Page 311

Page | 310 19120 OFFSETTING CLAIMS WHEN RESTORED BENEFITS ARE DUE THE HOUSEHOLD

If a claim against a household is unpaid or held in suspense, the Specialist must count the amount to be restored against the amount due on the claim. The balance, if any, is then restored to the household.

In cases when an initial allotment is received within 60 days of the date an application is filed and is paid retroactive to the date of application, the retroactive payment must not be reduced to offset any prior claims.

In cases where the under issuance was discovered in the same month the claim occurred and an agency corrective action payment is authorized for that month, the corrective action payment may be reduced by a recoupment payment

Before any restored benefits may be issued, any prior overpayments must be paid in full. ACCESS will automatically read the SS51 system for an overpayment balance. If one is located, the restored benefit amount will automatically be used as an offset against the overpayment balance. If the amount of restored benefits due the household is larger than the unpaid overpayment, ACCESS will deduct the unpaid balance and issue the remainder of the benefit amount as a restored benefit. The Specialist must provide the difference to the household.

Specialist must contact households entitled to restored benefits and inform them of their right to these benefits as soon as they are determined eligible for them. The Specialist must also advise the household of:  The amount of benefits to be restored  Any offsetting that was done  The method of restoration  The right to appeal decisions affecting any aspect of the restoration of lost benefits.

The notification may be done via the SPEC NOTC function via ACCESS.

Process for Offsetting a Claim When There is a PADJ on ACCESS ACCESS allows Supervisors to enter a recoupment amount in the "SNAP Recoupment Amount" Field on SNAP Eligibility Results created by PADJ even if ORFI does not have an over issuance amount recorded. The PADJ can be entered prior to ORFI entering the overpayment on the SS51. The 894, Overpayment Report, must still be completed and sent to ORFI within two working days of the PADJ approval. The 894 will state that the overpayment is paid via restored benefits in the comment section and list the amount of the overpayment that was offset with the PADJ. Also, complete the RECO to electronically record the overpayment with ORFI.

The following steps occur on PADJ when a SNAP Recoupment Amount is entered and there is not a recoupment balance shown:

1. The Supervisor enters an amount in the SNAP Recoupment Amount field and puts APP in the command and pushes enter; 2. An online edit appears that states "PADJ Recoup Amount Entered No Recoup Balance, Press Enter to Continue";  If the Supervisor finds that an error was made and there should not be a recoup amount, he/she enters zero.