply review the information that appears on the application but must explore and resolve with the household unclear and incomplete information. The household must be advised: • of their rights and responsibilities during the interview, including the appropriate application processing standard and the households' responsibility to report changes; • that time limits and other requirements that apply to the receipt of TANF benefits do not apply to the receipt of SNAP benefits; and • households which cease receiving TANF benefits because they have reached a time limit, have begun working, or for other reasons, may still qualify for SNAP benefits. The interview must be conducted as an official and confidential discussion of household circumstances. The Agency must protect the applicant's right to privacy during the interview. Facilities must be adequate to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of the interview. The Agency must schedule an interview for all applicant households who are not interviewed on the day they submit their applications. To the extent practicable, the Agency must schedule the interview to accommodate the needs of groups with special circumstances, including working households. The Agency must schedule all interviews as promptly as possible to ensure eligible households receive an opportunity to participate within 30 days after the application is filed. NOTE: Under waiver authority, South Carolina may conduct all interviews by telephone.

Procedure:

All initial applications, reapplications, and annual recertifications must be registered in SCWINS. A date set ten days from the application file date (four days for expedited application) will be automatically entered on CHIP INRD screen in the INTERVIEW DATE field. When the interview is conducted, the ES Worker should acknowledge the completion of the interview by coding CHIP INRD screen with a “Y” in the interview completed field and ensure that the INTERVIEW DATE field reflects the actual date that the interview was completed.

If the interview is not completed within the applicable timeframe (ten days for non-expedited or four days for expedited applications) or if the interview is not acknowledged with a “Y” in the INTERVIEW COMPLETED field on INRD within the applicable timeframe, a Notice of Missed Interview (NOMI) will be sent to the household.