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201.10 TANF MANUAL 10/18

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b. If the penalty is due to failure to redirect support, the agency must also explain that the support, minus the $100 disregard, will count as income to the assistance unit.

C. Penalties for Noncooperation - Failure to cooperate, absent good cause or an exception to identification requirements, will result in the following action:

1. Noncooperation During the First Six Months of Receipt of Assistance - When the applicant/recipient or a minor parent fails to cooperate during the first six months of receipt of assistance, the individual will be ineligible for assistance. The individual will remain ineligible and any penalty reduction must continue until he has cooperated or the information not previously provided has been obtained from another source, or all children for whom the individual did not cooperate have left the home. The worker must ensure VaCMS performs the following actions:

a. Exclude the caretaker's needs from the payment, reducing the payment by the amount of the caretaker's needs or by 25 percent, whichever is greater, effective the month following noncompliance, if administratively possible. Note: If the individual not cooperating is a minor parent who is a member of an assistance unit that includes her sibling(s), the agency must notify the applicant/recipient that the penalty may be avoided by withdrawing the request for assistance for the minor parent’s child.

Procedures for calculating the amount of the reduction are as follows:

1) If the caretaker's needs are currently included in the payment, the caretaker must be removed. If the resulting payment reduction is less than 25 percent of the amount of assistance that would otherwise be provided to the family, the payment reduction must be increased to 25 percent. In addition to removing the caretaker, document the case record as to the basis for imposing the additional penalty amount.

2) The payment must be reduced by 25 percent if the caretaker’s needs are not currently included on the payment because a. the caretaker is categorically ineligible (e.g., receives SSI, is an ineligible alien, etc.); b. the caretaker has failed or refused to cooperate in meeting a requirement of eligibility; or c. the caretaker is a non-parent caretaker not on the payment

(a payee).

See Appendix X to Chapter 201 for penalty calculation examples.

TANF Transmittal 65