CalWORKs benefit deposit schedule - C-IV users vs CalSAWS counties this month?

The system your county uses DOES affect when benefits hit your card. California is transitioning all counties to CalSAWS but they're doing it in phases. Cal WIN counties (like Riverside, Orange, Santa Clara) usually get their Cash Aid 1-2 days before CalSAWS counties. If you're in Sacramento, you're on CalSAWS now, so you'll probably see it tomorrow. It's not a delay - just different processing schedules.

omg thank you!! no one ever explained this to me before. do you know if this is gonna be permanent? or once everyone is on the same system will we all get paid same day?

This happens every month, it's not just March. I'm in LA County (CalSAWS) and I always get mine a day after my sister-in-law in Alameda (Cal WIN). But sometimes it depends on your bank too. If you have chime or one of those online banks you might get it early but regular banks hold it longer. Just how the system works sadly.

Its so frustrating how they never tell u this stuff!! My worker just says 'first of the month' but doesnt explain the diferences. I've gotten disconnected like 6 times trying to ask bout this.

I HATE how they handle this!!! Im in san bernadino and this month my payment was A DAY LATE and i got hit with a late fee on my rent!!! NOBODY AT THE COUNTY WOULD ANSWER TO EXPLAIN WHY!!! And when i called the automated line it just said 'pending' for 2 days!!!

That sounds awful. If you need to reach someone at your county office quickly about payment issues, I've had good luck with a service called Claimyr. It keeps redialing for you until you get through. Saves hours of frustration. You can check them out at claimyr.com - they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE - totally worth it when you need answers about delayed payments.

does it really work? i tried calling 11 TIMES yesterday and kept getting the stupid recording saying 'all agents are busy' and then it hung up on me!!!!

It's not just about Cal WIN vs CalSAWS - there's also a difference between when they ISSUE the benefits and when your bank POSTS them. The county might send the money on the 1st, but some banks hold electronic deposits for 1-2 business days before they show in your account. I switched to direct deposit instead of the EBT card and it's more consistent.

Wait we can do direct deposit for CalWORKs?? How do you set that up? My worker never told me that was an option!

Yes, all counties will eventually be on CalSAWS by the end of 2025 (if they stick to the timeline lol). Once that happens, the deposit schedules should be more standardized, but there will probably still be some variation based on the day of the month and holidays. The official policy is that benefits should be available by the 1st of each month, but system processing and bank holds can push it to the 2nd or 3rd.

actually i work for the county and we're supposed to issue benefits with enough lead time for them to be available on the 1st, but sometimes system issues cause delays. if your benefits aren't available by the 3rd business day of the month you should definitely call because there might be an actual problem with your case that needs fixing.

my neighbor gets calfresh and calworks and she said calfresh always comes a few days before calworks. is that normal? i get mine all at once usually.

CalFresh and CalWORKs technically have different issuance schedules. CalFresh is based on the last digit of your case number and is spread throughout the first 10 days of the month. CalWORKs is supposed to be available on the 1st. So it's possible to get them on different days, but they should both be predictable each month.

UPDATE: My money just hit my card this morning! Thanks everyone for explaining this to me. Wish the county would just tell us this stuff upfront instead of making us figure it out ourselves!

Glad you got your money! For future reference, you can also check your benefit status on the BenefitsCal website or app - sometimes it shows as