Report 2017-116 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2017-116: Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County: Because It Disadvantaged Some Families and Misused State Funds, It Could Benefit From Increased Monitoring by the California Department of Education (Release Date: April 2018)

Recommendation #3 To: Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County

To ensure that it is processing all provider payments promptly, 4Cs should formalize policies by October 2018 that address communication between its subsidy department and fiscal department regarding provider payments. These policies should be clearly communicated to both departments and provide a way for staff to be held accountable for late communications resulting in delayed payments to providers.

6-Month Agency Response

The agency developed a troubleshooting team to address issues of late payments. The troubleshooting team is an extension of the process established by the Fiscal and Subsidy Department to minimize late payment. The troubleshoot team reviews and analyzes the monthly Outstanding Attendance Record to identify the causes of late payments. It has been found that late payments are caused by non-receipt/submission of attendance records from providers; incomplete or improperly completed attendance records submitted by providers. The agency is enforcing its attendance policy as stated in the Parent Provider handbook and the Agency Provider agreement. Supporting documentation: "Trouble Shoot Team Procedure_Staff Meeting"; "Fiscal and Subsidy Department Policies & Procedures_Minimize Late Payment"; "Provider Agency Agreement & Parent Provider Handbook"

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

4Cs provided its procedures to improve communication between its subsidy department and its fiscal department to minimize late payments. These procedures include oversight of that communication by department supervisors.

60-Day Agency Response

The 4C Fiscal team has identified the common causes of the delay in payment to the providers, and has established policies and procedures including the necessary monitoring tool to address each type of delay. A "Trouble shoot" team is being developed by restructuring the 4C Fiscal and Subsidy departments in the joined effort to minimize any holdups and hold individual staff accountable for the deficient responsiveness to communication and inquiries leading to delay in payment to the providers. Refer to the following documents.

Policies and procedures to minimize late payment: May 2018 - Communication between Fiscal and Subsidy department is strengthened and enforced by guidelines and monitoring tools aiming to resolve any holdups internally and those of external factors (provider and parent) including attendance records that are still outstanding. Restructuring effort to create a "Trouble shoot" is in the work and will be fully implemented by October 2018. (Supporting documentation submitted "Fiscal Policies and Procedure to Minimize Late Payments")

Attendance record Checklist (English and Spanish): May 2018 - A document served as a visual aid was uploaded on the agency's website ( http://www.4c.org/provider/provider_faqs.html) and included in the provider training package. Document will also be mailed with the provider payment checks issued in June 2018 and is included in the provider package during enrollment. (Supporting documentation submitted "Attendance Record Checklist", "Licensed Provider Enrollment Orientation PPT" and "Licensed Provider Enrollment Packet", "Exempt Non-Relative Provider Enrollment Packet")

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

4Cs provided documentation of procedures it developed to minimize delays in payments to providers, which it indicated would be fully implemented by October 2018. Those procedures focus primarily on delays resulting from the actions of parents and providers but also make reference to coordination within 4Cs. We look forward to reviewing 4Cs' six-month response to assess whether the implemented procedures sufficiently address communication between the fiscal department and the subsidy department and provide a way for staff to be held accountable for late communications resulting in delayed payments to providers.

All Recommendations in 2017-116

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.