CalFresh benefits randomly decreasing every 6 weeks - is this normal?

CalFresh doesn't have a 6-week review cycle - that's definitely not normal. Benefits should stay consistent month to month unless something triggers a change. The most common reasons for unexpected reductions would be: 1. Did you submit your Semi-Annual Report (SAR7) recently? That can cause adjustments. 2. Did your children's school status change? (Summer breaks can affect some households) 3. Have you had any changes in utility costs? This affects your deductions. 4. Is it possible you have unreported income showing up in the system? (Sometimes they do automated income verifications) I recommend calling your county worker ASAP to find out what's happening. You should be getting notices explaining any benefit changes.

same thing happened 2 me last year!! turns out my ex was claiming he was paying child support when he wasnt. they kept readjusting my benefits based on false info. check ur child support status in the system... took me forever to fix it!!

This sounds like a system error or miscalculation. By law, CalFresh must send a Notice of Action (NOA) at least 10 days before reducing your benefits, explaining exactly why the change is happening. If you didn't receive these notices for each reduction, that's a procedural violation. I'd recommend getting a benefit verification printout from your online account on BenefitsCal.com. This will show all your recent benefit amounts with dates. Document the pattern you're seeing, then request a state hearing (you have 90 days from any reduction to appeal). This will get you in front of a judge who can review your case and potentially fix back benefits. In the meantime, you should definitely try getting through to your caseworker to fix the ongoing issue.

I went through something similar last year and discovered the problem was with how my work hours were being calculated. Even though my total income hadn't changed, my employer was reporting different weekly hours each pay period, and somehow the system was picking this up and recalculating my benefits frequently. Have you tried using Claimyr to reach someone? I was in the same boat with never getting through on the phone lines. I found this service at claimyr.com that got me through to a live person at the CalFresh office in about 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8. It really helped me get my issue resolved quickly instead of waiting forever on hold.

The same EXACT thing has been happening to me since January!!! I thought I was going crazy or miscounting my benefits. My caseworker is USELESS and just says "that's what the system calculated" without any real explanation. I think there's a glitch in their calculation system. The whole system is designed to confuse us and make us give up. It's CRIMINAL that they can just randomly cut food money for families without explanation!!!

Have you checked if you might be hitting the Income Reporting Threshold (IRT) in some months but not others? Sometimes if your income varies even a little bit from month to month and hovers near your IRT, it can cause your benefits to fluctuate. My daughter had a similar issue because she does gig work with unpredictable income. Just a thought!

Make sure you're also keeping track of those changes exactly with dates and amounts. Print everything out from your EBT account history and BenefitsCal notices. I had a similar issue that turned out to be an error on their part, and I actually got back-paid for the incorrect reductions once I proved the pattern with documentation. Don't just accept the reductions - fight them!

did u change anything else with ur benefits lately? i noticed when i applied for medical my calfresh got all messed up for some reason. the systems dont talk to each other right or something

Based on everything you've shared, especially about changing from biweekly to weekly pay and the timing coinciding with your Medi-Cal update, I think we've identified some likely causes. Here's what I recommend doing: 1. Use Claimyr or keep trying to reach your caseworker 2. Ask specifically about your income calculation method in the system 3. Request they check if your payment frequency is correctly coded 4. Ask them to review any system notes from when you updated your Medi-Cal information 5. Request a written explanation of each benefit change If they can't resolve it immediately, follow the advice about requesting a state hearing. The good news is this sounds fixable, and you may be eligible for restored benefits once they correct the error.

I'm dealing with something similar but mine seems to happen around the same time each month rather than every 6 weeks. After reading through all these responses, I'm wondering if there's a widespread issue with how the system handles income calculations when people have non-standard pay schedules. @StormChaser - definitely try that Claimyr service that @Zainab Ibrahim mentioned. I've been meaning to try it myself since I can never get through either. Also, make sure to ask your caseworker to pull up your "income conversion method" in their system - that seems to be a key thing based on what @Miguel Castro said about weekly vs biweekly pay issues. One more thing - if you do get back benefits, they should include interest if the error was on their end. Don't let them shortchange you on that either!