APPENDIX 2
WISCONSIN WORKS (W-2) PROGRAMME
Note by Assistant Clerk
The Wisconsin Works (W-2) Programme is the culmination of
13 experimental programmes started in 1993. The Governor and legislature
obtained waivers from federal rules to facilitate the experimental
programmes, and the perceived successful elements were put together
to form W-2, launched fully in 1997 to replace the federal AFDC
programme. The key difference between the two programmes is W-2's
focus on work rather than welfare dependency.
Aims: W-2 aims to rebuild the connection between work
and income and help families achieve self-sufficiency. The programme
aims to encourage family support systems and parental responsibility,
and to reinforce behaviour that leads to independence and self-sufficiency
within these units. There is an explicit assumption that everyone
is able to work within their ability, and there is a place for
all ability levels in the programme. There is no entitlement to
cash assistance, and receipt of assistance is limited to five
years.
Eligibility: The programme is available to all parents
with minor custodial children, low assets, and incomes below 115
per cent of the federal poverty line. Non-custodial parents, minor
parents living with their parents or in a supervised setting,
and pregnant women are also eligible for some W-2 services. Families
with incomes between 115 and 165 per cent of the federal poverty
line are also eligible for subsidised childcare services.
Financial and Employment Planner: Each participant
meets a Financial and Employment Planner to make an employability
plan and establish their needs and their place on the W-2 employment
ladder. The local W-2 agency runs the four major components in
an integrated fashion, so the participant is always entering the
highest (least subsidised) level possible, and moving up to the
next stage as quickly as possible. Those able to work, including
mothers whose children are at least 12 weeks old, are offered
one of the following:
Unsubsidised Employment: Help in finding and keeping
a job. On entering the programme, individuals are first guided
to the best available immediate job opportunity. The W-2 agency
support the participants efforts to secure employment. People
in unsubsidised employment may be entitled to receive the state's
version of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), food stamps, Medical
Assistance, child care, and job access loans.
Trial Jobs: A trial job with an employer who receives
a $300 a month subsidy for three to six months, to offset the
initial costs of new employee training and supervision. This option
is available to participants who are unable to obtain unsubsidised
work immediately. The Financial and Employment Planner helps the
participant to explore subsidised employment opportunities. These
trial jobs are expected to lead to permanent positions. Participants
receive at least minimum wage for every hour of work. The employee
may also be eligible to receive EITC, food stamps, Medical Assistance,
child care, and job access loans.
Community Service Jobs: A job that combines work experience,
training and education, for participants unable to secure subsidised
work immediately. Participants receive a monthly grant of $673
for up to 30 hours per week in work training activities and up
to 10 hours per week in education or training. Participants must
work 30 hours a week to earn the grant and spend 10 hours a week
in training or education activities. Participants may also be
eligible for food stamps, Medical Assistance, child care and job
access loans.
W-2 Transition: This stage of the ladder is reserved
for those unable to perform self-sustaining, independent work.
A standard flat payment of $628 a month for up to 28 hours per
week participation in work training and up to 12 hours per week
in education or training. These can include a combination of alcohol
or drug abuse treatment. The participant may also be eligible
for food stamps, Medical Assistance, child care and job access
loans.
Time Limits: Participants are limited to 24 months
in a single category other than subsidised employment. The maximum
lifetime participation is 50 months in work option components.
After this time participants must find unsubsidised work. Extensions
may be available on a limited basis when local labour market conditions
preclude opportunities.
Penalties: Each hour the individual fails to participate
either in the community service job or W-2 Transition their benefit
payment is reduced.
Employment Supports
Job Centres combine job search, job opportunities,
education, training, and W-2 services in one location. This is
intended to promote integrated access to self-sufficiency.
Local Children's Services Networks and Community Steering
Committees organise community leaders and employers to co-ordinate
resources leading to self-sufficiency.
Job Access Loans are available to help families meet
immediate financial needs that may prevent them from working,
including car repairs, personal emergencies, moving home to secure
work, buying work clothing or equipment. The W-2 Agency determines
eligibility and administrates the loans. Most W-2 participants
are eligible. Repayment starts almost immediately, and may partly
comprise voluntary community work.
Transportation Assistance ensures that parents can
get their children to day care and themselves to work. W-2 Agencies
along with their Job Centre partners provide reimbursement of
transportation costs, and may provide transportation assistance
for participants.
Health Care is available through the Medicaid programme,
which is run according to the federal framework.
Child Support
Under AFDC, most child support payments were used to offset
the costs of AFDC. Under W-2, custodial parents have the responsibility
of providing for their families through work, so most W-2 families
receive child support contributions directly, providing extra
incentive to co-operate with collection and enforcement efforts.
Parents who refuse to co-operate with child support efforts without
good reason, do not receive benefits under W-2.
Children First Programme: Delinquent non-custodial
parents are required to pay contributions, participate in unpaid
work training activities, or face court action.
Child Care
Child care services are assured to low-income working families
who have succeeded in staying off public assistance and also to
families entering the workforce to sustain employment.
Eligibility: Families are eligible if their gross
income is equal to or less than 165 per cent of the federal poverty
line and have low assets. In order to receive assistance, families
must co-operate fully with child support determination. Families
are eligible for child care subsidies for children under age 13
if they meet the following non-financial eligibility standards:
The parent is less than 20 years of age and is enrolled in
high school
The parent is participating in any of the W-2 programmes
The parent is participating in employment skills training
and has been in unsubsidised employment for nine months or is
in a W-2 employment position
The parent is participating in food stamp employment and training
work experience or job search.
Families continue to be eligible until they reach an income
above 200 per cent of the federal poverty line.
Parent choice and responsibility: Parents can choose
from a wide range of child care providers through a voucher system.
Parents pay a co-payment on a sliding scale based on income and
family size, the number of children in subsidised care, and teh
type of child care provider. Contributions are increased until
parents take full responsibility when they leave the programme.
Provider Regulation: Child care providers must be
licensed or certified.
Administration: Eligibility is determined by W-2 Agencies.
A state-wide automated system makes payments centrally.
Resource and Referral: Employers and employees have
a state-wide Child Care Resource and Referral Network service
that can help link child care programmes with families that need
them and can also help employees become informed consumers through
parent education. Employers are encouraged to make workplaces
family-friendly through initiatives such as alternative work schedules,
reimbursement of child care costs through voucher systems, provision
of information about child care, negotiation of corporate discounts.
Tax benefits and grants are available to employers to assist in
these initiatives.
Partnership for Full Employment (PFE)
The W-2 programme is run by officially designated agencies
in the county, within the framework of a comprehensive employment
and training service delivery system called PFE. PFE is an integrated,
interdependent employment and training service delivery system
which links services for job seekers with services for employers.
Under the PFE model, services for all job seekers, including W-2
participants and applicants, veterans, displaced workers, people
with disabilities, current and future workers, and new graduates,
and employment services, are delivered at the one-stop Job Centre.
Earned Income Tax Credit
Wisconsin has its own version of the federal EITC. It is
the same in principal as the federal scheme, however it provides
a lower level of credits, and claimants are not able to claim
advance payments.
Eligibility: Qualifying rules in the state scheme
are based on those of the federal programme (see appendix 1),
which take into account the number of children and income level.
Amount: The maximum credit in the state scheme is
$1,529. Payment rates equal a percentage of the federal payment:
one qualifying child: 4 per cent of the federal payment;
two qualifying children: 14 per cent of the federal payment;
three or more qualifying children: 43 per cent of the federal
payment.
Advance Credit: Wisconsin does not offer the option
of claiming advances of EITC as is allowed in the federal scheme.
Food Stamps
Wisconsin has a waiver from Federal rules regarding food
stamps, which allows the programme to be administered as part
of the W-2 programme. This means that if an individual loses eligibility
to benefits under W-2, they become ineligible to receive food
stamps as well.
Eligibility: Low income workers, W-2 participants,
elderly and disabled people, people with high housing and utility
costs, and individuals who pass both the gross income and asset
test may be eligible to receive food stamps.
January 1998
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