But since expenditures on non-assistance must occur within the year the funds are allocated to the state, states wishing to spend TANF funds on child care, transportation, counseling, or other services should make preparations to do so within each fiscal year. Later, unspent funds can be used to cover some of a subsequent year's cash assistance expenses, freeing up some of that year's block grant allocation to spend on services or other forms of non-assistance. States are required to collect information about family income, education, race, family structure, employment and earnings, work program participation, and other characteristics for families receiving assistance. None of that is required for families receiving services or other forms of non-assistance. TANF funds are supposed to be spent on needy families.
States are free to set eligibility standards as they see fit for benefits or services.
Further, they may also set different eligibility standards for different services. This enables states to target aid to the families that have left welfare for wages so low that they cannot make ends meet. On the other hand, the freedom states have to set multiple eligibility standards gives states many ways to reduce the aid available to the very poor, in favor of providing help to perhaps more politically popular families. All rights reserved.