The California Department of Social Services has provided guidance regarding treatment of the one-time payment issued to CalWORKs recipients pursuant to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF) for CalWORKs, CalFresh and Medi-Cal. The PEAF payment was a $640 payment to CalWORKs recipients that was issued on July 10, 2021. PEAF is to assist low income families impacted by COVID-19.
PEAF does not count as income for CalWORKs and CalFresh and does not count as a resource for 12 months after receipt. Both MAGI and non-MAGI Medi-Cal treat the PEAF payment as a disaster payment which does not count as income.
Families who received the PEAF payment were informed of the payment by phone and email message during the week of July 12, 2021.
The PEAF payment does not tick either the CalWORKs or federal TANF time-on-aid clocks.
The PEAF payment will not impact the amount of the CalWORKs unreimbursed assistance pool for purposes of child support distribution.
Lost PEAF payments can only be replaced if the assistance unit incurs skimming or scamming of their benefits. (ACL 21-65, July 22, 2021.)