Work Incentive Nutritional Supplement (WINS) Program

Background

SB 1041 mandates a new food benefit, WINS. WINS is a mandatory food benefit which applies to NACF only households, including CFAP recipients. WINS is a 100 percent state funded food supplement which adds a ten dollar ($10) food benefit each month to a CalFresh recipient’s EBT card.

The goal of WINS is to promote self-sufficiency through work by providing additional support to eligible working families and to increase the State’s WPR.

The WINS benefit will be issued to all eligible WINS households effective June 1, 2014 in CalSAWS counties on the same date as their CalFresh benefits are issued.

Policy

The household must have at least one child who is under 18 years old and does not receive CalWORKs or Tribal TANF benefits.

A CalFresh recipient in the household who is also receiving assistance from programs other than CalWORKs/Trial TANF, such as Kin-GAP, RCA, and Foster Care is eligible for WINS benefits if they meet all the WINS criteria.

WINS is NOT a Public Charge. It is a food supplemental benefit not a CalFresh benefit or cash payment. It is a separate program created and funded by the State of California and is not bound by federal rules.

Eligibility Requirements

The following criteria must be met in order for a NACF household to qualify for WINS benefits. A WINS eligible household:

Must be a household receiving CalFresh, but not receiving CalWORKs or Tribal TANF;
Must have a child in the home under age 18, or under the age of 19 who is expected to graduate from high school or complete the training program before his or her 19th birthday;
A child includes a biological, adopted, step child and niece or nephew and an SSI child;
Must have at least one parent/caretaker who is receiving CalFresh and that meets the federal TANF definition of a “WEI:”
Must have the WEI participating in a sufficient number of hours in work activities that meet federal TANF work participation hours requirements for subsidized and unsubsidized employment, which are as follows:
- 20 hours per week for single custodial parents/caretakers with a child under the age of six;
- 30 hours per week for non-two parent/caretaker with children age six or older;
- 35 hours per week for two-parent/caretaker families (requirements may be met by one or both parent/caretakers); and
Must provide acceptable documentation when requested that the household met the federal work requirements for subsidized or unsubsidized employment.

Definitions

The following terminologies are used in WINS:

Unsubsidized Employment: Full- or part-time employment, including self-employment, in the public or private sector that is not subsidized by TANF or any other public program.
Subsidized Employment: Employment in the private and public sectors for which the employer receives a subsidy from TANF or other public funds to offset some or all of the wages and costs of employing a work-eligible individual.
Work-Eligible Individual means an adult (or minor child who is a head-of-household) receiving assistance under TANF or a separate State program or an non-recipient parent living with a child receiving such assistance.

SSI Parent/Caretaker Relative

A household with one parent/caretaker relative in which that individual receiving SSI, is not be eligible for WINS because a condition of WINS is that the parent/caretaker relative must be receiving CalFresh benefits. However, if there is more than one parent/caretaker relative in the household, and the other parent/caretaker relative does not receive SSI and is otherwise eligible for WINS, the household may receive WINS benefits based on the eligibility of the non-SSI WEI.

Excluded Members

As long as the excluded member is not the only WEI in the household and the household meets other WINS requirements, the household is eligible for the WINS benefit.

Transitional CalFresh (TCF)

Households who are eligible to or are receiving TCF are also eligible for WINS, as long as they meet all
of the eligibility criteria.

When a household a) leaves CalWORKs, b) moves onto TCF, c) and no recent documentation of work hours is on file, the EW should request the household’s work hours to verify that they are eligible for WINS.
When there is a recent SAR 7 or other appropriate documentation is on file, that can be used to verify hours. If the work hours are sufficient and all other WINS criteria are met, WINS should be issued for the duration of the five months.
Once issued, the WINS benefits shall continue for the entire TCF period unless the household reports and verifies a change in status which renders them ineligible for WINS, at which time WINS benefits must be discontinued. Unlike regular TCF rules, this mid-TCF WINS change is permissible because the WINS program is state funded and not federally funded.
TCF is only evaluated for WINS at the beginning of the TCF period, or when a mid-TCF benefit period report is made, as stated above. If a TCF recipient requests to add WINS to their benefits because the household’s situation has changed the EW must inform the recipient that they may either:
- Wait until the TCF period is over and then recertify for CalFresh, or
- Recertify at the time of the request so that they may be enrolled in CalFresh for regular benefits.