An employee in each of our local Social Security offices serves as a WIL to provide advice and information about our work incentive provisions and employee support programs to individuals with disabilities and outside organizations that serve those with disabilities.

AWICs are experienced employment support experts who provide all of the following services:

• Coordinate and/or conduct public outreach on work incentives in their local areas;
• Provide and/or coordinate and oversee training on Social Security’s employment support programs for all personnel at local Social Security offices;
• Handle sensitive or high profile disability work-issue cases, if necessary;
• Monitor the disability work-issue workloads in their areas.

Information on how to contact your local AWIC is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/regions/. Choose your region’s website for local AWIC information.

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 Social Security’s electronic records. The BPQY is an important planning tool for a beneficiary, an AWIC, Plan to Achieve Self-Support 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. For instructions on reading and interpreting a BPQY statement as well as details on the components of a BPQY statement, see our BPQY Handbook located at https://www.ssa.gov/redbook/eng/resources-supports.htm.

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 Social Security office or by calling Social Security’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 appointed 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 https://www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-3288.pdf.

We provide BPQYs free of charge if needed by the beneficiary or Ticket to Work (TTW) providers, i. e., Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPAs), Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS), or Employment Networks (ENs), to assist the beneficiary to return to work under the TTW Program.

WIPA projects are community-based organizations that receive grants from Social Security to provide Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability beneficiaries, including youth in transition, free access to work incentives planning and assistance. If you are working, or interested in working, our WIPA projects can give you accurate information about Social Security work incentives and other programs.  Each WIPA project has counselors called Community Work Incentives Coordinators (CWIC) that provide all of the below services:

• Work with you to help you understand your benefits.
• Teach you when, how, and what to report to Social Security and other providers.
• Provide in-depth, individualized counseling about your benefits and the effect of work on those benefits.
• Provide ongoing support and information as you transition to work.

If you are one of the many Social Security Disability Insurance (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.

WISE feature information to help Social Security disability beneficiaries make the decision to re-enter the workforce or to work for the first time. All WISE take place via free internet-based webinars. The webinar format allows beneficiaries and other interested parties to learn about vital employment resources from Social Security without having to travel to another location.

Some of the webinars are designed to address a broad range of disabilities, while others target people in specific disability categories or age ranges. They may feature various employment service providers, including Social Security approved Employment Networks, State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies, Protection and Advocacy Services, and WIPA organizations. WISE topics may include Choosing a Ticket to Work Service Provider, Understanding Work Incentives and more.

Beneficiaries and other interested parties may register for scheduled WISE webinars on our website at choosework.ssa.gov or by calling the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Archived versions of past events are also available.

Employment Networks and State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies furnish a wide variety of services to help people with disabilities return to work, enter a new line of work, or work for the first time. You can find a list of state Employment Networks and Vocational Rehabilitation agencies in our service provider directory on our searchable tool website (Find Help) at choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp.

In every State, U.S. Territory and the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Nations, there is an agency that protects the rights of persons with disabilities. This Protection and Advocacy System administers Social Security’s PABSS program. Each PABSS agency provides all of the following services:

• Works to identify and remove barriers to employment.
• Investigates any complaint you have against an employment network or other service provider that is helping you to return to work.
• Gives you information and advice about vocational rehabilitation and employment services;
• Tells you about Social Security’s work incentives that will help you to return to work.
• Offers consultation and legal representation to protect your rights in the effort to secure, maintain, or regain employment.
• Helps you understand and protect your employment rights, responsibilities, and reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you are working and have limited income, you may be eligible for an 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 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) income or resources. As a result, your SSI benefits may increase.

An ABLE account is a type of tax-advantaged account that can be used to save funds for the disability-related expenses of the account’s designated beneficiary, who must be blind or disabled by a condition that began prior to his or her 26th birthday. The designated beneficiary must be one of the following:

• Receiving SSI based on disability or blindness that began before age 26.
• Entitled to SSDI, Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB), or Disabled Widows or Widowers Benefits (DWB) based on disability or blindness that began before age 26.
• Someone whose primary care physician has certified that he or she is disabled or blind by a condition that began before age 26.

Certain qualified disability expenses can be distributed from the ABLE account if they are expenses related to the blindness or disability of the designated beneficiary. Examples of qualified disability expenses include education, housing, transportation, employment training and support, and assistive technology and related services.

To learn more about ABLE accounts, go to the Internal Revenue Services’ website (www.irs.gov) which provides a link to the proposed regulation Tax Benefit for Disability: IRC Section 529A.

American Job Centers (formerly known as One-Stop Career Centers) provide job seekers with a variety of tools and services to help them get back to work. Services include training, referrals, career counseling, job listings, and other employment-related services. Tools, many of which are available on-line, assist job seekers with career exploration, skill assessments (including identifying transferable skills), credential listings, and job openings. Customers can visit a Center in person or connect to the Center’s information through PC or kiosk remote access. Many American Job Centers are also Employment Networks and can accept your ticket under the Ticket to Work Program. You can locate your closest American Job Center at www.servicelocator.org.

JAN provides free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues to help people with disabilities enhance their employability. JAN consultants offer one-on-one guidance on workplace accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities Act and related legislation, and self-employment options for people with disabilities. Assistance is available both over the phone and online. You can contact JAN by phone at 1-800-526-7234 (Voice) or 1-877-781-9403 (TTY). The JAN website (www.AskJAN.org) is a rich source of information that makes a chat service available and features the Searchable Online Accommodation Resource.

The Federal Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has a special hiring authority for hiring workers that have certain significant physical, psychiatric, or mental disabilities known as targeted disabilities. For more information, refer to the OPM Web site: www.opm.gov/disability/index.asp.

The Federal Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has a special hiring authority for hiring workers that have certain significant physical, psychiatric, or mental disabilities known as targeted disabilities. For more information see the OPM Web site at: www.opm.gov/disability/index.asp.

Furthermore, the Office of Interagency Innovation within the Administration for Community Living’s Center for Innovation and Partnership oversees the State Grant for Assistive Technology Program and the Assistive Technology National Activities funded under the Assistive Technology Act.

Additional resources are available online. Visit:

Assistive Tech Centers: https://acl.gov/programs/assistive-technology/assistive-technology.

Centers for Independent Living: https://acl.gov/programs/aging-and-disability-networks/centers-independent-living.

AmeriCorps is a national network of service programs that engage Americans to meet the nation’s needs in priority areas like disaster services, economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and military families. We exclude the stipend that AmeriCorps members receive in the determination of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. For Social Security Disability Insurance recipients, the income exclusion only applies to the AmeriCorps VISTA program. For more information, go to the AmeriCorps website at www.americorps.gov.