How to use IHSS Planner
Seven steps from zero to a compliant schedule and paycheck estimate.
- 1
Choose your provider type
Select Live-in, Non-live-in, or 2-provider household. This determines your daily and weekly caps — live-in providers have a 12-hour daily max and non-live-in providers have a 16-hour daily max. Getting this right is the foundation of a compliant schedule.
- 2
Enter your authorized hours
Find your monthly authorized hours on your Notice of Action (NOA) or SOC 2 form from your county. Enter the monthly total — for example, "283:30" for 283 hours and 30 minutes. If you serve two recipients, enter each recipient's hours separately.
- 3
Set your days off
Mark any days you won't be available to work. The planner automatically skips those days and redistributes hours to the remaining workdays within each pay period. You can enter dates as MM/DD (e.g., 06/15) separated by commas.
- 4
Add your pay rate (optional)
Enter your county hourly rate to unlock your estimated monthly earnings breakdown — straight-time pay, overtime pay, and travel pay shown separately. You can find your current county wage rate at cdss.ca.gov. Leave it blank to skip the earnings estimate.
- 5
Review your schedule
You'll see a day-by-day schedule that stays within all IHSS caps — daily maximums, weekly caps, and pay period limits. Weeks where you earn overtime are highlighted in gold. Any day that reaches your daily maximum is flagged so you can spot issues at a glance.
- 6
Understand your paycheck estimate
If you entered a pay rate, you'll see your estimated gross pay broken down by straight time and overtime — plus a week-by-week table. Free tier also shows how much more the OT Optimizer would earn you with front-loaded hours, so you can decide if Pro is worth it.
- 7
Use your schedule
Live-in providers: use this schedule as your planned hours on your electronic timesheet. Non-live-in providers: use it as a target and adjust to the actual hours you worked each day before submitting. Always submit your actual hours — never planned hours you didn't work.
💡 Pro Tip: The Sunday Reset
The IHSS workweek runs Sunday–Saturday. Working an extra hour Sunday evening instead of Monday morning can push you into overtime a full week earlier — adding real dollars to your paycheck. For example, if you end a week at 39 hours, one extra hour on Sunday evening gives you 1 OT hour that week andstarts the next week with a clean slate. IHSS Planner's OT Optimizer does this automatically.
Try it now — it's free
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