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TANF Transmittal 75

901.5 TANF MANUAL 10/22 Page 5c

C. Refusal to Sign the Agreement of Personal Responsibility (APR) - Refusal to sign the APR means overt refusal to sign or failing to participate without good cause in an initial assessment interview in which the APR was to be signed. If the ESW advises the EW that a mandatory individual has refused or failed to sign the APR, the TANF case must be closed as soon as administratively possible. When the ESW completes the Compliance/Non-Compliance Details screen in the ESP module for failure to sign the APR, the non-compliance information will populate on the Non- Compliance Details screen in Data Collection. A task and reminder will be generated to the EW to run eligibility to close the case. Note: If the individual who failed to sign the APR is a non-parent caretaker, the EW will remove that individual’s needs from the TANF payment and the case will remain open as a child-only case. The individual cannot be included in the payment until an APR has been signed or the individual has become exempt.

D Subsequent Reapplication after Refusal to Sign the Agreement of Personal Responsibility (APR) - Upon a subsequent re-application for TANF, the applicant(s) determined to be VIEW mandatory must sign the APR before a final determination of eligibility and the issuance of payments, if appropriate. However, the signing of the APR is not a condition of eligibility for TANF if the case has been closed for 24 months or more.

Either the EW or ESW may obtain the applicant's signature on the APR. This is the only instance in which the EW may obtain the signed APR and the only instance when an APR is to be signed prior to approval of the TANF application.

If the APR has not been signed within the application processing time frame (refer to Section 401.1.E), the TANF application must be denied.

• No Countable Earnings If the APR is signed within the application processing time frame and the household has no countable earnings, the EW will enter the date the APR is signed on the Program Request - Client screen and run Eligibility. The Program/TOA on the TANF - Eligibility Summary screen will change from TANF or TANF-UP to TANF/VIEW or TANF-UP/VIEW the month following the month after the APR was signed. The EW will scan and upload the signed APR to the TANF record in VaCMS.

• Countable Earnings If the APR is signed within the application processing timeframe and the household has countable earnings, the earnings will be screened in accordance with guidance at Section 305 (which does not include the VIEW enhanced disregard). The APR date should not be entered in VaCMS at this time.

o If the applicant is eligible for TANF without the VIEW enhanced disregards, the application will be approved. The EW will then enter the date the APR is signed on the Program Request Screen, then run eligibility. The client will be referred to VIEW. The EW will scan and upload the signed APR to the TANF record in VaCMS.