The County Assitance Office (CAO) must assign a certification period according to household circumstances. A household may be certified for one or two months only if the CAO cannot reasonably predict future circumstances or if the household was eligible for expedited benefits for one or two months.
Example: A household applies for both cash assistance and SNAP benefits on April 28 and is entitled to expedited service. An interview for cash assistance is scheduled for May 5. The household provides all required verification. The CAO authorizes SNAP benefits on the 28th. Because the household applied after the 15th, the CAO authorizes SNAP benefits for May. The CAO does not count the cash assistance benefit when figuring out May's SNAP benefit. The CAO certifies the household for a normal period, because the outcome of the cash assistance interview can be handled as a change for June.
NOTE: The expedited and ongoing certification periods do not need to add up to 12 months as they are considered separate certification periods. The ongoing certification period begins the month the ongoing benefits are issued.
If the CAO interviews the applicant and postpones verification, the CAO must take the following actions:
Establish a certification period according to the household's circumstances.
Authorize noncontinuous eligibility (NCE) for the application month.
Send PA 253 with details of what needs to be verified prior to authorizing benefits.
Deny benefits for the second month if postponed verification is not provided within 30 days of the date of application or there is no interview.
Authorize benefits for the second and following months after receiving all postponed verifications.
Enter the renewal due date according to the certification period established at application, without requiring a new application.
There is no limit to the number of times a household may be certified under expedited procedures. However, before each expedited certification, the household must:
Provide the verification postponed at the previous expedited certification; or
Have been certified under normal processing standards since that time.
Households whose benefits stop within a certification period are ineligible for expedited service if they reapply before the certification period ends. If a household submits an untimely Benefits Review Form (PA 600R) after a certification period ends, the CAO must review for expedited service.
Updated March 12, 2026, replacing October 3, 2014