SNAP Agency Matching Program Performance Reporting Tool and Instructions

State SNAP Agency NDNH Matching Program Performance Report

Background and Instructions

OMB No.: 0970-0464

Expiration Date: xx/xx/xxxx

Background

The federal Office of Management and Budget requires the federal Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) to periodically report performance measures of the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), which includes the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). These performance measures demonstrate how the NDNH supports the OCSS strategic mission, goals, objectives, and cross-agency collaboration.

To help OCSS comply with federal reporting requirements, a state agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are required to report performance outcomes that are attributable to the state agency’s use of NDNH match results, as noted in section XIV of the Computer Matching Agreement between OCSS and state agencies administering SNAP.

Instructions

The information populated in the SNAP Agency NDNH Matching Program Performance Report (Report) should include:

• Number of individuals with verified wage and employment information

• Number of applicants or recipients whose benefits were terminated or reduced

• Respective costs that the state agency avoided or saved as a result of benefit adjustments

State agencies must submit their annual reports to OCSS by December 31, which is 90 days after the end of the federal fiscal year (October 1-September 30).

Each state agency participating in the NDNH matching program, including any state with Simplified Reporting cases, must provide outcomes for all four of the report categories applicable to the NDNH new hire, quarterly wage, and unemployment insurance information received from OCSS. States should report all match results in the month the match was conducted, not the month in which action is taken on the case or when costs are avoided.

EXAMPLE

July Match File

Records for 15,000 adults who applied for or received SNAP benefits in June are submitted and matched to the NDNH in July.

Output File

July match results are returned to the state with 4,000 total New Hire matches.

State Agency Distributes Matches

Match results are verified at the state agency level and sent to local offices for action or match results are sent to local offices for verification and action.

Verification

Four hundred adults are verified to have employment that was previously unknown to the state agency.

Action

Based on verified employment information and income, the state agency takes action on 350 adult cases.

Reporting

States report the 350 cases in July on the SNAP Agency NDNH Matching Program Performance Report because July is when the match between the SNAP agency records and NDNH wage/employment information first occurred.

REPORTING CATEGORIES

Category 1: Unduplicated Individuals Verified as Employed

Unduplicated Individuals Verified as Employed refers to the number of unduplicated individuals with previously unknown employment that had an NDNH match and were verified as being employed while receiving SNAP benefits in your state.

“Unduplicated individuals” means counting the same person no more than once per federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30). If the individual was found in more than one of the three NDNH datasets (new hire, quarterly wage, or unemployment insurance), the individual should be reported under the data match that triggered the verification, which resulted in case action. Consider the following example:

A match reveals verified income that does not trigger benefit reduction or case closure, but in a later match the individual is again identified as employed but this time has income significant enough to result in benefit reduction or case closure.

The first verified match (revealing income but not enough for a benefit change) should be reported under category 1 as previously unknown employment but would not be reported under categories 2, 3, or 4 on the report. The reporting on the second match resulting in case action depends on whether the employment is different than the employment discovered in the first match and when in the federal fiscal year the match occurs. If the second match identifies the same employment as the first match (although the person may be working a different number of hours or may be paid more or less than before), this would not meet the definition of “previously unknown employment” and should not be reported. If the second match is for a different employer but within the same federal fiscal year as the first match, it should not be reported a second time. However, if the second match is for a different employer and in a new federal fiscal year, it should be reported in the new federal fiscal year under category 1 as previously unknown employment and also under categories 2, 3, and 4, if applicable.

Note: When a match identifies previously unknown employment and is verified but it does not warrant action, the match should still be reported under category 1 as previously unknown employment, even though there would be nothing to report under categories 2, 3, and 4.

Category 2: Unduplicated SNAP Cases Closed Due to Earnings

Unduplicated SNAP Cases Closed Due to Earnings refers to the number of unduplicated individuals reported in category 1 whose SNAP benefits were terminated as a result of employment verified from an NDNH match.

Category 3: Unduplicated SNAP Cases with Benefits Reduced

Unduplicated SNAP Cases with Benefits Reduced refers to the number of unduplicated individuals reported in category 1 whose SNAP benefits were reduced as a result of employment verified from an NDNH match.

NOTE: Categories 2 and 3 should represent the number of unduplicated individuals reported in category 1 whose SNAP benefits were terminated or reduced, not the number of individuals in the case that were affected by these actions.

Category 4: Unduplicated First Month Avoided SNAP Costs

Unduplicated First Month Avoided SNAP Costs refers to the total “first-month” that SNAP costs were avoided from categories 2 and 3.

First-month avoided costs equal the difference between 1) the monthly benefit the SNAP case would have been given in the absence of verified employment information resulting from an NDNH match, and 2) the monthly benefit the SNAP case actually received after the verified employment information was used to modify benefits.

For example, suppose an NDNH match is verified and reveals previously unknown employment. The state verifies the income and recalculates the SNAP benefit for the case, resulting in the case receiving monthly SNAP benefits $100 less than what they would have been in the absence of the employment information found through the NDNH. As a result of the NDNH match, the state has avoided $100 in costs the first month that the benefits were reduced. The state should report a $100 first month avoided cost in category 4 of the report in the month that the individual’s record initially returned a match – not the month in which the benefit was modified. There is no need to report costs avoided in subsequent months.

OVERLAP BETWEEN NDNH AND THE STATE DIRECTORY OF NEW HIRES

States should report on all NDNH verified matches that reveal previously unknown employment, not just those that are out-of-state or federal agency matches that would not be available from the State Directory of New Hires. If information is received because of an NDNH match, the individual is verified as employed and the employment was previously unknown to the agency, it should be reported on category 1 of the form regardless of whether the match would also be found in the State Directory of New Hires or other sources.

REPORT SUBMISSION

Report data by December 31, which is 90 days after the end of the federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30).

Send reports electronically to:

[Data Access Team SNAP Liaison], Division of Federal Systems, OCSS

[email ]

ATTACHMENTS

State SNAP Agency NDNH Matching Program Performance Report

QUESTIONS

Please direct questions to:

[Name of Data Access Federal Manager]

Data Access Federal Oversight, Division of Federal Systems, OCSS

[Email address for submission]

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub.L. 104-13)

The purpose of this statutorily required (42 U.S.C. 653(j)(10), 5 U.S.C. 552a, and Pub.L 111-352) information collection is for state SNAP agencies to provide performance outcomes attributable to National Directory of New Hires information. Public reporting estimated burden for this collection of information is .83 hours per respondent, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. No confidential information is collected. A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and no individual or entity is required to respond to, nor shall an individual or entity be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. If you have any comments on this collection of information, please contact OCSSFedSystems@acf.hhs.gov

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