TO:	  Commissioners, TA & FS Directors; HEAP Liaisons

FROM:	Russell Sykes, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Employment and Transitional Supports

SUBJECT:	CNS Notice Problems

EFFECTIVE DATE:	Immediately

CONTACT PERSON:	Cash Assistance Bureau at 1-800-343-8859, extension 4-9344

The purpose of this message is to tell districts about three problems that have been identified regarding notices produced in the Client Notices System (CNS).  Two are the result of worker error.

1.	The first worker error problem is about CNS notices to inform a recipient that the benefit will be reduced because there is an SSI family member who, except for the receipt of the SSI, would be required to be included in the TA filing unit.  As stated in 04 ADM-05, in order to produce a notice that will have the correct reason language for those situations when the individual is already on SSI when the change is being made, workers must use both the appropriate WMS case level reason code AND the CNS reason code of B90.  Failure to use the CNS reason code of B90 will result in a notice that lacks the appropriate reason language. 

	Note:	If a TA family member is in receipt of TA and then becomes eligible for SSI, the appropriate case level WMS reason code and the WMS individual reason code E94 “Receiving SSI” will produce the correct notice.  In this situation, it is not necessary to use CNS reason code B90.

2.	The second worker error problem is a general problem.  We have seen notices that tell a recipient a reason for a benefit change but the benefit remains the same.

	When a CNS notice is issued to inform a recipient about the change in his or her benefit, the budget comparison information is taken from the last two stored budgets in ABEL.  Workers must be sure that the two budgets for comparison are the last budget from which benefits were issued and the new budget.   For example, a family’s TA for the period starting May 1 was $600 monthly.  Effective June 1, a change in the budget will reduce the TA to $540 monthly.  The two last budgets must be the budget from which the May 1 benefits were issued and the new budget.  If the worker has just completed and stored the new budget and is interrupted, the worker may forget that he or she stored the budget and store the same budget again.  Unless corrected, the notice will say “You will continue to get the same amount of public assistance benefits: $540.00”, instead of correctly stating the actual “from” and “to” amounts.

	When the worker has stored a budget that will not be used for the CNS comparison, the worker must re-store the two correct comparison budgets.  In the example above, the worker must restore the budget that was the basis for the May 1 benefit, and then store the budget that is the basis for the June 1 benefits.  Only then will CNS have the appropriate benefit “from” and “to” comparison and distribution information.

Note:	This is not about situations where the total benefit amount stays the same but the distribution changes.  For example, a notice may tell the recipient that the public assistance benefit will change even though the $600 monthly remains the same, but rather than receiving a semi-monthly cash grant of $300, the new semi-monthly cash grant will be $150, and the $300 will be a restricted shelter payment.  Clearly such notices are based on the correct comparisons.

3.	Lastly, in addition to the above worker error problems, a regulatory citation that is common to many notices has been identified as incorrect and has been corrected.  The generally used citation 18 NYCRR 351.22(d) has been corrected to 18 NYCRR 351.2(d).