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What is the timing of when participants receive income and when their benefits reflect that income?

Prospective budgeting anticipates what someone’s income will be in an upcoming payment month. There are only a few circumstances that prospective budgeting is used in MFIP:

· The first 2 months someone is on assistance.

· When a family is homeless.

· When a family is working as migrant or seasonal farm workers.

See Combined Manual 0022.03.01 (Prospective Budgeting – Program Provisions).

Retrospective budgeting looks at the income a household had 2 months earlier. This is how benefits are usually calculated. It works as follows:

Month 1:
The participant earns money.

Month 2:
The participant reports the earnings.

Month 3:
The participant receives assistance adjusted to reflect the earnings from Month 1.

See Combined Manual 0022.06 (How and When to Use Retrospective Budgeting).

For DWP budgeting methods, see 20.9 (Cash Benefits).