SNAP payment error rate points to critical investments needed to fight hunger in Arkansas
On June 24, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) released the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2025 Payment Error Rates.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) includes significant changes coming to SNAP that require the federal government to shift two distinct SNAP costs to the states. All states must now pay a larger share of the administrative costs to operate SNAP and — for the first time ever — a portion of the SNAP benefits a client receives if a state’s payment error rate is 6% or above.
Why SNAP Matters
SNAP helps low-income families put food on the table and serves as an economic booster. In FY24, $550 million federal dollars entered Arkansas via SNAP benefits, which families then spent at their local retailers. Arkansas is currently the hungriest state in the nation, these two changes to SNAP could intensify our hunger crisis if the state government does not make critical investments soon.
Cost Shifts in Two Parts
Effective this October, the administrative cost shift will result in the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) losing $18 million of federal funding for SNAP administration (e.g., staffing, training, technology). As a former DHS Deputy Director who had oversight of SNAP, it is hard to understand how DHS will continue operating at full capacity and work toward obtaining a SNAP error rate below 6% with an $18 million dollar hole in its budget (which will increase to $25 million annually thereafter).
Arkansas must absorb the SNAP administrative costs to make up for what Congress is shifting to our state. If we don’t, we may owe a far greater amount later because short-changing SNAP administration funding could lead to higher error rates.
The good news from this week’s SNAP payment error rate release: Arkansas decreased its payment error rate from 9.56% in FFY24 to 8.81% in FFY25.
The bad news: even with that reduction, Arkansas could still be required to pay 10% of SNAP benefits costs, or roughly $55 million, starting next year.
That is a large price tag, particularly for a state that has cut state income taxes four times since 2023 and reduced the amount of state general revenue available to cover unexpected state costs. But if Arkansas does not absorb SNAP benefit costs, then the state may be forced to reduce food assistance for families currently receiving SNAP, further restrict SNAP eligibility criteria, or — worst case scenario — end SNAP altogether.
What’s in a Payment Error Rate
It is important to understand what the SNAP payment error rate does — and does not — measure. It measures administrative errors, specifically any over- and under-payments a state makes when issuing SNAP benefits. A miscalculation of benefits can happen because of a mistake by a caseworker or incomplete information from a family. Generally, the family is eligible for SNAP but receives an incorrect benefit amount. The payment error rate is not a measure of fraud.
States will have the option to use the forthcoming FFY26 payment error rate (to be released June 2027) if that rate is lower than the FFY25 error rate. As such, Arkansas DHS has rightly intensified its efforts over the last several months to further reduce its SNAP payment error rate. But the sample of cases pulled for the FFY26 calculation will include those impacted by the chaotic 2025 federal government shutdown and the implementation of expanded H.R. 1 SNAP work requirements.
Delayed and sometimes inaccurate guidance from USDA marred the implementation of those work requirements. These factors will increase the likelihood for payment errors and, in turn, run the risk of Arkansas remaining on the hook for a higher percentage of SNAP benefits beginning in October 2027.
The state funding to absorb the SNAP administrative and benefit shifts are essential investments. They will ensure that low-income families can continue to put food on the table, and that SNAP retailers can keep their doors open. We need legislators to appropriate funds to absorb the H.R. 1 SNAP cost shifts because SNAP is the most powerful anti-hunger program we have. We cannot afford to lose it.
Editor’s note: Keesa Smith-Brantley is the executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served as deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services during the Gov. Asa Hutchinson administration. The opinions expressed are those of the author.