CalWORKs January benefits paid on January 2nd instead of 1st - why the delay?

This happens every year with January payments. Since January 1st is a federal holiday (New Year's Day), banks and government offices are closed, so electronic payments get processed on the next business day which is January 2nd. Your benefits weren't actually delayed - this is the normal schedule when the regular issuance date falls on a holiday. The same thing happens with other holidays throughout the year like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.

ya mine was late 2 i was freaking out bcuz rent is due on the 1st and landlord dont care bout holidays lol. wish they would tell us this stuff ahead of time, how r we supposed to kno?

The holiday payment schedule for CalWORKs is actually listed on the CDSS website, but they don't do a great job of communicating it directly to recipients. For future reference, any time your regular issuance date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, your benefits will be available on the next business day. If this creates a hardship with rent or bills, you can request a payment schedule adjustment through your caseworker. While they can't change the holiday policy, they might be able to adjust your regular issuance date to better align with your bills. Just be aware this can take 1-2 payment cycles to implement.

I had the same problem and when I finally got through to my worker today she explained it's because of the holiday. Btw if anyone needs to talk to their CalWORKs worker but keeps getting stuck on hold forever, I used Claimyr.com last month and it worked great. They call the county for you and when a real person answers, they call you and connect you. Saved me like 2 hours of hold time. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE

This happened to me too but I think only some counties were affected? My sister gets CalWORKs in LA County and she got hers on the 1st as usual, but I'm in Sacramento County and mine came on the 2nd. The whole system is so confusing and inconsistent!

I've been on Cash Aid for 4 years and this ALWAYS happens on holidays!!! The county NEVER warns us ahead of time and it causes so much stress. Last year I got a late fee from my apartment complex because of this exact same issue. I tried explaining to them about the holiday delay but they didn't care at all. The worst part is when you call the EBT customer service line on holidays, it still says "benefits have been issued" even when they haven't actually hit your card yet!!! So frustrating!!

For those asking about changing your issuance date - there's a form called CW 2212 "Request for Adjustment of Aid Payment Schedule" that you can submit to your worker. There's no guarantee they'll approve it, but it's worth trying if the current schedule consistently causes problems with your bills. Make sure to explain exactly why the current date creates a hardship.