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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES HANDLING CHANGES

10/24 VOLUME V, PART XIV, PAGE 19

approval may have already been sent.

Example

A household files for recertification and approved on July 18. The BPS provides a Notice of Action on this same day. The new certification period is to begin August 1. On July 25, the household reports a change that would decrease the benefits for August. The Advance Notice of Proposed Action is not required. Instead, provide a revised Notice of Action.

The advance notice may be retracted if it is mailed by mistake. It may also be retracted if it becomes unnecessary because the household's situation changes during the advance notice period. The household must be informed of the retraction.

If an advance notice is mailed giving erroneous information, a corrected notice must be mailed. If the new allotment will be more than that which the household has already been told, the BPS must continue with the original effective date. If the new allotment amount will be less than that which the household has already been told, the BPS must begin the 10-day advance notice period again.

Example

An advance notice is mailed on October 20 to decrease benefits to $50. The new amount should have been $45. A corrected notice is mailed on October 25.

Decrease benefits to $50 effective November 1. Decrease benefits to $45 effective December 1.

E. ADEQUATE NOTICE

Adequate notice of a change in benefits is by the time the changed benefits are received by the household, or by the time the benefits would have been received if the case had not been closed. The Notice of Action may be used for this purpose. The form and instructions are in Part XXIV.

Adequate notice is necessary In the following situations:

1. Certain mass changes take place. (See Part XIV.A.4.)

2. A waiver to an Advance Notice of Proposed Action is signed because continuing the original benefit amount will result in a claim for which the household may be required to repay. The BPS must explain to the household that it is the household’s choice whether to sign the waiver.

3. Benefit reduction is invoked when a participating household responds to a demand letter by requesting renegotiation of the repayment schedule but the BPS determines renegotiation is not warranted. (See Part XVII.F.)

TRANSMITTAL #35