IHSS Plumas County: phone number, Connecting Point enrollment in Quincy and $18.50 pay

Who qualifies for IHSS in Plumas County

The Plumas County Adult Services page says IHSS "will help pay for services provided to you so that you can remain safely in your own home." In the county's wording, an applicant must be over 65 years of age, disabled or blind, and disabled children qualify too. The county treats IHSS as an alternative to nursing homes and board and care facilities.

On top of the county's description come the statewide conditions set by California's Department of Social Services (CDSS):

• you need a Medi-Cal eligibility determination;
• you must be a California resident, living in your own home or another residence you have chosen; acute-care hospitals, long-term care facilities and community care homes licensed by the state are ruled out;
• the county has to receive a completed SOC 873, the Health Care Certification, which a licensed health care professional fills in, before it authorizes any hours.

Connecting Point's home care page puts it the same way: consumers must be California residents with Medi-Cal eligibility who live in their own home rather than a hospital or care facility, and they apply through the county's Adult Services or Social Services department.

IHSS Plumas County phone number and how to apply

Start with the Plumas County Department of Social Services, (530) 283-6350. The Adult Services page gives that number for any question about IHSS, Adult Protective Services or the Public Guardian, and Connecting Point lists the same line for Plumas County Adult Services. There is also a toll-free number, (800) 242-3338.

The Social Services page says you can apply for its services in person at the Quincy office, by mail to the same address, or by fax, and that every application needs a name, address and signature. For IHSS specifically, CDSS publishes the application as the SOC 295, available in English and several translated versions. After the county receives the application and the SOC 873, a county social worker reviews the person's diagnoses, medicines, who lives in the home and which daily tasks they can no longer manage, and sets the monthly hours from that review.

When services are approved, the recipient is the employer. CDSS puts hiring, training, supervision and, where needed, dismissal in the recipient's hands. Families who have nobody in mind can ask Connecting Point for names from its registry, described below. For a first hire, our how to hire a private caregiver article lists questions worth asking and what to put in writing.

What Plumas County IHSS providers earn: $18.50 an hour

Plumas County's row in the CDSS wage workbook (the "IP Effective 10-1-2026" sheet, opened on October 16, 2026) shows individual providers earning $18.50 an hour since January 1, 2026. Connecting Point's provider and registry pages quote the same $18.50 rate. Nevada, Shasta and Sierra counties pay the same amount; 30 California counties pay more and 24 pay less.

The county that holds the recipient's case decides the rate, not the provider's home county. A Plumas County caregiver whose client lives in Lassen or Butte County is paid that county's rate. Rates are not uniform across the state; CDSS attributes the differences to separate union negotiations in every county. The state collective bargaining workbook shows Plumas County's last negotiated wage increase on February 1, 2020, an agreement that expired on December 31, 2022, and a status of "Currently Negotiating".

About 7.3% of Plumas County's labor force was unemployed, on average, between August 2025 and August 2026, according to EDD estimates, compared with California's 5.3%. Where jobs are scarcer, a fixed IHSS rate above the state minimum counts for more. Neither the county nor any of its towns has a local wage ordinance listed in the Berkeley Labor Center inventory (revised September 30, 2026), which leaves private care work at the state's $16.90 floor. Plumas sits alongside the other 57 counties in the IHSS pay by county comparison.

Connecting Point: the Plumas County IHSS Public Authority and registry

The California Association of Public Authorities lists Connecting Point as the Public Authority for Plumas County. Connecting Point describes itself as a public agency and says that since 2003, when it was called the Nevada-Sierra Regional IHSS Public Authority, it has linked people to IHSS and IHSS jobs in Nevada, Sierra and Plumas counties.

For families, the registry works like this, according to Connecting Point's IHSS page:

1. Talk to the Home Care Coordinator for Plumas and Sierra counties, (530) 205-5224, about the help you need and your preferences.
2. Receive referrals with the names and contact details of registry providers who fit.
3. Call the providers, interview them and decide whom to hire.
4. Finish the paperwork, then manage the provider yourself: set the schedule, train them, track their time and sign their timesheets.

Caregivers who want to be matched with a client they do not already know apply through the Plumas registry application on the Connecting Point site. The form asks for your weekly availability by time of day, your smoking habits and how you will travel to work. It also asks if you are willing to use your car for errands and if you would like referrals to private-pay clients too. Connecting Point says matches take account of the consumer's needs, schedule and preferences.

Connecting Point's provider resource list links the United Domestic Workers (UDW) as the provider union. Its general IHSS program line is (530) 274-5601 and its main office is at 208 Sutton Way, Grass Valley, CA 95945.

How to become an IHSS provider in Plumas County

Connecting Point publishes a Plumas-specific checklist. The provider enrollment line for Plumas and Sierra counties is (530) 205-5225, and the coordinator who books Plumas orientations is on (530) 205-5224.

1. Online enrollment. Set up your own profile on the online Provider Enrollment Application and work through the online orientation, state-mandated videos included.
2. Sign the forms online. Complete the SOC 846 Provider Enrollment Agreement and the SOC 426 Provider Enrollment Form.
3. Book the in-person appointment with Connecting Point at 270 County Hospital Road, Quincy, by calling the coordinator.
4. Attend in person. Bring a valid, unexpired state-issued ID and your Social Security card, and collect the Department of Justice background check form for Live Scan.
5. Fingerprints. Book a Live Scan appointment, pass the background check and keep the copy the operator gives you.
6. Provider number. Once everything is done, you are contacted by email and sent a letter with your provider number and the timesheet website. Where it applies, you also get a SOC 2271 listing the tasks authorized for your recipient.
7. Timesheet system, direct deposit and live-in status. Register for one of the two state timesheet systems (online or by phone), sign up for direct deposit, and complete the live-in self-certification if you live with your client.

The Attorney General's list shows two Live Scan sites in Plumas County. The Plumas County Sheriff's Department, 1400 E. Main Street, Quincy, (530) 283-6375, fingerprints by appointment Monday through Thursday from 12:00 to 2:00 pm and lists a $20.00 rolling fee. A privately run site at 48 Commercial St, Suite C, Portola, works by appointment Tuesday through Thursday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a $25.00 rolling fee. The DOJ warns that other fees may apply on top.

If you already look after a friend or relative, you enroll the same way. Relatives in that position can read IHSS pay for family caregivers, and the step-by-step IHSS provider guide sets out what applies statewide.

Health benefits for Plumas County IHSS providers

Connecting Point says it offers eligible providers working in Nevada, Plumas and Sierra counties a limited benefit indemnity plan through Pan-American Life Insurance Company. The rules it publishes are:

• IHSS payroll records must show at least 80 approved, paid hours a month, two months running;
• you must be working when benefits begin;
• you stay eligible while you keep working at least 80 hours a month.

An application is mailed once you qualify. If you think you qualify and nothing has arrived, Connecting Point gives (530) 274-5601 and (866) 577-6331 as the numbers to call. The benefits page also links a provider health plan FAQ that explains the plan in more detail.

Timesheets, direct deposit and sick leave

• ESP or TTS is required. Connecting Point's Plumas checklist says the state makes signing up for the online portal (ESP) or the phone-based Telephone Timesheet System (TTS) a condition of employment. To register for the phone system, call 1-833-342-5388.
• Direct deposit per client. Each recipient counts as a separate employer, so you enroll in direct deposit for each one. Connecting Point says this usually takes about 30 calendar days.
• Approval. Your recipient, as the employer, approves each timesheet, so tell them when you have submitted one.
• Payroll questions. Connecting Point's timesheet page lists a Plumas County payroll assistance line, (530) 283-6481. If you cannot log in or register, the state ESP Service Desk takes calls on (866) 376-7066 during weekday business hours.
• Hours cap. Across all of your IHSS clients combined, the state pays for at most 66 hours in a workweek.
• Sick leave. CDSS rules allow 40 paid sick hours per provider in fiscal 2026/27, usable from July 1, 2026. Someone new to IHSS must first log 100 hours of authorized work. File a claim on the portal or on paper with the SOC 2302; whatever is left on June 30 is lost.

Adult Protective Services and Plumas County IHSS contacts

The county's Adult Protective Services program provides direct intervention, case management and other support to elderly and dependent adults who are being, or are at risk of being, abused, neglected or financially exploited. The Plumas County pages route questions through the Social Services number. To make a report at any hour from anywhere in California, CDSS runs 1-833-401-0832: enter the 5-digit ZIP code and the call is passed to the APS office for that county.

Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15630, people who care for elders or dependent adults in California must report suspected abuse.

IHSS in Portola and across Plumas County, plus private care

Portola residents use the same Quincy Social Services office and the same Connecting Point staff as everyone else in the county. According to EDD estimates, about 10.2% of Portola's labor force was unemployed, on average, between August 2025 and August 2026, compared with 7.3% for the county and 5.3% statewide. Registry work at a fixed county rate is one of the more predictable ways into paid care there.

• Caregivers: caregiver jobs in Plumas County and home health aide jobs in Portola.
• Families: in home care in Plumas County and senior care in Portola.

Authorized IHSS hours are a ceiling. Help on top of them, such as overnight cover or extra hours after a hospital stay, is private work with its own pay and schedule. The postings on the Plumas County pages update as families publish them. A Plumas County family can advertise that work on CaregiverConnect at no charge; caregivers send applications, and the family picks, interviews and employs the person it wants. Caregivers are not charged any commission. CaregiverConnect itself does not do background checks, though a caregiver can add proof of their own check to the profile, and optional paid plans unlock extra features. If your client lives across a county line, read IHSS in Lassen County, IHSS in Butte County and IHSS in Tehama County.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Plumas County, Social Services (270 County Hospital Road office, phone, toll-free line, fax, hours, how to apply)
2. Plumas County, Adult Services (IHSS eligibility wording, APS description, (530) 283-6350)
3. CAPA, County Public Authorities (Plumas County listed as Connecting Point)
4. Connecting Point, Receive IHSS and hire a caregiver (registry process, Plumas and Sierra coordinator line)
5. Connecting Point, IHSS Step-By-Step: Plumas County (enrollment steps, Quincy appointment, TTS line, direct deposit)
6. Connecting Point, Become an IHSS Provider ($18.50 rate, enrollment line) and Registry Provider Application: Plumas
7. Connecting Point, Health Benefits (Pan-American Life limited benefit indemnity plan, 80-hour rule)
8. Connecting Point, IHSS Timesheets (Plumas County payroll assistance line) and About (history since 2003)
9. CDSS, IHSS wages by county (workbook sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026"; Plumas $18.50 from January 1, 2026) and collective bargaining status workbook
10. CDSS, In-Home Supportive Services (eligibility, SOC 295, SOC 873, needs assessment, recipient as employer)
11. CDSS, IHSS provider orientation process, program requirements (66-hour cap) and paid sick leave FY 2026/27
12. CDSS, Adult Protective Services (statewide line 1-833-401-0832)
13. CDSS, Electronic Services Portal help (Service Desk (866) 376-7066, 8 am to 5 pm weekdays)
14. California Attorney General, Live Scan locations in Plumas County
15. California EDD, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), 12-month average August 2025 to August 2026
16. California DIR, minimum wage FAQ ($16.90 from January 1, 2026); UC Berkeley Labor Center local minimum wage inventory (updated September 30, 2026)