You may obtain information about SSA’s employment support provisions at any of our SSA field offices around the country. You also can call us toll free at 1-800-772-1213, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Area Work Incentives Coordinator (AWIC)

AWICs are experienced employment-support experts who:

Coordinate and/or conduct public outreach on work incentives in their local areas;

Provide and/or coordinate and oversee training on SSA’s employment support programs for all personnel at local Social Security offices;

Handle sensitive or high profile disability work-issue cases, if necessary; and

Monitor the disability work-issue workloads in their respective areas

Information on how to contact your local AWIC is available at the following Internet sites:

Atlanta Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee)
www.ssa.gov/atlanta/southeast/awic/index.htm

Boston Region (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont)
www.ssa.gov/boston/Awic.htm

Chicago Region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin)
www.ssa.gov/chicago/awic.htm

Dallas Region (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas)
www.ssa.gov/dallas/dalawic.htm

Denver Region (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming)
www.ssa.gov/denver/work.htm

Kansas City Region (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri)
www.ssa.gov/kc/work_incentives.htm

New York Region (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands)
www.ssa.gov/ny/win-coordinators.htm

Philadelphia Region (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia)
www.ssa.gov/phila/awics.htm

San Francisco Region (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam, Saipan)
www.ssa.gov/sf/awic.htm

Seattle Region (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington)
www.ssa.gov/seattle/awic.htm

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Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) Cadre

SSA has specially trained employees that work with the PASS program. PASS is an SSI work incentive that allows a person with a disability to set aside otherwise countable income and/or resources for a specific period of time in order to achieve a work goal. Individuals who receive SSDI benefits and can qualify for SSI may also have a PASS. When a written proposal is submitted to a PASS Specialist, they will review it to:

Make sure the work goal is reasonable;

Make sure that items and services listed on the PASS application are needed to reach the work goal;

Make sure the expenses are reasonably priced; and

Work with the applicant to make needed changes.

More information about PASS is provided in our chapter, GUIDE TO EMPLOYMENT SUPPORTS. The following Internet site provides a map that you can use to locate the PASS Cadre for your area.

www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/passcadre.htm

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Benefits Planning Query (BPQY)

Analysis of an individual’s disability and work status is the first step in planning a successful return to work initiative. A BPQY provides information about a beneficiary's disability cash benefits, health insurance, scheduled medical reviews, representative payee, and work history, as stored in SSA's electronic records. It is an important planning tool for an AWIC, CWIC, PASS Specialist, benefits counselor, or other individual who may be developing customized services for a disability beneficiary who wants to start working or stay on the job.

We provide BPQYs to beneficiaries, their representative payees and their authorized representatives of record on request. Beneficiaries can request a BPQY by contacting their local SSA office or by calling SSA’s toll free number 1-800-772-1213 between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our toll-free TTY/TDD number, 1-800-325-0778, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

If someone other than the beneficiary, representative payee, or authorized representative (a benefits counselor, for example) wishes to receive a BPQY, they must submit two forms SSA-3288 (Consent for Release of Information) that have been signed by the beneficiary: one to authorize the release of Social Security records and the other to authorize the release of Internal Revenue Service earnings records. Both releases must contain the beneficiary’s Social Security Number or the Claim Number of the worker under whose work record the benefits are paid.


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