How to Fill Out California IHSS Form SOC 2279: Submission and Renewal

Form SOC 2279 is the California Department of Social Services application that lets a live-in family IHSS provider work above the standard 66-hour weekly cap, up to 90 hours per workweek and 360 hours per month. It applies only to providers who met every condition of the live-in family exemption (Exemption 1) on or before January 31, 2016, so the form verifies a grandfathered status rather than opening a new one. Completed forms go to CDSS in Sacramento, not to your county IHSS office.

Who Can Use SOC 2279

The exemption sits under California Welfare and Institutions Code § 12300.4, which otherwise caps IHSS providers at 66 combined hours per workweek across all recipients.¹ To qualify for Exemption 1, you must meet all four of these conditions:²

You provide IHSS services to two or more recipients.
You live in the same home as every recipient you serve.
You are the parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, grandparent, or legal guardian of every recipient.
You met all three conditions above on or before January 31, 2016.

The January 31, 2016 cutoff is the requirement that disqualifies most people who otherwise look eligible. If you started serving a second family member after that date, or moved in with your recipients after that date, you do not qualify, no matter how well the rest of your situation fits.¹

Make Sure SOC 2279 Is the Right Form

CDSS runs two overtime exemptions, and they use different forms and different mailing destinations. SOC 2279 is only for Exemption 1, the live-in family provider exemption. If your situation instead involves recipients with complex medical or behavioral needs, a rural or remote location with limited providers, or a recipient whose language cannot be matched among available providers, you likely belong in Exemption 2, which uses Form SOC 2305 and goes to your county IHSS office.² Both exemptions lift the cap to the same 90 hours per week and 360 per month, but sending the wrong form to the wrong office is the most common way applications stall.

Filling Out the Form

Download the form as a PDF from the CDSS website, or pick up a copy at your county social services office.³ It is a short document, but every field needs to line up with what CDSS already has in its records.

Provider Information

At the top, write your full legal name and your IHSS provider number. The provider number was assigned when you enrolled with the county and appears on your timesheets and county correspondence. Then enter your residential address. This address must be the home you share with all the recipients listed below, because it is the core evidence that you meet the live-in requirement.

Recipient Chart

For each recipient you serve, complete every column of the chart:

The recipient’s full legal name as it appears in IHSS records.
The recipient’s IHSS case number, which is on their Notice of Action and county correspondence.
Your specific relationship to that recipient: parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, grandparent, or legal guardian.³
A Yes or No answer to whether the recipient lives with you. Every answer has to be Yes for the exemption to apply.

Check every case number before you sign. A single transposed digit prevents CDSS from matching you to the recipient’s file and delays the whole application.

Declaration and Signature

The declaration at the bottom states that you meet all the exemption requirements, that the information on the form is true, and that verification will happen at each recipient’s reassessment. It also puts you on notice that if you stop meeting any of the three ongoing conditions (multiple recipients, shared residence, family relationship), you must tell the county right away and will go back to the 66-hour weekly cap.³ Sign, date, and print your name.

Photocopy the completed form before you send it.

Where to Send It

Mail SOC 2279 to CDSS at:²

Department of Social Services
744 P Street MS 9-11-96
Sacramento, CA 95814

Do not send this form to your county IHSS office. That is where SOC 2305 goes; SOC 2279 has to reach the state office in Sacramento. Certified mail gives you a delivery receipt if you want confirmation the form arrived.

What Approval Changes

CDSS staff match your application against your provider file and each recipient’s case file, confirming that you met all three ongoing conditions on or before January 31, 2016. Once approved, your weekly cap rises from 66 to 90 hours, and you can work up to 360 hours per month across all your recipients.³ Hours over 40 in a workweek are still paid at one and a half times your hourly wage under § 12300.4.¹

The 360-hour monthly ceiling is absolute. If your recipients’ combined authorized hours add up to more than 360, they will need to hire another provider for the excess.²

Keeping the Exemption Active

Approval is not permanent. CDSS re-verifies your eligibility at each recipient’s reassessment. If any of the three ongoing conditions changes (a recipient moves out, you stop living in the shared home, or the family relationship no longer covers everyone), the exemption ends and you go back to the 66-hour cap.³ The declaration on the form obligates you to notify the county at that point, not to wait for the next scheduled review.

A workweek under § 12300.4 runs from 12:00 a.m. Sunday through 11:59 p.m. the following Saturday, so plan your hours against that seven-day window rather than a calendar week.¹ If a timesheet is rejected for exceeding 66 hours after your exemption has been approved, contact your county IHSS office to confirm the exemption is showing in the system.

1
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 12300.4
2
California Department of Social Services. IHSS Overtime Exemption 2
3
California Department of Social Services. SOC 2279 – In-Home Supportive Services Program Live-In Family Care Provider Overtime Exemption