Each of our local Social Security offices has a Work Incentive Liaison (WIL) who provides advice and information about our work incentive provisions and employment support programs to individuals with disabilities and outside organizations that serve those with disabilities.

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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 areas.

Information on how to contact your local AWIC is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/work/awiccontacts.html.

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Benefits Planning Query (BPQY)

A BPQY provides information about a beneficiary’s disability cash benefits, health insurance, scheduled continuing disability reviews, representative payee, and work history, as stored in SSA’s electronic records. The BPQY is an important planning tool for a beneficiary, an AWIC, PASS Specialist, benefits counselor, or other person 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 upon 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. and 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 SSA-3288 forms (Consent for Release of Information) that have been signed by the beneficiary. One is 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. Copies of the SSA-3288 are available at www.socialsecurity.gov/work/formsandpubs.html.

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Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) Projects

WIPA projects are community-based organizations that receive grants from SSA to provide all Social Security and SSI disability beneficiaries (including transition-to-work aged youth) with free access to work incentives planning and assistance. Each WIPA project has counselors called Community Work Incentives Coordinators (CWIC) who:

Provide work incentives planning and assistance to our beneficiaries with disabilities to assist them in achieving financial independence;

Conduct outreach efforts to those beneficiaries (and their families) who are potentially eligible to participate in Federal or state employment support programs; and

Work in cooperation with Federal, state, private agencies and nonprofit organizations that serve beneficiaries with disabilities.

If you are one of the many SSDI or SSI disability beneficiaries who want to work, a WIPA project can help you understand the employment supports that are available to you and enable you to make informed choices about work and achieving financial independence.

WIPA services are available in every state, the District of Columbia, and the US Territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. If you want to locate the WIPA organization nearest you, please call 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY/TDD) for the hearing-impaired. You can also find contact information in our service provider directory on our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/work.

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Work Incentives Seminar (WISE)

Work Incentive Seminar Events (WISE) feature information to help Social Security disability beneficiaries make the decision to re-enter the workforce or to work for the first time. Various employment service providers, including Vocational Rehabilitation, Protection and Advocacy Services, and Employment Networks discuss the services and supports they offer, while former beneficiaries who have used the Ticket to Work program to become employed offer first-hand address accounts of their success. All WISE take place via free internet-based webinars. Some of the webinars are designed to address a broad range of disabilities, while others target people in specific disability categories or age ranges. The webinar-based format allows beneficiaries to learn about vital employment resources without having to travel to another location, and to access the information 24 hours a day, at their convenience.

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State Vocational Rehabilitation Providers

State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies furnish a wide variety of services to help people with disabilities return to work. These services may provide you with the training or other support that you need to return to work, to enter a new line of work, or to enter the workforce for the first time. You can also find a list of state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies in our service provider directory on our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/work.

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Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS)

In every state and U.S. Territory, there is an agency that protects the rights of persons with disabilities. This Protection and Advocacy System also administers the SSA-funded Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) program. Each PABSS agency can:

Investigate any complaint you have against an employment network or other service provider that is helping you return to work;
Give you information and advice about vocational rehabilitation and employment services;
Tell you about SSA’s work incentives that will help you return to work;
Provide consultation and legal representation to protect your rights in the effort to secure or regain employment; and

Help you with problems concerning your individual work plan under the Ticket to Work program.

These services are free to persons receiving SSDI or SSI benefits based on disability or blindness. If you want to locate the PABSS agency nearest you, please call 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY/TDD) for the deaf and hearing impaired. You can also find contact information in our service provider directory at: www.socialsecurity.gov/work.

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Individual Development Accounts (IDA)

If you are working and have limited income, you may be eligible for an Individual Development Account (IDA) through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program or an Assets for Independence Act (AFIA) grant. An IDA is a trust-like bank account that helps you save your earnings to go to school, buy a home, or start a business. When you make a deposit to the account, a participating non-profit organization matches your deposit. The typical match is one dollar for each dollar that you deposit. The Federal government adds an additional match, limited to $2,000 for an individual or $4,000 for a household over the life of the program (usually five years).

If you have an IDA through TANF or an AFIA grant, we do not count any earnings you deposit into your account, any matching deposits, or any interest earned as SSI income or resources. As a result, your SSI benefits may increase. Note: IDAs that are not federally funded are not exempt from SSI and will be counted under the income and resource rules of SSI.

We do not determine whether you are eligible to have an IDA. For more information about IDAs and to locate a program in your area, visit: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/afi/index.html.


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