The Statewide Automated Welfare System, commonly referred to as SAWS, is California’s county-managed public assistance eligibility and enrollment system. It ensures more than 11 million people receive the assistance they need every day across the state.

SAWS is the case management system for county eligibility staff providing CalWORKs, Welfare to Work, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, Foster Care, Refugee Assistance, County Medical Services Program, and General Assistance/General Relief to children, families and individuals in all 58 counties. SAWS supports eligibility determination, benefit calculation, benefit issuance, case management, and reporting.

The SAWS strategy was thoughtfully conceived by the Wilson Administration, Legislature and counties after numerous state automation attempts failed. The county consortia approach we have today was built on a successful existing model – the Case Data System developed by a group of counties. SAWS is the only successful statewide automation of Medi-Cal, CalWORKs and CalFresh in the state’s history.

Counties are organized into three SAWS consortia:

• LEADER (Los Angeles Eligibility, Automated Determination, Evaluation and Reporting)/LEADER Replacement System (LRS) – Los Angeles County
• Consortium IV (C-IV) – 39 counties
• CalWORKs Information Network (CalWIN) – 18 counties

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