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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 18

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 2 Chapter 18 WV WORKS Activities/Requirements

The goals of WV WORKS are to: • Achieve more efficient and effective use of public assistance funds; • Reduce dependency on public programs by promoting self-sufficiency; and • Structure assistance to emphasize employment and personal responsibility. This chapter discusses the requirement that all adults in the assistance group (AG) and all non- recipient Work-Eligible Individuals must meet a work requirement and describes minimum participation rates to which the State must adhere. Based on the participant’s participation in one or more of the activities described in Sections 18.10 - 18.18, the State’s participation rate is determined. However, the goals of WV WORKS do not include meeting a participation requirement. Instead, the foundation of WV WORKS is self-sufficiency. There are, therefore, some activities which allow the participant to meet his work requirement, but which do not lead to self-sufficiency. The Case Manager may allow the participant to continue in the activity which meets the participation requirement while developing plans with the participant to begin another activity which will accomplish or lead to self-sufficiency. The eligibility system provides automated support for WV WORKS work requirements by tracking the participant’s involvement in employment and other activities and by providing for the storage and retrieval of information necessary for the assessment process.

WORK-ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL A Work-Eligible individual is a parent, a caretaker included in the WV WORKS AG, or a minor child head-of-household receiving WV WORKS assistance unless the individual is: • A minor parent and not the head-of-household or spouse of the head-of-household; or • A noncitizen who is ineligible to receive assistance due to his or her immigration status; or • A recipient of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. NON-RECIPIENT WORK-ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL A non-recipient Work-Eligible Individual is not included in the WV WORKS benefit. He must still complete Orientation, a Personal Responsibility Contract (PRC)/Self-Sufficiency Plan (SSP) and be participating in a work activity; therefore, is work-eligible. Non-recipient Work-Eligible individuals include: • Individuals convicted in federal or state court of having made a fraudulent statement or representation about residence to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), WV WORKS, Medicaid, SNAP benefits or SSI are ineligible for 10 years from