Policy Memo
04/12/2021
Summary
- The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) requires sanctioning TANF benefits by an amount not less than 25% for failure to cooperate with Child Support requirements without good cause.
- Effective March 2021, the TANF sanction for failure to cooperate with Child Support requirements will reduce the TANF benefit amount by 25% for both an adult/child TANF EDG and adult only TANF EDG.
- The sanction amount for failure to comply with TANF activities not related to Child Support will remain as established with policy memo dated 12/20/2019: TANF Sanction Policy Changes.
- Effective March 2021, IES will be changed to calculate all TANF sanctions based on the TANF Benefit Amount instead of the full TANF payment level.
- Client Notice, CN 21.02/CN 21.02S Important Notice About Your TANF Child Support Sanction (pdf) was mailed to TANF customers with active sanctions for Failure to Cooperate with Child Support requirements to explain the policy change.
- The IES TANF/AABD Cash-Income Test screen located within the TANF/AABD Eligibility Summary screens, will be changed to reflect the new sanction calculations and the placement of the IES field.
Federal Regulations requires sanctioning TANF benefits by an amount equal to not less than 25% when customers fail to cooperate with Child Support requirements without good cause.
Sanctions
Effective March 2021, the TANF sanction penalty amount for failure to cooperate with Child Support for both an adult/child TANF EDG and adult only TANF EDG only will be 25% of the benefit amount.
The sanction amount for failure to comply with TANF activities not related to Child Support will remain as established with policy memo dated 12/20/2019: TANF Sanction Policy Changes.
The calculation for all TANF sanctions will now be based on the TANF benefit amount instead of the full TANF payment level. The TANF benefit amount is the result of the TANF payment minus any income and deductions.
Based on the requirement to modify the calculation of the TANF sanction amount, additional changes will be required to modify how the Cash benefit amount is loaded into the Unearned Income of the SNAP benefit calculation.
IES System Changes
Workers should be aware that the benefit amount displayed on the Eligibility Summary screen is the TANF Gross Benefit amount not the Net Benefit amount. The TANF Net Benefit amount can be found on the TANF/AABD Cash-Income Test screen.
The TANF/AABD Cash-Income Test screen on the Cash-EDG Summary has been modified to reflect the calculation change. The Sanction Level and Sanction Amount fields have been moved below the Benefit Amount field.
[signed copy on file]
Grace B. Hou
Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services
Forms referenced:
CN 19.12/19.12S
CN 21.02/21.02S (pdf)
