16 Del. Admin. Code § 1000-1005

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 7, January 1, 2025

Section 1000-1005 - Compiling and Saving Case Record Contents

45 CFR 92.42

This policy applies to all DSS and DMMA case records except medical records.

1.Staff Collect Pertinent Case Information

Case records will contain all information necessary to determine eligibility or ineligibility for benefits or amount of benefits. Records will contain:

A. The date of application

B. Date and basis of the eligibility decision

C. Facts essential to determining initial and continuing eligibility

D. The basis for terminating or reducing assistance or services

E. Information regarding overpayments and claims

F. A copy of the Criminal Justice Report if the case was referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

2.Division of Management Services Maintains Fiscal Records

The Division of Management (DMS) maintains an accounting system and supporting fiscal records adequate to assure that claims for federal funds are in accord with applicable federal requirements.

3.Staff Save Case Records

Case records are kept for five[or more] years as follows:

A. Public Assistance records are kept for five years from the date of[closure].

B. Records related to a pending audit are kept beyond the five years [or until the completion of a successful audit, whichever is later].

C. Records of non-expendable property which was purchased with federal grant funds are kept for five years after final disposition of the property.

D. Cases that are under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) or that have outstanding overpayments will be retained [for ten years]and will remain intact until the investigation and subsequent legal action is complete or the overpayment is filed.

4.Staff Save Information About Uncollected Overpayments and DOJ Cases

Staff must never destroy information needed to substantiate outstanding overpayments.

Cases with outstanding overpayments are kept intact until the overpayment is filed.

Cases under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are kept intact until the investigation and subsequent legal action is complete.

5.Staff Purge Case Records

Any papers (forms or correspondence) in an active record which are more than four calendar years old may be destroyed on site with the permission of the unit supervisor who has possession of the record [if those papers were scanned into the Document Imaging System].

Exception: Do not destroy records of permanent value, e.g., birth certificates, deeds, trusts, contracts, or other records of value.

16 Del. Admin. Code § 1000-1005

16 DE Reg. 1191( 5/1/2013) (Final)