IHSS Santa Clara County: phone numbers, the $20.44 wage and the Public Authority

Who runs IHSS in Santa Clara County

Two organizations share the work, and knowing which one to call saves time.

• County IHSS (Social Services Agency). IHSS is part of the county Social Services Agency (SSA); the Public Authority points readers to the county's Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) for program updates. This office takes applications, sends social workers on home visits, decides authorized hours, and handles timesheets, payroll and tax forms. Its main line is (408) 792-1600 and its email is IHSS.SCC@ssa.sccgov.org.
• Public Authority Services by Sourcewise. The Board of Supervisors set up the county's IHSS Public Authority by ordinance in 1996 and still serves as its governing body. Since 1999 it has been managed by Sourcewise, the county's Area Agency on Aging, under the name Public Authority Services. It enrolls independent providers, administers their health benefits, keeps a registry of prescreened providers, offers free training, runs an on-call backup program, and acts as employer of record for collective bargaining. Its general line is (408) 350-3206.

A rough rule: questions about hours, services, timesheets or a paycheck go to IHSS; questions about becoming a provider, finding one, benefits or classes go to the Public Authority.

Santa Clara County IHSS phone number and how families apply

On its program page (archived copy dated September 6, 2025) the county says you can get IHSS if you are blind, live with a disability or are 65 or older, live at home in Santa Clara County, and have Medi-Cal. Services are free to fully eligible residents. No Medi-Cal yet? An older county page (archived May 24, 2024) gives 1-877-962-3633 or BenefitsCal.com.

1. Have your details ready. Contact information, date of birth, Social Security number and Medi-Cal number, and possibly the same for a spouse, guardian or contact person.
2. Apply. Call (408) 792-1600, email IHSS.SCC@ssa.sccgov.org, or send the application by fax, mail or in person. The county's application page (archived August 12, 2025) gives the mailing address as IHSS, P.O. Box 11018, San Jose, CA 95103-1018, and the office at 353 W. Julian St., San Jose, CA 95110.
3. Get the health care certification signed. Your doctor fills in and signs the SOC 873 Health Care Certification. Under CDSS rules nothing is authorized until that form reaches the county, and a clinic may not bill you for completing IHSS eligibility paperwork.
4. The home visit. A social worker visits to judge which services you need and for how many hours, looking at your medical condition, living arrangement and any help you already have.
5. The Notice of Action. This letter lists the approved services, the time allowed for each and your total monthly hours.

Covered tasks include light housework, meals, laundry, food shopping, bathing, dressing, help walking, and bowel and bladder care; bills, furniture moving, pet care, outings and care during a hospital stay are excluded. Once approved, you are the employer: you hire, train, supervise and if necessary fire your provider, and you approve their timesheets twice a month.

IHSS pay in Santa Clara County: $20.44 an hour

Since January 1, 2026, every IHSS provider working for a consumer who lives in Santa Clara County has earned $20.44 an hour. The Public Authority ties the 40-cent raise to the higher state minimum wage, and the figure matches the SANTA CLARA row of the CDSS wage workbook (sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026"), downloaded October 15, 2026. The rate is the same in San Jose, Sunnyvale or Palo Alto because it follows the consumer's county, not the town.

Sorting the 58 counties in that sheet, Santa Clara comes ninth. It sits $3.54 above the $16.90 California minimum wage (our arithmetic, illustrative).

Overtime and caps. The county's provider page (archived October 12, 2025) says overtime applies after 40 hours in a workweek of Sunday through Saturday (the county's clock runs from 12 a.m. Sunday to just before midnight Saturday), at 1.5 times the hourly rate, which works out to about $30.66 here (illustrative). Caring for two or more recipients, your combined week tops out at 66 hours, with at most seven paid hours of travel between their homes; breaking either limit can cost you your provider status. Gas is never reimbursed.

Sick leave. CDSS set the 2026/2027 allowance at 40 hours, starting July 1, 2026. The hours are credited once you have worked 100 hours, can be used after 200 more, and expire at the end of each June; request them with the SOC 2302 form or through the portal. For other counties, compare our IHSS pay by county table.

Becoming an IHSS provider in Santa Clara County: the five steps

Every new provider in the county, relative or not, goes through Public Authority Services. Its enrollment page sets out five steps:

1. Enrollment Center website. Create an account, complete and e-sign the provider forms (the SOC 426 and SOC 846), watch the required state training videos, and book an in-person Public Authority appointment. Appointments may be four to six weeks out, so book a date after your orientation.
2. Group orientation. Sessions are held at the SEIU 2015 office, 97 E. Brokaw Rd., 2nd Floor, Suite 230, San Jose, CA 95112. No appointment is needed, but anyone arriving 10 minutes late is sent to the next session. Allow up to two hours. On October 15, 2026 the schedule listed Tuesday, October 20, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Talks are mostly in English; one interpreter may come with you. Keep the Purple Form handed out there.
3. In-person appointment. Staff photograph you and go over your online forms. Bring the physical Social Security card itself (copies and ITINs are refused), a current U.S. government photo ID and the Purple Form.
4. Fingerprints. You get a Live Scan form specific to the IHSS Department of Justice check. With it, fingerprinting in the county costs between $12 and $30. Earlier results from another job are not accepted.
5. Eligibility notice. Your IHSS provider number arrives by mail, generally two to four weeks after the steps are done.

After that the recipient links you to their case through the Electronic Services Portal (ESP) or a SOC 426A form, and you register on the ESP yourself. If four weeks pass with no timesheets, call the Enrollment Department on (408) 350-3252. One enrollment covers any number of consumers, but a year with no IHSS pay means starting over. The statewide picture is in our IHSS provider guide, and relatives should read being paid as a family caregiver in California.

IHSS Public Authority Santa Clara County: the registry and on-call help

For families looking for a provider. Once you have a Notice of Action, call the Registry on (408) 350-3251. Leave your name, number and case number; someone calls back within a business day. After an intake about your services, schedule and preferences, a Registry Specialist sends a list matched by area, tasks and other filters, and you interview the providers yourself. Everyone on it has passed a background check, reference checks, a staff interview and a registry orientation. Hiring two or more is allowed, and encouraged for cover, within your monthly authorized hours.

Backup care. The On-Call Registry may send a prescreened provider for a short time when your usual provider unexpectedly cannot work and no one else can step in. It covers bathing, hygiene and other health and safety tasks, not cleaning, laundry or general transport. Call (408) 590-0834, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

For caregivers who want more clients. Enrolled providers with caregiving experience submit a Registry Interest Form with two references, one of them caregiving related (paper copies on (408) 557-4717). Those selected are interviewed, attend an invitation-only introduction training, and must update their availability monthly. A place on the list is not a promise of work.

Valley Health Plan, dental and other provider benefits

Public Authority Services administers optional benefits. You qualify once IHSS has paid you for at least 35 hours a month in each of the last two months, and you keep them only while that continues. Ask for an application on (408) 350-3290 or online, with your nine-digit provider number to hand; expect roughly four months from first qualifying to coverage.

• Medical: Valley Health Plan, with the premium usually taken from your paycheck. The plan has a membership cap and a waitlist.
• Dental and vision: Liberty Dental Plan and VSP, bundled, with no monthly premium, only co-pays.
• Transit: a free VTA SmartPass for non-express buses and light rail across the county, used with your IHSS provider ID badge. Ask for both on (408) 350-3290.

Dependents are not covered. If your paid hours drop below 35, a warning letter arrives and cover lasts at least another month before COBRA paperwork follows.

Union. The union for county IHSS providers is SEIU Local 2015; the Public Authority sends union and dues questions to (855) 810-2015, and the group orientations take place in the union's San Jose office.

Free training. Spring and fall catalogs of free three-hour classes cover CPR, First Aid, dementia, safe transfers, diabetes and more, with a $35 incentive per completed class while that year's budget lasts. Its Life Enhancement Fund repays up to $500 a fiscal year for approved outside courses. Training line: (408) 350-3220.

Timesheets, payroll and EVV

Each month has two pay periods, the 1st through the 15th and the 16th through month end. You submit time through the ESP or the Telephonic Timesheet System (register on (833) 342-5388), and both you and the recipient must approve it before pay is processed. Providers who do not live with the recipient must also check in and out of each shift under electronic visit verification. Direct deposit is set up in the ESP.

For ESP or direct deposit problems, call the state Service Desk on (866) 376-7066; the county's archived provider page also lists (844) 576-5445 for timesheet help. For a missing or wrong paycheck, contact county IHSS on (408) 792-1600 or IHSS.SCC@ssa.sccgov.org. Because benefits depend on paid hours, call IHSS if a check is over two weeks late.

IHSS San Jose and countywide contact list

The IHSS Advisory Board meets in public, usually the third Tuesday from noon to 1:30 p.m. at 333 West Julian Street or on Zoom; the next 2026 dates are October 20, November 17 and December 15 ((408) 350-3286).

IHSS in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and other cities

The county pages we found give a single IHSS address, on West Julian Street in San Jose, so every city uses the same lines. Local listings:

• San Jose: caregiver jobs in San Jose and San Jose caregivers.
• Sunnyvale: Sunnyvale caregiver jobs and caregivers in Sunnyvale.
• Santa Clara (city): jobs in Santa Clara and Santa Clara caregivers.
• Mountain View: Mountain View jobs and caregivers in Mountain View.
• Milpitas: Milpitas caregiver jobs and Milpitas caregivers.
• Palo Alto: Palo Alto jobs and caregivers in Palo Alto.

Countywide: Santa Clara County caregiver jobs and caregivers across the county. If the person needing care lives across a county line, apply in that county instead; see IHSS in San Mateo County and IHSS in Alameda County.

When IHSS hours run out: hiring privately

IHSS pays only for the tasks and hours on the Notice of Action, and the Public Authority is clear that providers may not be paid for anything outside them or for help to others in the household. Overnight help, company and a break for a relative who is the IHSS provider are all outside it. For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the number of home health and personal care aide positions in the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metro area at 49,610 in May 2025, with a median wage of $18.09 an hour.

On CaregiverConnect, posting a job costs nothing. Caregivers apply to it, and the family picks one, employs that person itself as a household employer and agrees a rate at or above the applicable minimum wage. There is no commission. We do not background-check anyone, although caregivers are free to upload evidence of one they obtained themselves. Optional premium plans exist. IHSS providers in the county with spare hours can make a free caregiver profile, and families can post a job. Private rates are covered in our California in-home care cost guide.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Public Authority Services by Sourcewise, home page ($20.44 from January 1, 2026, 40-cent increase, consumer and provider counts, main phone)
2. Public Authority Services, About (1996 ordinance, Sourcewise since 1999, services, employer of record, DAAS link)
3. Public Authority Services, Enrollment Process (five steps, SEIU 2015 orientation address and schedule, ID rules, Live Scan $12-$30, timing, age 12, re-enrollment, payroll contacts)
4. Public Authority Services, Independent Provider Enrollment (county IHSS phone and email)
5. Public Authority Services, Provider Benefits (35-hour rule, Valley Health Plan, Liberty Dental, VSP, VTA SmartPass, Mirastar, CalSavers, timing, COBRA)
6. Public Authority Services, Consumers Requesting Lists (registry steps, On-Call Registry, EVV, tasks IHSS will not pay for, gas)
7. Public Authority Services, Independent Provider Recruitment (registry application, references, monthly availability, new background check)
8. Public Authority Services, Provider Training (free classes, $35 incentive, nine classes a semester, Life Enhancement Fund $500)
9. Public Authority Services, Contact Us (department phones, Valley Health Plan, SEIU 2015, APS, Ombuds)
10. Public Authority Services, IHSS Advisory Board (meeting schedule, 333 West Julian Street, 2026 dates)
11. County of Santa Clara SSA, In-Home Supportive Services (archived copy dated September 6, 2025: office address, eligibility, tasks)
12. County of Santa Clara SSA, Apply for IHSS (archived copy dated August 12, 2025: application steps, P.O. box, fax, employer duties)
13. County of Santa Clara SSA, Apply to be an IHSS Provider (archived copy dated October 12, 2025: SOC 426A, overtime, 66-hour and travel caps, pay periods, timesheet help lines)
14. County of Santa Clara SSA, I Need IHSS (archived copy dated May 24, 2024: Medi-Cal application line)
15. CDSS, IHSS wages by county (workbook sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026": Santa Clara $20.44 from January 1, 2026, and neighboring counties)
16. CDSS, In-Home Supportive Services (SOC 873 before authorization, form fee ban, fraud hotline)
17. CDSS, IHSS Provider Paid Sick Leave (40 hours for FY 2026/2027, accrual, SOC 2302)
18. CDSS, IHSS Program Requirements: overtime, travel time and wait time (66-hour maximum)
19. California DIR, minimum wage FAQ ($16.90 from January 1, 2026)
20. BLS OEWS May 2025, home health and personal care aides, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro