SR 07-25 Dated 10/07

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases the following form changes which were the result of procedural changes in collecting work verification from participants in certain New Hampshire Employment Program (NHEP) work activities:

§   revisions to Form NHEP223, NHEP Employer Contact Log, Form NHEP225, NHEP Portfolio: Planning for Success, Form NHEP232, Work Experience Program (WEP) Agreement, Form NHEP270, Work Experience Program (WEP) Verification Form, and their associated instructions; and

§   the obsoletion of Form NHEP267, Portfolio Assignment and Verification Form, and its associated instructions.

BACKGROUND

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) provided the following feedback on the New Hampshire Employment Program (NHEP) Work Verification Plan submitted at the end of the summer:

§   participation hours in activities can be verified on a weekly basis, rather than a bi-weekly basis;

§   verification from participants in NHEP activities needs to conclusively indicate the amount of time the participant actually spent engaged in the activity; the Department cannot assign a pre-set amount of time an activity counts towards participation requirements; and

§   unsupervised hours spent by NHEP participants completing Form NHEP225, NHEP Portfolio: Planning for Success, cannot count towards work participation requirements.

POLICY

Based upon feedback from the ACF, enhancements were made in the process of collecting work verification from participants in certain NHEP activities. These procedural changes primarily impact work verification collection methods in the NHEP offices, but also require changes to several NHEP-related forms. Details of the form changes and procedural impact are provided in the FORMS AND PROCEDURES section below.

FORMS AND PROCEDURES

Form NHEP223, NHEP Employer Contact Log

The primary change to the Form NHEP223, NHEP Employer Contact Log, was the elimination of the following text that assigned a certain amount of time that was counted towards NHEP participation requirements, to the number of employment contacts made each day by the participant: "If you are in job search for 20 hours weekly, 3 – 4 employer contacts per day are expected; if you are in job search for 30 hours weekly, 5 – 6 employer contacts per day are expected." This text was replaced with a new field entitled "Hours Spent." The participant’s self-declared total time spent seeking or obtaining employment, which encompasses all reasonable job search initiatives including making contact with each prospective employer, will represent the individual’s actual participation hours that will count towards the participant’s minimum weekly NHEP work participation requirement.

Additional changes were made to the form based on feedback from NHEP Teams and members of the NHEP Advisory Council, as follows:

§   the title of the form was changed from "Job Search Verification Form – Employer Contacts" to "NHEP Employer Contact Log;"

§   a field was added for use by the NHEP team member to capture the date the NHEP worker enters the participation hours into New HEIGHTS;

§   a space was created to enter the NHEP participant’s Recipient Identification Number (RID);

§   a field was added to specify the date the Form NHEP223 is due back to NHEP;

§   a field was added to indicate the "Begin" and "End" date for the time period the log covers;

§   space was added for NHEP comments; and

§   a signature line was added for the NHEP Worker to sign, once the participant returns the completed form, indicating the job search hours were supervised, monitored, and approved by the NHEP worker.

The following procedural changes resulted from the requested form changes. NHEP staff will need to:

§   Complete the top portion of the Form NHEP223 before providing the form to each participant. This includes entering the participant’s name, RID number, begin and end date for when the contact log should be used, NHEP Team Member name, phone number, and date the verification is due back to NHEP.

§   Explain to each participant the correct way to complete the form.

§   Upon receiving a completed Form NHEP223, review for accuracy, then sign. The NHEP worker’s signature indicates approval of the participant’s job search efforts and participation hours.

§   Enter the total weekly hours of participation on the "Activity Hours Verification" screen in New HEIGHTS, and then enter the date this task was completed in the box at the top of the form.

§   Enter any concerns pertaining to the hours spent in this activity onto the form, then contact the participant to discuss.

Instructions for the form were updated accordingly.

Form NHEP225, NHEP Portfolio: Planning for Success

Form NHEP225, NHEP Portfolio: Planning for Success, has been streamlined to focus on the participant’s immediate employment needs and long-term goals that are then used in the development of the Employability Plan. Participants are expected to complete work in the NHEP Portfolio for compliance purposes. Since it is an unsupervised activity, it cannot count towards participation hours. The revised NHEP Portfolio now consists of the following five sections with a total of 64 pages, compared to the former 10 sections totaling approximately 140 pages:

§   Section A, Welcome to NHEP

§   Section B, Who Am I? Finding Out About Me!

§   Section C, Exploring Occupations

§   Section D, Arranging for Child Care

§   Section E, Arranging for Transportation

The following sections were removed from the revised version of the NHEP Portfolio:

§   Setting Goals for My Family and Me

§   Planning Your Job Search Parts I & II

§   Managing the Budget Parts I & II

§   Time Management

§   Stress Management

Additionally:

§   text on the initial "List of Activities" pages of each section referencing weekly hourly participation requirements and the number of activities that had to be completed to fulfill these requirements was removed; and

§   Section C, Exploring Occupations, was revised to remove all activities related to attending special workshops for job seekers.

The instructions were updated accordingly.

Form NHEP232, Work Experience Program (WEP) Agreement

The substantive change to the Form NHEP232, Work Experience Program (WEP) Agreement, was to change the verification requirement from a bi-weekly to a weekly attendance verification process.

Additional changes were as follows:

§   text on the form was simplified to reduce repetitive information;

§   the request to describe how the activity will benefit the participant’s employability and, for the Community Work Experience Program (CWEP) assignments, how the activity will benefit the community, was eliminated since the benefit is explained and approved in the Work Verification Plan; and

§   the scheduled hours table was changed to better capture the maximum number of hours that can be required of a WEP participant in a 4 and 5-week month. To ensure compliance with federal mandates, every WEP placement will require the development of two separate work schedules, one for a 4-week month and one for a 5-week month, in accordance with Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements.

The instructions for Form NHEP232 were updated accordingly.

Form NHEP270, Work Experience Program (WEP) Verification Form

Form NHEP270, Work Experience Program (WEP) Verification Form, was primarily changed to reflect that participation hours can be verified on a weekly basis, rather than a bi-weekly basis.

Additional changes were as follows:

§   fields were added at the top of the form to identify the NHEP representative and Team location; and

§   the hours worked table was reduced to emphasize the new weekly verification requirement.

The instructions were updated accordingly.

Form NHEP267, Portfolio Assignment and Verification Form

Form NHEP267, Portfolio Assignment and Verification Form, and its associated instructions are no longer needed and are obsoleted with the release of this form.

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

Section 808.15   Orientation

Section 808.17   Service Determination Appointment (SDA) and Ongoing Assessments

Section 808.29   Documenting and Verifying Hourly Participation Rates

Section 808.39   NHEP Activities: Alternative Work Experience Program (AWEP)

Section 808.39   NHEP Activities: Community Work Experience Program (CWEP)

Section 808.39   NHEP Activities: Job Club/CWEP

Section 808.39   NHEP Activities: Job Readiness

Section 808.39   NHEP Activities: Job Search

IMPLEMENTATION

Offices were supplied with an initial supply of Form NHEP223 for an October 1, 2007 implementation date. Form NHEP225, Form NHEP232, and Form 270 can be used immediately upon receipt of the new versions of the forms from the printer.

Recycle your entire stock of all versions of Forms NHEP223, Form NHEP225, Form NHEP232, Form NHEP267, and Form NHEP270, all dated October 2006, SR 06-12, upon receipt of the new versions.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special client notification is planned or needed.

TRAINING

Work verification changes will be discussed at the October 5, 2007 NHEP Statewide Meeting.

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS CONTINUED

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the On-line manuals.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/DHHS/DFA/LIBRARY, effective October 29, 2007.

This SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all hard copy holders of the Family Assistance and Forms Manuals.

DFA/JBV:s