1500 - PAYMENT INFORMATION AND PAYEES AND REPRESENTATIVES

 

1510 Payment Information And Procedures - Regular monthly cash and child care benefits are based on current need (calendar month) and are paid in advance on the first of the month. Food assistance benefits are paid from the first through the tenth of the month. Food assistance, child care and cash payments are made available to clients through electronic benefit accounts by using a plastic debit card, the Kansas Benefits Card. Benefits can be accessed as follows:

 

  1. At point-of-sale (POS) devices for cash, food assistance and child care;
     
  2. At automated teller machines (ATMs) for cash; and
     
  3. Through the audio response unit (ARU) system for child care.
     

1511 To Whom Payments Can be Made

 

1511.1 Money Payments - The following persons are eligible to receive money payments: caretaker, recipient, personal representative, or substitute payee. See 2220 for persons who qualify as a caretaker. A caretaker may receive a money payment for any member of the assistance plan, including persons for whom he or she is not the caretaker (e.g., a grandmother for a grandchild and the grandchild's minor father who is not related to the grandmother).

 

Exception: A minor may not receive a money payment unless able to act in own behalf per 2110 and one of the categories above to receive payments is met.
 

If the caretaker dies, the money payment may be made to a new caretaker for a period of 3 calendar months under the old application. In this instance, a new Kansas Benefits Card shall be provided to the new caretaker to access the existing account for the new period.

No TANF cash assistance shall be used to purchase alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco products, lottery tickets, concert tickets, professional or collegiate sporting event tickets or tickets for other entertainment events intended for the general public or sexually oriented adult materials. No TANF cash assistance shall be used in any retail liquor store, casino, gaming establishment, jewelry store, tattoo parlor, massage parlor, body piercing parlor, spa, nail salon, lingerie shop, tobacco paraphernalia store, vapor cigarette store, psychic or fortune telling business, bail bond company, video arcade, movie theater, swimming pool, cruise ship, theme park, dog or horse racing facility, pari-mutuel facility, or sexually oriented business or any retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment, or in any business or retail establishment where minors under age 18 are not permitted. No TANF cash assistance shall be used for purchases at points of sale outside the state of Kansas.
 

1511.2 Food Assistance Payments and Child Care Benefits - The following persons are eligible to receive food assistance and child care benefits: Primary Applicant, authorized representative, or any payee authorized by the Primary Applicant.
 

Refer to 1524 regarding alternate payee procedures for the Kansas Benefits Card.

Note: Food assistance benefits cannot be used to pay on credit accounts.