OCR Text |
Show 16.4 Errors Discovereil Utah's AFDC Eligibility Eligibility case errors were found in 16.4 per cent of the Aid to Families with Dependent Depen-dent Children (AFDC) program, pro-gram, a Utah Department of Social Services official said. According to John Abbott, acting director of the Office of Quality Control, a six-month sampling ending December 31, 1976, showed that 5.3 per cent of AFDC cases were ineligible to receive aid. In 7.2 percent of the cases, too much money was paid out by the Department of Social Services. Servi-ces. In 3.9 per cent of the cases clients did not receive the full amount of the grant they were entitled to receive. Mr. Abbott noted that in 54 percent of the error cases, the clients had not reported properly changes that affect eligibility. Having a father living in the home, children not living in the home, excess property, or clients not being enrolled in work programs also caused errors. While fraud must be determined de-termined by a court of law, the statistics indicated that in 44 percent of the error cases, the client misrepresented facts about their eligibility intentionally. Based on the payment error rate of 7.9 per cent, Mr. Abbott said, the net monthlv cost is $236,000. AFDC monthly payments to 36,000 persons total $3 million. According to Roy Cooper, director of the Office of Assistance Assis-tance Payments, when mistakes mis-takes are found, the client does not get off free. Whenever When-ever fraud is suspected, criminal crimi-nal or civil charges are filed against the individual. When the mistake is not due to fraud, the ck asked to repay the : voluntarily. "Federal 3 tions prohibit us froit h: repayment while the d-: still on assistance. 0l";i the individual goes or-. can we file a mi s: recoup the money," k ; Mr. Abbott said tk six-month monitoriig i shows more mistakes previous six-month : During the six-mos'i j ending June 30, l?Tt : were 2.9 per cent itL cases, 1.6 per cent ee ments, and 5.2 per ce: payments for a tai ' rate of 9.7 per cent "That was the loves i rate we've had in tie--of the monitoring p' It's the first time reproached re-proached the federi! s ards - 5 per cent ck? under payments and ; cent ineligible cases -s tough act to follow. Abbott said. Mr. Cooper noted i be unrealistic to red'J :' to zero in a programs of the Assistance Pit program. "The purpose of tl: toring program is to V find problems so correct them. For 0' the study showed tit' people failed to report t Knowing this, we revise procedures, tra time, insuring income is reported. |