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Expected to Work/Barriers to Full Employment Policy & Procedures

Published Date: October 30, 2019
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09 Income

Child and Adult Support Income

AUTHORITY
Income and Employment Supports Act (IESA), sections 6(2)(d), 29 and 31
Income Support, Training and Health Benefits (ISTHB) Regulation, section 23(3)(e); Schedule 2, section 1(1)(u)

POLICY

IS clients must be willing to comply with the Child Support Services (CSS) program requirements if there is at least one parent of a dependent child not included as part of the household unit. If payments to the applicant or recipient are late or unreliable, or if the applicant or recipient chooses not to receive payments directly, the right to receive the payments is given to the government while IS benefits are paid. IESA, Part 5

The worker asks the parent whether they are receiving child or adult support payments directly, and enters the information into the budget. Support payments received by the recipient are deducted dollar for dollar from their income support benefits. The worker refers the applicant or recipient to the CSS Worker whether support payments are being received or not as the CSS Worker decides whether the support is reasonable and takes appropriate action if it is not.

If the applicant or recipient is unreasonably uncooperative, the CSS Worker may recommend that income support be denied or suspended. Benefits can be denied or suspended under IESA, section 6(2)(d).

For the purpose of the IS and CSS programs, child and adult support income is defined by its source (i.e. payment by the other parent, an estate, Maintenance Enforcement Program or the courts) and the reason it is received (for the care of a child or adult) rather than the method of payment (e.g. cash, cheque, money order, goods, services or other valuables).

Child and adult support income can be paid pursuant to a legally enforceable agreement or order or unenforceable agreement.

Example 1
The IS applicant/recipient has an arrangement with the other parent to receive $500 in child support. Separate and apart from the child support payment the other parent is also paying the IS client’s rent directly to the landlord. The $500 payment for child support is considered income, but the rent payment is NOT considered income as it is not intended to replace the $500 child support payment and is paid to a third party. Therefore, only the $500 is deducted dollar-for-dollar from the client's budget as child support income.

Example 2
The IS applicant/recipient has an arrangement for child support in the amount of $500.
$100 per month is paid directly to the client
$400 per month is paid directly to the client's landlord
In this circumstance, the total $500 is considered child support based on the arrangement and would be deducted dollar-for-dollar from the client's budget.

 

Child and Adult Support Arrears on Legally Enforceable Court Orders and Agreements

Child and adult support arrears are past support payments owed to an Income Support client that are paid. Depending on the period of time associated with the arrears that are paid, the payments may or may not be owing to the Alberta government.

Amounts Owing to the Crown (Alberta Government)

Payments on support arrears received by a client for a period when the person was receiving assistance are owed to the Crown. This could happen if the debtor/payer decides to pay directly rather than through the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP).

If the client declares it through their monthly reporting, it is treated as non-exempt income.

If the payment is discovered after the fact, it is treated as an overpayment. The amount of the overpayment reflects the duplicated payment between the income support paid (including health costs) and the amount of arrears paid for each month the client received income support.

Amounts Not Owing to the Crown (Alberta Government)

Payments on support arrears received by clients for a period when the person was not on assistance are not owing to the Crown. These payments are fully exempt. These arrears have been identified by MEP. MEP has confirmed these payments are not owing to the Alberta government and has forwarded the payments to the client.

The rationale for this policy is to allow clients who have suffered financial stress due to accrued support arrears to retain the use of these funds for the maintenance and care of their children.