Get Latest WorkWORLD

DE TANF - Time Limits

Households Applying on or after 01/01/2000

The Division of Social Services (DSS) ensures that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash benefits will be time-limited for households headed by one or two employable adults age 18 or older who are included in the grant. For households applying on or after 01/01/2000, the lifetime time limit will be thirty-six (36) cumulative months.

Time limits apply when three conditions are met:

·      The caretaker is included in the grant,

·      The caretaker is age 18 or older, and

·      The caretaker is employable.

When one or more of the conditions listed above is not met, the family receives benefits in the non-time limited program known as the Children's Program.

Time limits also do not apply if the employable adults in the TANF Assistance Unit work at least 20 hours per week but have Countable Income below the Standard of Need.

NOTE: DSS will notify families on a quarterly basis of the time they have remaining before the time limits expire.

Households On Assistance Prior To 01/01/2000

If a family was headed by an employable adult age 18 or older who was included in the grant and received TANF cash benefits prior to 01/01/2000, they had a forty-eight (48) cumulative month time limit. This lifetime limit will still apply for those families.

Families with a forty-eight (48) month cumulative time limit who reapply for assistance on or after 01/01/2000 can only receive benefits if the adult is working at least twenty hours per week or is participating in a pay-after-performance work experience position.

Time limits do not apply if the employable adults in the TANF Assistance Unit work at least 20 hours per week but have Countable Income below the Standard of Need.

Assessment Prior to Termination of Benefits

If requested by the client prior to the end of the 36 or 48 cumulative month period in which a family has received assistance (through cash assistance and participation in pay-after-performance), DSS will complete another assessment of employability.

If DSS determines that the adult caretaker is not employable, DSS will continue benefits under the Children's Program. If DSS determines that the adult caretaker is employable, TANF benefits will end to the family as of the last day of the 36 or 48 cumulative months.

Notification Before Terminating Benefits

At least 90 days prior to the end of the 36 or 48 cumulative month period in which a family has received assistance, DSS will remind the family that assistance will end and notify the family of the right to apply for an extension.

Extensions

DSS will limit extensions to those families who can demonstrate that:

·      The agency substantially failed to provide the services specified in the individual's Contract of Mutual Responsibility. The related extension will correspond to the time period for which services were not provided; or

·      Despite their best efforts to find and keep employment, no suitable unsubsidized employment was available in the local economy to the employable adult caretaker; the maximum extension under such circumstances will be 12 cumulative months. (See Suitable Employment definition.)

·      The DSS Director (or the Director's designee) will make decisions on granting extensions within 45 days of the request. Fair hearing provisions set forth in DSS Policy Manual, Section 5000 apply. Benefits will not continue beyond the time limit.

DSS will not grant extensions if:

·      The adult caretaker received and rejected offers of employment, quit a job without good cause or was fired for cause; or

·      The adult caretaker did not make a good faith effort to comply with the terms of the Contract of Mutual Responsibility.

NOTE: If the adult caretaker claims that the agency failed to fulfill terms in the Contract, the responsibility rests with the adult caretaker to demonstrate substantiality. It is not enough for the adult caretaker to simply claim that the agency failed in its effort to provide the services specified. The adult caretaker must present the reasons for the claim and show how the agency failed to provide those services.

Re-Application after the Time Limit

Assistance will be denied to employable caretakers reapplying for benefits after the time limit has expired, unless the caretaker proves that grounds exist for an extension.

Benefits will be provided to these families only in the pay-after-performance component, up to the federal maximum of sixty (60) cumulative months in the time-limited program. DSS will conduct an assessment and notify the family prior to termination of benefits.

Families headed by unemployable caretakers can receive assistance under the Children's Program.

See also:

DE TANF - Pay-After-Performance Work Experience

DE TANF - Employment and Training - Education Possibilities

DE TANF - Employment and Training - Supportive Services

DE TANF - Sanctions for Non-cooperation

DE DSS - Application Procedures

DE DSS - Change Reporting Requirements

DE DSS - Contact Information

Source:

DSS Policy Manual (Sect. 3002 & 3002.1-9)

Back to:

DE TANF Employment and Training Overview

DE TANF Overview

DE General Assistance Overview

DE Division of Social Services - Overview

DE Benefit Information System Overview

WorkWORLD™ Help/Information System

   Share/Save: Click the button or link at left to select your favorite bookmark service and add this page.

This is one topic from the thousands available in the WorkWORLD™ software Help/Information System.
Complete information about the software is available at: http://www.WorkWORLD.org