OverviewThis guide was prepared to help each State develop its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Work Verification Plan in accordance with the regulatory requirements of the interim final rule that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) published on June 29, 2006. Under the rule, a State must submit its Work Verification Plan to HHS for approval. The guide provides key directions or questions to help States provide the information that must be included in the plan. The guide is organized into six sections: countable work activities; hours engaged in work; work-eligible individuals; internal controls; verification of other data used in calculating the work participation rates; and submittal procedures. It provides separate directions and questions for each section. The guide should be used in conjunction with the appropriate preamble and regulatory text of the interim final rule and assumes an understanding of the rule. Please refer to Attachment A for the text of 45 CFR 261.62, the regulatory section specifying what a State must do to verify the accuracy of its work participation information, including the required contents of the Work Verification Plan. A State’s Work Verification Plan is a planning document that may be phased-in over a period of time and may also require substantial revision in future months. (All procedures and internal controls must be in place by October 1, 2007.) The State should describe the program it will have in effect on October 1, 2006, but we also encourage the State to reflect its intended program design based on the information available to it at the time of submission. If actual practice differs from future intent, the State should explain where those differences appear. The State may amend its Work Verification Plan at any time during the course of the fiscal year in accordance with the regulations at 45 CFR 261.63(c). I. Countable Work ActivitiesFor each of the 12 work activities, address the four questions below in completing the Work Verification Plan. Following those general questions, the guide gives the Federal regulatory definition of each activity in italics, with bulleted key preamble requirements. After each definition, the guide asks questions specific to that activity. General Plan Documentation Guidance For each activity: 1. Describe the services or programs the State includes under the activity. (Services and programs must conform to the Federal definition of the activity.) 2. Describe how the State determines the number of countable hours of participation for the activity. If the State uses different methods for different services or programs within the activity, the State should describe each. 3. Describe how the State verifies the actual hours of participation for the activity. Include the procedures for obtaining and maintaining documentation of hours of participation. 4. Describe the methods of daily supervision for each unpaid work activity. Unsubsidized employment means full- or part-time employment in the public or private sector that is not subsidized by TANF or any other public program. Documentation: 1. For self-employment, describe how the State counts and verifies the hours of participation. A State may not count more hours toward the participation rate for a self-employed individual than the individual’s self-employment income (gross income less business expenses) divided by the Federal minimum wage. The State may also describe an alternative methodology to count and verify hours a client is engaged in self-employment. 2. If the State intends to project forward hours of participation based on current, documented, actual hours, explain how it will make this projection. The State may also describe other “subsidized employment” models. Documentation: 1. If the State intends to project forward hours of participation based on current, documented, actual hours, explain how it will make this projection. Work experience (including work associated with the refurbishing of publicly assisted housing) if sufficient private sector employment is not available means a work activity, performed in return for welfare, that provides an individual with an opportunity to acquire the general skills, training, knowledge, and work habits necessary to obtain employment. The purpose of work experience is to improve the employability of those who cannot find unsubsidized employment. This activity must be supervised by an employer, work site sponsor, or other responsible party on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: None. On-the-job training (OJT) means training in the public or private sector that is given to a paid employee while he or she is engaged in productive work and that provides knowledge and skills essential to the full and adequate performance of the job. On-the-job training must be supervised by an employer, work site sponsor, or other responsible party on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: 1. Describe the nature of training provided by employers that distinguishes this from subsidized employment. 2. If the State intends to project forward hours of participation based on current, documented, actual hours, explain how it will make this projection. Job search and job readiness assistance means the act of seeking or obtaining employment, preparation to seek or obtain employment, including life skills training, and substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or rehabilitation activities for those who are otherwise employable. Such treatment or therapy must be determined to be necessary and certified by a qualified medical or mental health professional. Job search and job readiness assistance activities must be supervised by the TANF agency or other responsible party on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: 1. If the State intends to count as substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment and rehabilitation activities, describe the criteria to determine whether recipients are “otherwise employable” and establish the necessity of treatment or therapy. Describe the certification requirements for qualified medical or mental health professionals used in this process. 2. Describe how the State ensures that no more than six total weeks (four consecutive weeks) of job search and job readiness assistance are reported in a fiscal year (or a total of 12 weeks in States that meet the definition of a “needy State” for the Contingency Fund). Community service programs mean structured programs and embedded activities in which TANF recipients perform work for the direct benefit of the community under the auspices of public or nonprofit organizations. Community service programs must be limited to projects that serve a useful community purpose in fields such as health, social service, environmental protection, education, urban and rural redevelopment, welfare, recreation, public facilities, public safety, and child care. Community service programs are designed to improve the employability of recipients not otherwise able to obtain employment, and must be supervised on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. A State agency shall take into account, to the extent possible, the prior training, experience, and skills of a recipient in making appropriate community service assignments. Documentation: 1. Describe how the types of community service positions that create an employer/employee relationship and are subject to the FLSA minimum wage requirements will be determined. 2. If the State permits self-initiated community service positions, describe how it determines that the position provides a direct community service and improves the recipient’s employability. Documentation: 1. Describe how the State ensures participation in vocational educational training does not count beyond the statutory limitations limiting participation to 12 months lifetime per individual. 2. Explain how the State will ensure that basic and remedial education and English as a Second Language (ESL), if such activities are counted, are of limited duration and a necessary or regular part of the vocational education training. Job skills training directly related to employment means training or education for job skills required by an employer to provide an individual with the ability to obtain employment or to advance or adapt to the changing demands of the workplace. Job skills training directly related to employment must be supervised on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: None. Education directly related to employment, in the case of a recipient who has not received a high school diploma or a certificate of high school equivalency means education related to a specific occupation, job, or job offer. Education directly related to employment must be supervised on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: 1. Describe the State’s criteria for “good or satisfactory progress” and when and how it is documented. Satisfactory attendance at secondary school or in a course of study leading to a certificate of general equivalence, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate means regular attendance, in accordance with the requirements of the secondary school or course of study, at a secondary school or in a course of study leading to a certificate of general equivalence, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate. This activity must be supervised on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. 1. Describe the State’s criteria for “good or satisfactory progress” and when and how it is documented. Providing child care services to an individual who is participating in a community service program means providing child care to enable another TANF recipient to participate in a community service program. This activity must be supervised on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily. Documentation: None. II. Hours Engaged in WorkThis section includes two topics: excused absences and FLSA deeming. Excused Absences Describe the State’s excused absence policies for unpaid work activities. This includes its policies for holidays as well as the ten additional excused absences that the State may count in a 12-month period. If the policies vary by work activity, the State should describe how they vary and for which activities. FLSA Deeming If the State wishes to use the “deeming” provision permitted at §§ 261.31 and 261.32 for work experience or community service programs, describe how the State determines the work hours requirement, including how the monthly TANF grant and food stamp allotment are combined and divided by the appropriate minimum wage to meet the “core” participation requirement. Include a statement certifying that the State has adopted a “mini” Simplified Food Stamp Program in order to count the value of food stamp benefits. The Food and Nutrition Service has indicated that a TANF work experience or community service program can serve as the Food Stamp Workfare Program, which would otherwise be required before a State could combine the food stamp allotment to calculate the hours required. If State policies or procedures differ for work experience and community service programs on FLSA deeming, the State should make those differences clear. III. Work-Eligible IndividualThe State must describe: Work-eligible individual means an adult (or minor child head-of-household) receiving assistance under TANF or a separate State program or a non-recipient parent living with a child receiving such assistance (usually a child-only case) unless the parent is: Documentation: 1. Describe the State’s procedures for identifying all work-eligible individuals, as defined at § 261.2. This should include the procedures needed to identify a non-recipient parent excluded from the definition of work-eligible individual. These are: 2. Describe verification procedures for ensuring the accuracy in reporting of work-eligible individuals on the TANF Data Report and the SSP-MOE Data Report, including: 3. Describe the procedures that show how the State ensures that, for each work-eligible individual, it accurately inputs data into the automated data processing system, properly tracks the hours, and accurately reports countable hours to HHS that do not include participation in an activity that does not meet a Federal definition. IV. Internal ControlsThe State is required to describe internal controls that ensure a consistent measurement of the work participation rates. The Work Verification Plan should contain a clause confirming that the State will maintain all pertinent findings produced through its internal control processes and that these finding will be available for use by ACF and other auditors in their review of the State’s work participation verification system. If the State is phasing in procedures or internal controls, describe the phase-in. All procedures must be in place by September 30, 2007. Documentation: 1. Describe the internal controls designed to ensure established work verification procedures are properly being employed. Such controls may include supervisory guidance, policy directives, and staff training plans, as well as quality assurance processes, such as monitoring procedures to ensure adherence to procedures by staff, providers and contractors. For example, to ensure the State is identifying all work-eligible individuals, a State may periodically check the disability status of a family member who is temporarily disabled, as the parent caring for the disabled family member would become a work-eligible individual once the family member is no longer disabled. 2. Describe the internal controls to control for data errors, including transcription and coding errors, data omissions, computational errors, and compilation errors. For example, a State might automatically review the case record of each work-eligible individual whose reported average weekly hours of participation are unusually high (e.g., 70 or more hours per week) by examining the documentation used to support those hours. 3. Describe the checks used to isolate electronic systems and programming errors and the steps to ensure that all work participation report items are internally consistent. For example, a State might obtain the raw data (prior to input into an automated data processing system) for a sample of work-eligible individuals and determine manually the average weekly hours of participation for each work activity for a month and compare that result to what the State actually reported to HHS. 4. Describe any sampling and estimation techniques employed in data validation. The Work Verification Plan should document the soundness of all statistical procedures utilized in the verification process. All estimation techniques must be reasonable and fully described in the plan. For estimates based on sampling or other statistical techniques, the plan must contain, as appropriate, the step-by-step computations of precision, affirming that the produced estimates are within statistically acceptable levels of reliability and validity. V. Verification of Other Data Used in Calculating the Work Participation RatesUnder the “complete and accurate” standard for data reporting, States should validate all data submitted in its TANF Data Report and, if applicable, the SSP-MOE Data Report. In addition to the work activities, the following data elements are used in calculating the work participation rates: The Work Verification Plan should contain the procedures needed to establish that the State has the capacity to breakout TANF families with a work-eligible individual by the case characteristics that relate to the special rules and conditions of participation, such as receipt of child care, age of child, age of adult or teen parent, number of months under a sanction, adult or teen parent with satisfactory school attendance, and families with a disabled family member (adult or child). Documentation: 1. For each of the above data elements, describe the State’s data validation procedures to ensure “complete and accurate” data reporting. 2. Describe any procedures employed to eliminate data inconsistencies between two or more data elements. Work Participation Status 1. Describe the State’s procedures to ensure that a family is not disregarded from the work participation rate for more than 12 months per lifetime based on being a single custodial parent with a child less than one year of age. 3. Describe the State’s procedures for ensuring a family deemed engaged in work based on 20 hours of participation in countable work activities meets the requirements of a single custodial parent or caretaker relative with a child under age six. VI. Submittal ProceduresThe State must submit its interim Work Verification Plan to HHS no later than September 30, 2006. Failure to submit the interim Work Verification Plan on time opens a State to a penalty of five percent of the grant. We will review a State’s Work Verification Plan for completeness and approve it if we believe that it will result in accurate reporting of work participation information. If, after our review of the plan, we require changes or modifications to the plan, we will request these changes in writing. (We anticipate the need for conference calls or technical assistance and will arrange and discuss change requests with States.) A State must make the changes and submit them within 60 days of receipt of our notice. While all necessary changes must be made and the final plan approved by HHS by no later than September 30, 2007, States will need time to implement their plan. Consequently, States should submit their original plan as soon as possible and respond to required changes quickly. The IV-A Administrator in the State should submit the Work Verification Plan to the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), with a copy to the appropriate Regional Office of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The original should be sent to: Office of Family Assistance A State may also submit the Work Verification Plan electronically (as an e-mail attachment) and mail the original signature separately. If you have any questions about this guide or developing your Work Verification Plan, please contact Sean Hurley at (202) 401- 9297 shurley@acf.hhs.gov or Robert Shelbourne at (202) 401-5150 rshelbourne@acf.hhs.gov. Attachment A§ 261.62 What must a State do to verify the accuracy of its work participation information? |