Background:
Section 5107.04 of the Revised Code requires the Ohio Department of Job
and Family Services to
increase the Ohio Works First (OWF) payment standard on the first day of each
January by the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that occurs in the previous
year. The COLA is determined by the
Social Security Administration.
New Payment Standard: On October 13,
2022, the Social Security Administration
announced a COLA increase of 8.7 percent. Based on assistance group size and the COLA
increase, ODJFS will issue the following revised OWF and Refugee Cash
Assistance payments beginning January 1, 2023.
|
Assistance Group Size
|
Payments as of January 1, 2023
|
|
1
|
$352
|
|
2
|
$480
|
|
3
|
$589
|
|
4
|
$726
|
|
5
|
$850
|
|
6
|
$946
|
|
7
|
$1057
|
|
8
|
$1172
|
|
9
|
$1288
|
|
10
|
$1404
|
|
11
|
$1517
|
|
12
|
$1635
|
|
13
|
$1751
|
|
14
|
$1864
|
|
15
|
$1984
|
|
+15 ADD
|
$146
|
Implementation: Mass change ran in Ohio Benefits to update the
payments; program blocks were updated from November 24, 2022 through November
27, 2022. An exception report was created for all cases which Ohio Benefits
could not update automatically. The
eligibility worker will be required to run the Eligibility
Determination/Benefit Calculation (ED/BC) then save and accept the results for
those cases to implement these changes.
Each assistance group affected by this change will receive a notice with
the new amount of benefits they will receive.