In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS): Eligibility, Family Pay

In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) is California's Medi-Cal program that pays for help at home, such as bathing, dressing, meals, housework and trips to the doctor, for people who are 65 or older, blind or disabled. A family member can be the paid caregiver, spouses and parents of disabled children included, at the county wage of $16.90 to $25.00 an hour. Your relative applies at the county IHSS office, a social worker visits the home and sets the monthly hours, and you finish provider enrollment within 90 days of starting it.

Call the county IHSS office today, ask for the IHSS application (SOC 295), and say who will be the provider. Authorized care you give while paperwork moves can be paid retroactively once you and your relative are both found eligible.

What IHSS pays for

The county sets hours for each task:

• Housework, meal preparation and cleanup, laundry, shopping and errands.
• Personal care: bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, feeding, and moving around the home.
• Going with your relative to and from medical appointments.
• Paramedical services, such as giving medication and tasks that puncture the skin.
• Protective supervision: watching a confused or mentally impaired person to prevent injury.

Who qualifies

The person getting care must:

• Live in California, in their own home or a home of their choosing. Hospitals, nursing homes and licensed care facilities are excluded.
• Be 65 or older, blind, or disabled.
• Have a Medi-Cal eligibility determination. The Medi-Cal income limits guide shows the cutoffs.
• Turn in a Health Care Certification (SOC 873) signed by a licensed health care professional.

A child with a disability applies through the same office. SSI makes a child automatically eligible, and a child whose family income is too high for SSI can qualify with a share of cost; the child SSI guide covers that application.

How the county sets the hours

A county social worker interviews your relative at home, ranks how much help they need with each task, and sets hours using the state's Hourly Task Guidelines. Be in the room: family input goes into the assessment. The Notice of Action lists each approved service and its hours.

The cap is 283 hours a month for a severely impaired recipient (20 or more hours a week of assessed need for personal care, meals or paramedical care) and 195 for everyone else. The county reassesses yearly, or sooner on request when needs change.

Getting paid as a family caregiver

The provider is anyone your relative hires and the county enrolls: an adult child, other relative, friend or neighbor. Your relative is the employer and hires, trains, supervises and can fire you. The provider has no income test.

Spouses

A spouse is paid for personal care and paramedical services. While an able spouse is home, the county presumes the spouse handles housework, meals, laundry, shopping, heavy cleaning and yard hazard removal, and pays no hours for them. A spouse who left a full-time job, or is kept from taking one because no other suitable provider is available, is also paid for transportation and protective supervision.

Parents of a minor child

Since February 2024, under Assembly Bill 120, a parent can be the paid provider for a minor child without first leaving full-time work or showing that no other suitable provider exists. Tell the county at intake that you want to be the provider: federal rules bar a parent provider in the Personal Care Services Program (PCSP), so the county places your child in one of the other three funding programs, with the same eligibility.

For a minor, IHSS pays every task except housework, heavy cleaning, yard hazard removal and teaching, which count as a parent's ordinary duty. Protective supervision covers disability-related needs, not routine child care.

How much IHSS pays in your county

IHSS runs in all 58 counties, and each county's wage comes out of bargaining with the provider union. October 2026 CDSS rates:

Every other county is in the CDSS county wage table. At 120 hours a month, the Los Angeles rate pays $2,356.80 before taxes. If your relative has a Medi-Cal share of cost, any unmet part comes out of your paycheck and your relative pays you that amount directly.

Hours over 40 in a Sunday-to-Saturday workweek pay 1.5 times your rate. With one recipient you can work up to their maximum weekly hours, 70.75 at the 283-hour cap; with two or more, the combined limit is 66 hours a week unless you hold an approved exemption.

Pay periods run the 1st through the 15th and the 16th through month's end. You log hours in the Electronic Services Portal, the EVV mobile app or the Telephone Timesheet System (833-342-5388), and your relative approves each timesheet before the State pays. If you live with your relative, file the Live-In Self-Certification (SOC 2298) in the portal to stop federal and state income tax withholding.

How to apply: what to do today

1. Call the county IHSS office. Ask for or download the SOC 295 application. Note the date and say who will be the provider. If your relative has no Medi-Cal yet, apply the same day.
2. Take the SOC 873 to the doctor the day it arrives. It must reach the county or be postmarked within 45 calendar days of the request.
3. Prepare for the home visit. List every task your relative needs help with, how long each takes and how often, nights included.
4. Start provider enrollment. Sign up for orientation through the county IHSS office or Public Authority. Return the Provider Enrollment Form (SOC 426) in person with a U.S. government-issued photo ID and your original Social Security card. Get Live Scan fingerprints once the county sends instructions, sign the Provider Enrollment Agreement (SOC 846) after orientation, and complete Form I-9. Finish within 90 days, or you start over.
5. Register in the portal. When the Program Notice of Provider Eligibility arrives, open your portal account and submit timesheets back to the date you were assigned.

Where it splits

• If your relative is leaving a hospital or nursing home, or is at imminent risk of placement in one, ask the county to authorize services before the SOC 873 comes back.
• If you have a conviction from the past 10 years, get fingerprinted first, since the background check takes longest. A Tier 1 crime (child, elder or dependent adult abuse, or fraud against a government health or supportive services program) bars enrollment. For a Tier 2 crime, your relative can file a waiver (SOC 862), or you can apply for a general exception (SOC 863).
• If the parent is not authorized to work in the U.S., the child hires another enrolled provider, such as a relative or a Public Authority registry worker.
• If your relative is in Medi-Cal's Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) Waiver, call the Waiver Agency or DHCS at (916) 552-9214 about Waiver Personal Care Services (WPCS): extra hours on top of IHSS at the county rate, with a doctor's order. A spouse or parent of a minor is paid for WPCS only for care rated extraordinary. The Medicaid home care guide explains waivers.

Your leverage when something goes wrong

• State hearing: appeal a denial, cut or termination within 90 days of the notice. Ask before the change takes effect and current services continue until the hearing. Request it online or at (800) 743-8525.
• Provider denial over a conviction: file the Ask for an Appeal form (SOC 856) with CDSS within 60 days of the county's notice; CDSS decides within 180 days.
• Doctor's form fee: Health and Safety Code section 123114 bars doctors and clinics from charging for IHSS forms; report a fee to CDSS at (916) 651-5350.
• Timesheet or portal problems: call the IHSS Service Desk at (866) 376-7066.

For free legal help when the county cuts protective supervision or most of the hours, call your local legal aid or welfare rights office.

Other ways family caregivers get paid

• Time off from your own job: California Paid Family Leave pays part of your wages for up to 8 weeks in a 12-month period while you care for a seriously ill family member.
• Caring for a veteran: if the veteran has a VA disability rating of 70% or higher and needs at least 6 months of continuous in-person personal care, the primary family caregiver can get a monthly stipend through the VA family caregiver program (PCAFC).

What to say when you call

"I'm calling to apply for In-Home Supportive Services for [name], born [date], at [address] in [county]. [Name] [has Medi-Cal, number ___ / is applying for Medi-Cal] and needs help with [bathing, dressing, meals, medications]. I'm [his/her] [son/daughter/spouse/parent] and will be the provider. Please record today as the request date, send the SOC 295 and SOC 873, and tell me how to sign up for provider orientation and fingerprinting."

Today

1. Call the county IHSS office with the script and note the date.
2. Book provider orientation and drop off the SOC 426.
3. Start a daily log of the care you give, with times.

Next comes the SOC 873 request with its due date and a call to set up the home visit. The county has 30 days from a completed application to mail the Notice of Action (longer if a disability decision is pending) and 15 days after approval to arrange services. Once enrollment clears, the Program Notice of Provider Eligibility arrives and your first timesheet goes in.