Review of Improper Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Basic Assistance Payments in Michigan for July 1 Through December 31, 2005

The State agency made some Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) basic assistance payments that did not meet Federal and State requirements and did not adequately document all eligibility and payment determinations.  Based on its sample results, we estimated that the overall TANF improper payment rate was 40 percent of the Federal dollars expended and 34 percent of the number of payments made for basic assistance during the 6-month audit period.

We recommended that the State agency (1) develop criteria specifying the circumstances that warrant a hardship exception for extending TANF basic assistance payments beyond the 60-month Federal lifetime limit, (2) use the results of this review to help ensure compliance with Federal and State TANF requirements, (3) determine the current eligibility of all recipients identified in this review as improperly enrolled in the TANF program and ensure that further assistance is denied for those who remain ineligible, and (4) recalculate assistance budgets for all recipients identified in this review as having received improperly calculated payments.  The State agency generally did not agree with the recommendations.