137.3 Transitional Cash Assistance

TCA is a Department of Human Services (DHS) initiative that provides a transitional or supplemental cash benefit to families who are:

• No longer eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) due to excess income;

• Have earned income in the budget;

• Are meeting the federal Work Participation Rate (WPR) for their circumstances; AND

• Have a TANF child in the budget.

The TCA benefit is a temporary benefit designed as an incentive for TANF recipients to move from public assistance to employment while also allowing Pennsylvania to increase the number of family households meeting the WPR. Budget groups eligible to receive TCA will receive $100/month ($50 on each payment date) for up to three months (six payment dates).

Family budget groups and corresponding grant groups that would have been eligible for Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) at the time of their TANF closing and meet all non-financial requirements for TCA, will be authorized Program Status Code (PSC) 71. The three months of TCA will count toward the twelve-month TMA time limit, meaning that at the end of TCA the budget group would have an additional nine months of TMA remaining.

The TCA benefit does not count towards the benefit calculation for Extended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), nor will it have any effect on Extended SNAP. If the budget group is not eligible for Extended SNAP at the TANF closing, the TCA benefit is to be counted as unearned income when calculating SNAP benefits.

The TANF time clock will not be counting days during any TCA eligible time period. TCA days will be tracked on the Act 35 clock.

The program has been designed so that as TANF is closed; the system will evaluate to ensure non-financial requirements for TANF are still being met, the budget group is meeting the WPR requirements for their circumstances and whether the budget group is eligible for TMA or not. TCA will open with the correct PSC with notices issued and a future close date. Any support being collected will be automatically reassigned to the family.

During the TCA period the budget group will be treated as TANF recipients for child care eligibility purposes. When TCA expires the budget group will be treated as former TANF recipients for child care.

TCA recipients are not eligible for special allowances for Employment and Training activities through TANF.  SPALs may be authorized during the TCA period only if eligible under SNAP policy.

TANF State Plan

137.31 Eligibility

Caseworkers will not be able to open TCA. When a TANF case is closing the system will evaluate the case record and TCA will either be opened or not. To be eligible for TCA at TANF closure the following conditions must be met:

• The budget group is still meeting all non-financial requirements for TANF e.g. resources, TANF child, deprivation;

• A TANF cash budget that has an SSI child is system evaluated for TCA eligibility;

• ES Parents/SSI Recipients;

• One-parent household: A single parent must be an ES to qualify for TCA. A single parent who is an SSI recipient is not considered an ES and, therefore, the TANF budget will not be system evaluated for TCA.

• Two-parent household: In a two-parent household with one parent who receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI), if the other parent is an ES, the TANF budget will be system evaluated for TCA.

• Income exceeds the TANF limit;

• There is earned income in the budget; and

• The budget group is meeting the WPR for their circumstances.

TANF budgets that will be evaluated by eCIS for TCA will be coded C/U 00, 06, 07, 08, 09, 53, 57, 58 or 59. eCIS will also be looking for the following income codes:  1-13, 15-26, 29, 31-34.  If these conditions are not met, TCA will not be opened.

NOTE: Currently eCIS logic will complete a systems evaluation of eligibility for TCA if a TANF recipient has an ETP Status Code 53 or 60. It will not automatically evaluate and determine TCA eligibility if a TANF recipient has an ETP Status Code 52 or 54. If the budget group will be meeting the WPR for their circumstances and the earned income exceeds the TANF limit, the CAO must change the TANF individuals ETP status code to 60 before entering the wage data into eCIS. This will allow eCIS to determine/evaluate that the TANF budget qualifies for three months of TCA.

If the budget group is not eligible for TCA, the system will continue thru the cascade to determine what benefits the budget group may be eligible for.

TANF budgets with sanctioned or disqualified individuals (eligibility status D*/N*) are not eligible for TCA.

To qualify for TCA, a Specified Relative must be included as an eligible member of the TANF cash budget group. Single parent households where the parent is an SSI recipient are ineligible for TCA.

When the system has opened a TCA budget the proper 685 notices will automatically be issued. For notice text,  see 137.36 .

If the budget group is eligible for TMA, notice 685 Option A will be issued and a C/U 71 budget will be opened with a future close date.

Budget members are not required to report changes during TCA.

When a TCA budget is opened, eCIS will close all absent relative screens and assign all child support being collected back to the family.

TCA will have no effect on Extended SNAP.  In cases with no Extended SNAP, TCA payments will be counted as unearned income when determining  SNAP eligibility and payment amounts.

137.32  Processing Modes

INDIVIDUAL ADD-

Only children coded as an Eligible Child (EC), or eligible minor parents ( EP) will be able to be added to a TCA budget. Changing of program status codes and/or eligibility status codes will not be allowed for the existing budget members. Additionally, the PSC of the child being added must match the PSC code of the other TCA budget members.

EXAMPLE: 16-year-old child is released by Children and Youth back into the custody of their parent. The parent is active in a TCA budget. The child would be added as an EC and evaluated for medical assistance. The amount of the TCA benefit and closing date for TCA will not change.

It is required to add a mandatory adult member (ES, NS, DS or DF) to the TCA household and to reevaluate the TCA budget, produce a Fail result and evaluate all budget group members for MA.

Non-mandatory Individuals of any age may be added to an existing TCA household, if their eligibility status is NX (not applying) on the TCA budget.

INDIVIDUAL DELETE-

Deletion of any “E” adult member of the TCA budget, or the deletion of the only TANF eligible child will result in closure of the TCA budget. A notice will be sent indicating the closure of the TCA budget due to deletion of a budget member.  TCA will not be closed if an individual with an “N” eligibility status is deleted.

ELIGIBILITY STATUS CHANGE-

Eligibility status changes are allowed for TCA budgets. Non-financial eligibility for TCA will be re-assessed during eligibility status change mode; however, WPR will not be re-evaluated during normal maintenance. To remain open for TCA the budget must:

• Contain an eligible TANF child;

• Deprivation must exist for the TANF child;

• Budget must still have an Eligible Specified Relative and

• There can be no sanctioned or disqualified individuals.

137.33 Intercounty Transfers

Due to the limited time frame for this supplemental benefit, if the household reports a new address during the TCA period and it is in another county there will be no inter-county transfer of the TCA case. The TCA budget should remain open in the old county until it reaches the time limit. If there is a requirement for a new medical provider in the new county, then the TCA budget should be closed and existing procedures would be followed for budgets in TMA. Losing county would close MA, the gaining county would reopen MA and adjust the renewal date accordingly.

137.34 Cross-System Impacts

CWDS-

• There are no changes to the Enrollment Activity Screen for Cash Budget closures determined eligible for TCA. Screens will remain open to allow the client to continue with RESET.

• “K” (for CWDS Projects) or “6” (for CAO directed projects) closings will be posted when TCA closes, and existing closure rules will be followed.

Data Warehouse- This new initiative and corresponding program status codes will be included in the CIS Data Warehouse and be available for reporting purposes.

Managed Care- These budgets will remain enrolled in Managed Care during the TCA period and if applicable during the remaining TMA period.

PACSES-

• When the TANF Cash budget closes absent relative screens in eCIS will all be end dated following existing cash closure rules. All support amounts will be assigned back to the client when TCA is opened.

• Absent relative screens will not be scheduled for TCA budgets.

PELICAN-

• C/U 71 budgets will follow existing Child Care rules in eCIS. No child care notice is issued at TCA opening.

• When a C/U 71 budget closes, the system will follow logic for former TANF, and Child Care notices will be issued.

PROMISe- TCA recipients will fall under current health care benefit packages.

137.35 Closing TCA

TCA is a supplemental benefit funded by state MOE funds and is limited to 6 consecutive pay periods. There is no limit to the number of times a budget group may be eligible for TCA. TCA time will not be counted in any calculations for TMA eligibility.

EXAMPLE:  Household of parent and one child is receiving TANF. Parent finds a full-time job working 40 hours/week earning $10/hour. This makes their income ineligible for TANF. During the TANF closure the system determines the budget group is eligible for TCA and opens a C71  with a future close date. After 2 months the parent loses their job and contacts their caseworker requesting TANF be reopened. If eligibility factors are met, TANF would be reopened. At next TANF closure the system will again evaluate for TCA.

Due to the limited nature of the program, relative amount of money involved, and to reduce the burden on caseworkers, families are not required to report changes during the TCA period. There will be no overpayments associated with the TCA program. As with all programs, once a change is reported the caseworker must take the appropriate action.

137.36 Notices

The following notices will be used to open or close TCA budgets:

Eligible Notices:

685 Option A, C/U 71 – TCA Eligible with TMA

SYSTEM GENERATED

685 Option C, CHAN – Addition of Child

685 Option D, DISC – CAO Closure of TCA prior to end of TCA period

Generic notice for CAO usage

Reissued April 14, 2023 ; replacing December 11, 2017