PD 24-15: FFY 2024 Quality Control State Sample Reprieve

Date: 9/11/2024
To: CalFresh Eligibility Staff
From: Carmen Rodriguez, SSA BPIS
Reference: Quality Control Transmittal 2024-03

Background

On September 4th, 2024, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) released Quality Control (QC) Transmittal 2024-03 to inform Performance Measurement Counties (PMCs) of the option to drop active state case reviews for the sample months of May 2024 through the remainder of FFY 2024 as Not Subject to Review (NSTR) and not be subject to reviewing 280 active case reviews for FFY 2024.

 

FFY 2024 Quality Control Sanctions 

CalFresh recipients previously sanctioned for the state sample review months of October 2023 through September 2024 are no longer required to cooperate with the QC process. Their sanctions will be lifted as of September 1st, 2024. An informing letter is mailed to each household, notifying them they can reapply after September 1st, 2024. 
A listing of the affected cases will be emailed to district office leadership so staff can lift sanctions. Once the sanctions are lifted, Eligibility staff must inform the QC Eligibility Examiners (EEs). Detailed guidance on how to lift a sanction is in the Job Aid: Eligibility Non-Compliance Process. 

Federal Quality Control Samples

Active and negative federal samples will continue for the remainder of FFY 2024, and clients must continue to comply with the QC process. Sanctions for non-compliance will continue to be issued for clients who do not comply, and cases identified to have errors will continue to have Client Disposition Letters (CDLs) and correction requests sent to district office staff. 

Lifting Sanctions

Do not restore CalFresh unless there is no break in aid:

  • For cases discontinued with a break-in aid, follow the steps in the job aid and do not run EDBC in CalSAWS; the case must remain discontinued, and the client must reapply.
  •  The job aid steps should be followed for sanctioned cases with no break-in aid, and EDBC should be run in CalSAWS. 

For situations where a sanction was imposed anytime from October 2023 through August 2024, then lifted without the household complying with the QC process, and benefits were issued, the client is not entitled to those benefits and an Administrative Error Overissuance must be processed. 

Letters

The FFY 2024 QC Sanction and FFY 2024 Waiver letters are available in English and Spanish only. If the client's preferred language is unavailable, a Notice of Language Services (GEN 1365) must be sent out along with the letter sent to the client notifying them of the availability of language services. 

Case Documentation

When lifting a sanction, include documentation in the Case Journal that the sanction was lifted per Quality Control Transmittal 2024-03 and that, as of 9/1/2024, the client is no longer required to comply with the QC process for FFY 2024 and may reapply for CalFresh. 

Intake Reminders

Intake staff is reminded to review the case file for QC documentation that may affect CalFresh eligibility determination and clarify any questionable items. 

Case Accuracy Review Monitoring System (CARMA)

QC samples from May 2024 through September 2024 will continue to be reviewed to help prevent error trends from being sampled for the active federal samples and affecting our error rates. EEs will review cases with available information and enter reviews in CARMA using RTF-QC Active and RTF-QC Negative review types. QC sample months will correspond with the CARMA Sample Period. 

Error Rates

CDSS will continue communicating monthly error rates using the federal sample date for FFY 2024. Reminder error rates are available on the Corrective Action webpage.

Implementation

The information in this Program Directive is effective immediately.