The California Department of Social Services has issued a reminder about counting zero basic grant cases toward the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) federal time on aid clock, and CalWORKs state time on aid. TANF and CalWORKs each have a 60-month time on aid limit. However, the federal TANF clock and the state CalWORKs time in aid clock can count slightly different months. The TANF 60-month time limit applies to any months in which “assistance” is received.
Zero basic grant cases do not count toward the TANF time clock. Zero basic grant cases are: when aid payments are not issued when the grant is under $10, months when a payment is not issued due to a penalty which reduces the payment to zero, the grant is under $10, the grant is $0 because of overpayment recoupment, and the grant is diverted to an employer to offset the recipient’s wages in an on-the-job training program.
By contrast, except for when the grant is under $10, zero basic income cases count towards the CalWORKs time limit.
Nonrecurring, short-term benefits such as homeless assistance do not count toward the TANF time clock. This means that months where someone receives only short-term benefits such as homeless assistance do not count toward the TANF time clock.
However, special needs payments such as homeless assistance count toward the CalWORKs time clock. This means that months where someone receives only short-term benefits such as homeless assistance count toward the TANF time clock. (ACIN I-67-22, October 11, 2022.)