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 12, 2023, the Social Security Administration announced a COLA increase of 3.2 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, 2024.

Implementation:  Mass change will run in Ohio Benefits to update the payments; program blocks will be updated from November 22, 2023 through November 26, 2023. An exception report will be created for all cases which Ohio Benefits cannot 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.