Purpose

To determine the extent of implementation of the three recommendations included in our initial audit report, Benefit Eligibility Assessment Process (Report 2012-S-51).

Background

Our initial audit, which was issued on May 28, 2014, determined whether the New York City Human Resources Administration’s (HRA) public assistance benefit eligibility assessment process complied with applicable policies and procedures, and whether the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s (OTDA) Fair Hearing process was used only as necessary. The audit covered the period of July 1, 2011 through September 30, 2013. We found that HRA applied a fair and consistent assessment process when determining client eligibility in compliance with governing policies and procedures. We also determined that changes were necessary to reduce the number of overturned HRA determinations and costly, and in some cases unnecessary, OTDA Fair Hearings. These hearings were unnecessary because the case had either already been resolved to the client’s satisfaction, or HRA could not proceed due to missing case file support or erroneously prepared documents. We also found that OTDA’s closed-case coding system did not always adequately describe the case resolution.

Key Finding

• OTDA and HRA have made significant progress in addressing the issues identified in our initial report. Of the three prior recommendations, two have been implemented and one was partially implemented.

Other Related Audit/Report of Interest

Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and NYC Human Resources Administration: Benefit Eligibility Assessment Process (2012-S-51)