12/20/19
Policy Memo
Summary
- Effective January 2020 TANF sanction levels will be eliminated and the sanction penalty will be restructured.
- IES system changes will recalculate the TANF sanction penalty for active cases with sanctions effective January 2020.
- TANF sanctions imposed will decrease the TANF grant for adult/child(ren) cases by 7.5% and 30% of the TANF grant for adult(s) only cases.
- Additional "Good Cause" reasons are being added for failure to participate in required TANF education, training and employment activities.
- Homelessness is being clarified.
- CN 19.12 Important Notice About Your TANF Sanction (pdf) will be mailed 12/06/19 to TANF customers with current sanction to explain the policy change.
Due to a change in State law, TANF sanction levels will be eliminated and replaced with a grant reduction. Effective January 2020, when a customer fails to cooperate with TANF activity compliance or Child Support Enforcement without good cause, and reconciliation is not successful, a sanction will be imposed. When a sanction is imposed, the TANF grant will be reduced by 30% of the 25% TANF grant designated for the adult member(s) for a TANF adult(s)/child(ren) case. This will result in a 7.5% reduction of the TANF grant amount. When a TANF case is an adult(s) case, only the TANF grant will be reduced by 30%.
Sanctions
Effective with regular roll January 2020 TANF sanction levels are eliminated. Existing TANF sanctions will be centrally recalculated and new TANF sanctions calculated to reduce the TANF grant according to the TANF unit composition. TANF Adult(s) only cases will have a 30% reduction in the TANF grant amount and TANF Adult/Child(ren) cases will have a 7.5% reduction in the grant amount. The TANF EDG will no longer close due to sanction non-compliance. The TANF grant will be restored once the customer complies. When the customer complies, workers will need to complete the Non Cooperation-Details page by, answering "Yes" to the question "Individual has taken action to correct non-cooperation" and entering the date of compliance in the " Date took action to cooperate" field.
Child Support Verbal Compliance
Customers can now comply verbally for Non-Cooperation with Child Support Enforcement to restore their medical assistance. A Verbal Compliance Received date field has been added in IES on the Child Support Non-Cooperation-Details page. When a sanctioned customer verbally states to comply with Child Support Enforcement, enter the date of compliance and update the Program Request-Individuals page in IES to restore medical assistance for the sanctioned customer. The verbal compliance is only used to regain medical assistance when sanctioned. A signed form IL444-3180 is required to restore the TANF grant. If the customer complies by signing form IL444-3180, enter the signature date in the Signed Form Received date field on the Child Support Non-Compliance-Details page to restore the TANF grant and update the Program Request-Individuals page to restore medical assistance.
Good Cause
There are 3 new reasons a customer may claim good cause for failing or refusing to meet activity requirements, and the good cause reason Homelessness is clarified. The 3 new good cause reasons are:
- Receipt of an eviction notice.
- Discontinued Utilities.
- An individual is exiting a publicly funded institution or system of care such as a health-care facility, a mental health facility, foster care or other youth facility, or correction program or institution without an option to move to a fixed, adequate nighttime residence.
Clarification of Homelessness.
An individual or family is experiencing homelessness if the individual or family:
- lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, or shares the housing of other persons due to the loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
- is living in a motel, hotel, trailer park, or camping ground due to the lack of alternative accommodations;
- is living in an emergency or transitional shelter;
- resides in a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; or
- is living in a car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing, bus, train station or similar setting.
IES Changes
| IES Screens |
What is Changed |
|
Sanctions/Non-Cooperation-Summary
WVS/Sanctions Summary
|
Existing sanction with an end date greater than 12/31/19 will have the Penalty End Date populated to 12/31/19 with the existing sanction level displayed for historical record.
IES will create a new sanction record with a Penalty Begin date of 01/01/20 with no Penalty End Date and the sanction level populated with "N/A".
All sanctions entered effective 01/01/20 and after will have the Penalty Counter and Sanction Level displayed as "N/A".
|
| Sanctions/Non-Cooperation-Details |
Sanction End Date will be blank for TANF sanctions beginning 01/01/20 forward.
An existing sanction with an end date greater than 12/31/19 will have the Sanction End Date populated to 12/31/19 with the existing sanction level displayed for historical record.
IES will create a new sanction record with a Sanction Begin date of 01/01/20 with no Penalty End Date and the Sanction Level populated with "N/A".
Sanctions created prior to IES system changes that have an end date less than 01/01/20 will remain unchanged.
Sanction Level/Length will no longer be editable by the worker and will be displayed as "N/A".
3 new Good Cause reasons added.
When a worker selects an individual, who is not an adult or a teen parent when imposing a sanction, a hard stop message "The individual selected for a Non-Cooperation Sanction is not an adult or minor-teen parent" will appear that prevents modifying any fields.
|
| Child Support Non-Cooperation-Details |
After a sanction has been applied, the Sanction Level will not be editable by the worker and will display "N/A".
"Verbal Compliance Received" date has been added for medical compliance only.
"Signed Form Received" date has been added for medical and cash compliance.
Existing sanctions that have a "Comply Date" populated will have the comply date transferred to the "Signed Form Received (Valid for Medical Cash)" field.
When a worker selects an individual, who is not an adult or a minor-teen parent, when imposing a sanction, a hard stop message "The individual selected for a Non-Cooperation Sanction is not an adult or minor-teen parent" will appear that prevents modifying any fields.
|
| WVS Customer Summary |
Sanction Status will no longer show sanction levels and will now display Yes or No. |
| Attendance and Activity Summary |
The "Individual Sanctioned at 3rd level, no timesheet generated" check box has been renamed to: "Individual sanctioned, no time sheet generated". The check box has been inactivated. Attendance and Activity time sheets will continue to generate for all sanctioned individuals until a future IES enhancement has been completed. |
| Case Comments |
When existing sanctions are systematically split a case comment will be added with a blank "Type of Contact" as follows:
Existing TANF Non Cooperation Sanction with a begin date in 2019 and an end date in 2020.
- "An existing TANF Non-Cooperation Sanction was split into two sanctions as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 1/1/2020."
Existing Non Cooperation Sanction with a begin date of 01/01/20 added after November cut-off and certified before IES changes.
- "An existing TANF Non-Cooperation Sanction with a Sanction Begin Date of 01/01/2020 was updated to have a sanction level of N/A and the Sanction End Date was removed as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
Existing Child Support Non Cooperation Sanction with a begin date in 2019 and a sanction end date in 2020.
- "An existing Child Support Non-Cooperation Sanction was split into two sanctions as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
Existing Child Support Sanctions with a Sanction begin date of 01/01/20 added after November cut-off and certified before IES changes.
- "An existing Child Support Non-Cooperation Sanction with a Sanction Begin Date of 01/01/2020 was updated to have a sanction level of N/A and the Sanction End Date was removed as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
Existing Child Support Sanctions with a Comply Date.
- " The comply date of an existing Child Support Non-Cooperation Sanction has been transferred to the Signed Form Received (Valid for Medical and Cash) field as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
When an existing Child Support Non Cooperation Sanction has been entered in Data Collection but case has not been authorized.
- "The Sanction Level field of an existing Child Support Non-Cooperation Sanction has been updated to a level of N/A as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
When an existing Non Cooperation Sanction has been entered in Data Collection but case has not been authorized.
- "The Sanction Level field of an existing TANF Non-Cooperation Sanction has been updated to a level of N/A as required by new TANF Sanction policy beginning 01/01/2020."
|
360C
Changes have been made to the 360C for TANF sanctions. The notice will no longer generate messages pertaining to penalties imposed at levels. When a customer is sanctioned the 360C will display the following message: "Your cash benefits will be reduced until your family meets all program requirements. Your benefits will be restored as soon as the requirement is met if you have no other sanction."
[signed copy on file]
Grace B. Hou
Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services
Forms referenced:
