Underpayments/Supplements - General

[EAS 44-340]

Rule

Underpayments occur when the applicants or recipients receive less than the amount to which they are entitled in a given month or months. An underpayment must be corrected in accordance with the regulations in effect on the date of discovery. The EW must take all reasonable steps necessary to promptly correct any underpayments that come to the attention of the EW.

This includes case review, recalculation, and correction of any underpayment, which must be completed as soon as possible and no later than the following deadlines:

• The date of the next annual redetermination of eligibility or the date of termination, whichever is earlier, for all current recipients;
• Sixty days from the date aid is granted for reapplications and request for restoration of aid; and
• Sixty days from the date of a request for review in all other cases.

When Not to Establish Underpayments

An underpayment does NOT occur in the following circumstances:

• A client’s failure to apply for or request aid, including special needs.
• A change in the current month's budget. (This is not an underpayment, but a supplement to the grant).
• When a change in circumstances occurs or actual income received is less than what was reasonably anticipated during the SAR payment period.

Reminder: The EW must NOT reconcile actual verified income against prospectively budgeted income that was used in the grant calculation as income that was reasonably anticipated at the time benefits were calculated.

Correction of the Underpayment

• Underpayments can be corrected through retroactive payments.
• If an AU has both an underpayment and an overpayment, the underpayment must be offset against the overpayment before making a retroactive corrective payment.
• The month of discovery is the month in which the county obtained any information that could have reasonably led to a determination that an underpayment occurred.
• For purposes of continued eligibility and the grant computation, retroactive payments shall not be considered as income or as a resource in the month of receipt, nor the following month.
• There is no minimum underpayment correction, e.g., a $2.00 underpayment issuance can be issued, as long as there is eligibility.

Related Topics

Underpayments/Supplements - Special Considerations