Working and Income
This section shows how to gather and verify work and income information from the applicant.
Page contents
Defining working
What qualifies as working is not defined in federal law. Instead, Lead Agencies must define what activities constitute working.
OCC recommends including a broad range of activities in your definition of working, with no minimum number of work hours required for eligibility purposes. Make sure to clearly state what activities are considered as working in your application.
Examples of working definitions
From select Lead Agencies’ FY2022-FY2024 CCDF Plans
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“A working person is a person receiving wages or salary for performing services for another person or organization or receiving compensation for a service or product. These activities may be conducted through an employer or be considered self-employment and are documented by proof of income. There is no minimum number of working hours required and travel time can be included.”
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“...In addition, during a time of disaster or emergency, working also includes individuals who provide essential services or participates in an emergency or disaster effort as an employee or volunteer.”
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“The caretaker is engaged in an activity for wages or salary or is self-employed. There are no minimum number of hours required to be considered working.”
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“Individuals are considered to be working if they meet the established work requirements of TANF, VIEW, or SNAP Employment and Training programs, or have regular gainful employment in a part-time or full-time capacity. No minimum number of hours required.”
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“Includes regular employment, self-employment, employer-sponsored training, apprenticeships, sheltered employment, and participation in programs such as AmeriCorps. The Lead Agency does not stipulate a minimum number of work hours required for eligibility purposes.”
Defining income
Lead Agencies must determine what to include in their calculation of family income and what to exclude. Often, reporting and proving income is the most burdensome part of the child care assistance application. To reduce this burden, OCC recommends that Lead Agencies simplify their definition of income by,
- Including: Earned income, which is money received from employment or self-employment
- Excluding: Money from public benefit programs and child support
What information should I capture?
For earned income, applicants often work multiple jobs, including non-traditional jobs such as self-employment, part-time, seasonal or contract work. As such, their income may fluctuate week-to-week. It is important to build flexibility into your application form to capture these various types of earned income for individuals that work.
Verifying employment and employment income, including self-employed individuals
To verify income from full- or part-time employment with an employer, Lead Agencies should accept the following forms of proof:
- Digital or paper copies of pay stubs that are most representative of the family’s income. This includes,
- Allowing families to submit non-consecutively dated pay stubs
- Allowing families to submit pay stubs from any time period in the last 3-6 months
- To reduce burden, Lead Agencies should not require more than a month’s worth of pay stubs from this period. However, if a family would like to submit more than a month’s worth of pay stubs to more accurately demonstrate income fluctuations, they should be allowed to.
- A letter from an employer that includes information about income
- Tax returns, W2s, or other wage statements
- Bank statements that demonstrate income
- Any other documentation that reasonably establishes income
To verify income from self-employment, independent contracts, gig work, or other non-traditional work arrangements, Lead Agencies:
- Accept the following forms of proofs:
- Tax returns, 1099s, or other wage statements
- Contracts that demonstrate income
- Payment receipts for services rendered
- Bank statements that demonstrate income
- Profit/loss statements, or self-employment ledgers
- Any other documentation that reasonably establishes self-employment income
- When documentation cannot be provided to prove self-employment income, allow applicants to self-certify by providing a signed and dated statement that includes a description of their work, and amount of income earned in the past month.
OCC recommends Lead Agencies use the same documentation that is used to verify income to verify that a person is currently working. For example screens to collect this verification documentation, see Documentation Upload.
Practices that minimize applicant burden
From select Lead Agencies’ FY2022-FY2024 CCDF Plans
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“At initial determination and redetermination, the parent is required to provide paystubs, an independent letter from the employer that includes the wage information, most recent tax returns, or any additional documentation that supports the parent’s reported income, including self-certification.”
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“For families receiving Food and Nutrition Program Services (SNAP), a review of the information contained in NC FAST for the members of the child care case income unit is viewed and used for verification. This is documented in the case record.
For families that do not receive Food and Nutrition Services, the amount of gross family income is verified by pay stubs, employer verification forms, award letters, current information from existing agency records and other source documents. This information is documented in the case record.
With NC FAST, families receiving services from any program that is part of NC FAST can have income verified through the system.”
Example application screens
Ask whether an applicant is currently working, If YES, capture information about each job, with an option to add multiple jobs
If NO, ask if an applicant is currently searching for work
What's included in the Guide
Defining, collecting, and verifying eligibility information
Guidelines for designing a successful online application
Making changes while maintaining program integrity