Social Security, Railroad Retirement and Other Pensions

[EAS 44-113.3]

Net income from Social Security or from Railroad Retirement Benefits is the amount reasonably anticipated to be paid to or on behalf of a member of the Assistance Unit (AU) in the Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR) payment period. Continuing payments for social insurance programs are counted as net unearned income in the month received.

Exception: SSDI is counted as disability based income. Refer to Disability Based Income.

The net income is the amount received or, if the individual is required to pay income tax on such income or has other expenses in receiving such income, net income is the amount received less these expenses.

If the client receives Social Security benefits for a child who is not in the home and uses those funds to meet the needs of the AU, count the amount received as income to the AU. If those funds are sent to the child or to the caretaker/relative of the child, only count the amount kept by the client.

Exception: Derivative benefits from Social Security, such as survivors, disability, retirement, or other government programs paid to or on behalf of a Maximum Family Grant (MFG) child based on the absent parent’s disability or retirement, are exempt as income in the eligibility and grant computation.

Verification

The EW must verify the amount of Social Security benefits by seeing a photocopy of the award letter. If that document is unavailable, or if increases have occurred so that the letter does not reflect current income, the EW must follow the procedures below:

Social Security Benefits

View the current benefit check or a current award letter. If not available, benefits can be verified through the IEVS Applicant System or through the MEDS Screens (SDX and/or BENDEX). When verification is not available through any of these sources, the EW may send a Referral To Social Security (SCD 169) to the nearest Social Security Administration (SSA) office. Document on the Journal Detail page the amount of the Social Security, the type of benefit (i.e., retirement, disability, or survivors), and how the verification was obtained.

Exception: When Social Security benefits are paid to a representative payee on behalf of a member of the AU and the representative payee does not live in the same household as the AU, the Social Security benefits are counted as income only to the extent the representative payee makes them available for the support of the beneficiary.

Reminder: The EW must advise the caretaker/relative in writing to request a change of payee for the child. They are asking the SSA to have the benefits paid to the person responsible for the care of the individual. If the individual fails or refuses to comply, they are not applying for potentially available income, and the EW must take appropriate action. Refer to Potentially Available Income for more information concerning the responsibility to apply for and accept potentially available income.

Veterans Assistance (VA) Benefits

View a current benefit check and document on the Journal Detail page.

If the individual has no award letter and is receiving VA benefits, the EW must send a Veterans Benefits Verification and Referral
(CW 5) to the CVSO for verification. Refer to Common Place Handbook Veterans Benefits for more information.

Other Pensions

View a current benefit check and document on the Journal Detail page. If the applicant/recipient does not have or cannot easily obtain an award notice, send a letter requesting the amount, duration, and reason for the benefit, along with a signed Authorization for Release of Information (CSF 13) to the agency that administers the pension.

SSA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)

Whenever a Social Security COLA is granted by the SSA, the State will provide us with the new benefit amount and the effective date of the COLA. The effective date is usually January 1 of each year.

A Common Place Handbook Update is issued annually to inform staff of the effective date and amount of COLA.

New Applicants

The actual amount of the Social Security benefit, including the COLA increase, must be used for eligibility and budgeting purposes. For applications received in November and December, the Social Security amount budgeted for January will be considered reasonably anticipated income.

SAR Cases

For CalWORKs recipients in the final month of their SAR payment period, the increase in Social Security income is treated as reasonably anticipated income for the upcoming SAR payment period. The amount of the SSA COLA is considered "known to the county" and must be acted upon mid-period.

County-Initiated Mid-Period Changes

A county-initiated mid-period action to adjust benefits effective January 1 must be taken for all cases in which Social Security benefits are being used to determine the CalWORKs grant. A timely and adequate Notice of Action (NOA) is required when decreasing grant amounts based on the SSA COLA increase.

Annual Reporting/Child Only (AR/CO) Cases

For CalWORKs AR/CO families, the amount of the SSA COLA is considered "known to the county" and must be acted upon mid-period. Benefits must be adjusted effective January 1 for all cases in which Social Security benefits are used to determine CalWORKs grant amounts.

The only families where this action will not be considered "mid-period" are those AR/CO recipients with a December redetermination (RD). For AR/CO recipients who have SSA income and a December RD, the COLA amount will be included in the budgeting for the upcoming AR/CO period. A timely and adequate NOA is required if grant amounts are decreased as a result of the SSA COLA.

For All AUs

If the SSA COLA is not updated timely to reflect the increased January SSA payment, action must be taken to decrease the CalWORKs grant amount effective the first of the following month after a timely and adequate NOA can be provided. January grants will need to be recalculated using the new Social Security payment amount, and if the calculation results in a decrease, an overpayment must be established.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments are exempt in CalWORKs; however, income must still be updated for excluded AU members.