Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

More documents

Recommendations

Info

32 All of these SSA demonstrations have the potential to interact with the TTW program, although final regulations about how they will interact have not yet been developed. b. Initiatives Addressing Beneficiary Knowledge Area Work Incentive Coordinators and Work Incentive Liaisons. Section 121 of the Ticket Act required SSA to “establish a corps of trained, accessible and responsive work incentives specialists” to assist disability beneficiaries who want to start or continue working. In response to this mandate, SSA ran a pilot program from July 2000 through September 2001, which involved 32 employment support representatives serving 54 sites (in SSA field offices) across the country. Employment support representatives received six weeks of intensive training on SSA work incentive provisions and related issues. In addition to informing beneficiaries about work incentives, employment support representatives conduct outreach and provide information to the general disability community. SSA evaluated the pilot in November 2001 and considered it in determining how best to provide information and services to beneficiaries who want to work, given the resources available. The result was the plan to implement Area Work Incentive Coordinators and Work Incentive Liaisons program. As discussed in the next chapter, SSA adopted a plan to hire 57 Area Work Incentive Coordinators, which has already been expanded to 58 and can be increased to 70, as the need arises. These full-time staff will provide expertise on Ticket-related and other work incentives for every 20 to 30 field offices. Additionally, each field office will designate an existing staff person as a work incentive liaison. The area work incentive coordinators were selected and, after successfully completing their training, finished training the work incentives liaisons by September 30, 2003. The liaisons will be delegated work-incentive responsibilities in addition to their existing duties; field office managers will guide the liaisons to prioritize work incentive and other assignments Benefits Planning, Assistance, and Outreach. The purpose of the Benefits Planning, Assistance, and Outreach (BPAO) initiative is to provide SSA disability beneficiaries with accurate and timely information about SSA work incentives and other federal efforts to remove regulatory and programmatic barriers to employment for persons with disabilities. Authorized by Section 121 of the Ticket Act, 116 BPAO programs provide services to SSA beneficiaries in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories. Through the end of August 2003, the programs collectively employed over 400 benefits specialists and have served over 77,000 individuals since implementation in late 2000. BPAOs are not affiliated with SSA offices. Benefits specialists work with individual beneficiaries to explain the myriad of regulations, provisions, work incentives, and special programs that may affect an individual’s decision to enter or re-enter the workforce. The specialists do not tell beneficiaries what to do or make specific recommendations; they allow beneficiaries to make their own informed decisions based on complete and accurate information. In addition, they support individuals who choose to enter employment by helping them comply with all relevant regulations and reporting procedures. II: Structure and Background of the Ticket to Work Program
Protection and Advocacy. The SSA-funded Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) program is in its third year of operation. This program, authorized by Section 122 of the Ticket Act, is being administered by the 57 existing Protection and Advocacy systems (P&As). 10 PABSS staff members attend the same training as BPAO staff, and nonprogrammatic technical assistance is provided to them through an SSA contract with the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems. PABSS staff members also receive training and technical assistance on Social Security programmatic issues through either one of three university-based regional training centers. PABSS projects assist beneficiaries with legal issues, employment issues, the IWP development process, and disputes with ENs and other agencies. They also provide referrals and information about vocational rehabilitation, employment services, and SSA’s work incentives. Initially, PABSS programs were not allowed to represent beneficiaries in overpayment cases with SSA. However, SSA amended the PABSS grant terms and conditions in June 2003 to allow them to do this. PABSS staff may now accompany beneficiaries to SSA offices to provide assistance in matters involving appeals of work-related program decisions and overpayments caused by work and earnings. Department of Labor Disability Program Navigators. The Disability Program Navigators initiative is one of several joint initiatives recently announced by SSA and the Department of Labor (DoL) to assist people with disabilities who want to work. This initiative creates a new position, called a “navigator,” within One-Stop Career Centers. Navigators link people with disabilities to employers as well as BPAOs and similar types of organizations. In addition, navigators provide information about SSA work incentives, the TTW program, and ENs. SSA and DoL are providing funding in a number of pilot states to test the navigator program. The results of the pilot test will inform a future decision about expanding the program nationwide. The grants have been awarded, and training for the navigators began in November 2003. c. Initiatives Addressing Employer Knowledge or Attitudes Ticket to Hire. The Ticket to Hire program is a joint initiative of SSA and DoL intended to help employers locate and recruit skilled employment candidates with disabilities from the TTW program. It operates as a specialized unit of a larger DoL program called Employer Assistance Referral Network (EARN). Ticket to Hire is actively working with employers in every Phase 1 and Phase 2 state. Employers in Phase 3 states are becoming involved through EARN until TTW is rolled out in their state. Many SVRAs and ENs are collaborating with Ticket to Hire to better serve their participants. 33 10 There is one P&A in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and there are others in various territories and one designed to serve American Indians. II: Structure and Background of the Ticket to Work Program
Page 1 and 2: Contract No.: 0600-03-60130 MPR Ref
Page 3 and 4: A CKNOWLEDGMENTS This report benefi
Page 5 and 6: C ONTENTS Chapter Page ACRONYMS ...
Page 7 and 8: vii Chapter Page V (continued) D. C
Page 9 and 10: A CRONYMS ABIL AIDS AWICs AOI BPAO
Page 11 and 12: E XECUTIVE S UMMARY T he Ticket to
Page 13 and 14: Overall, we found that SSA has impl
Page 15 and 16: money on their TTW operations. For
Page 17 and 18: xvii CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS SSA fa
Page 19 and 20: C HAPTER I O VERVIEW OF THE T ICKET
Page 21 and 22: The TTW program and other elements
Page 23 and 24: A. EVALUATION COMPONENTS: GOALS, SC
Page 25 and 26: 7 ! How many beneficiaries particip
Page 27 and 28: 9 B. PURPOSE AND ORGANIZATION OF TH
Page 29 and 30: C HAPTER II S TRUCTURE AND B ACKGRO
Page 31 and 32: In reality, however, the success of
Page 33 and 34: MAXIMUS to serve as the Program Man
Page 35 and 36: 17 4. Participate in the activities
Page 37 and 38: N Decision Reversed Request SSA Rev
Page 39 and 40: 21 c. Dispute Resolution In a progr
Page 41 and 42: Table II.1: Outcome-Only and Milest
Page 43 and 44: milestone payment is equal to 34 pe
Page 45 and 46: Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage da
Page 47 and 48: 29 3. Related Initiatives TTW has n
Page 49: SSA Demonstrations. SSA plans to im
Page 53 and 54: C HAPTER III TTW EARLY I MPLEMENTAT
Page 55 and 56: 37 Table III.1: TTW Implementation
Page 57 and 58: Ticket-eligible beneficiaries were
Page 59 and 60: 41 TTW. In the past, SSA systems ha
Page 61 and 62: information in SSA’s records cont
Page 63 and 64: work period automation and tracking
Page 65 and 66: Systems and Infrastructure. The Pro
Page 67 and 68: 49 asked the Program Manager for a
Page 69 and 70: 51 • The first payment for each b
Page 71 and 72: currently being addressed relate to
Page 73 and 74: payment system. Only one SVRA (Okla
Page 75 and 76: SVRA personnel have consistently ex
Page 77 and 78: 59 • Are SVRAs permitted to requi
Page 79 and 80: Table III.4: ENs and ENs with Ticke
Page 81 and 82: Payment System. Many ENs do not bel
Page 83 and 84: example, reporting lags inherent in
Page 85 and 86: eceived only small amounts thus far
Page 87 and 88: SVRA services for Ticket clients; (
Page 89 and 90: C HAPTER IV E ARLY P ARTICIPATION P
Page 91 and 92: 73 Figure IV.2: Cumulative Number o
Page 93 and 94: point in the Phase 1 rollout. For P
Page 95 and 96: 77 Figure IV.7: First Assignments a
Page 97 and 98: 79 Figure IV.8: Ticket Participatio
Page 99 and 100: 81 Figure IV.10: Ticket Participati
Page 101 and 102:
83 states. This finding suggests th
Page 103 and 104:
There is a strong negative relation
Page 105 and 106:
C HAPTER V C ASE S TUDIES OF E IGHT
Page 107 and 108:
89 A. SERVICE MODELS AND TARGETED C
Page 109 and 110:
Although the director was initially
Page 111 and 112:
Clients who assign their Tickets to
Page 113 and 114:
session. Those who miss their appoi
Page 115 and 116:
interview. While this is time consu
Page 117 and 118:
claim employer tax credits. Through
Page 119 and 120:
these individuals, because they typ
Page 121 and 122:
103 F. RELATIONS WITH OTHER ORGANIZ
Page 123 and 124:
eneficiaries to meet that standard.
Page 125 and 126:
IDR representatives said that to da
Page 127 and 128:
substantiate wages, and clients are
Page 129 and 130:
services? Unfortunately, for ENs to
Page 131 and 132:
Manager. At present, this is only p
Page 133 and 134:
stubs: the need for beneficiaries t
Page 135 and 136:
C HAPTER VI A DEQUACY OF I NCENTIVE
Page 137 and 138:
We have also begun to analyze admin
Page 139 and 140:
viewed as lacking the productive ca
Page 141 and 142:
assist in the identification of ind
Page 143 and 144:
eneficiaries. In examining results
Page 145 and 146:
127 E. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The
Page 147 and 148:
C HAPTER VII C ONCLUSIONS AND I MPL
Page 149 and 150:
noticeably low, and, among the very
Page 151 and 152:
Act. At the same time, some ENs hav
Page 153 and 154:
Another change requiring considerat
Page 155 and 156:
C HAPTER VIII N EXT S TEPS FOR THE
Page 157 and 158:
prior to September 2003 and had not
Page 159 and 160:
R EFERENCES Adequacy of Incentives
Page 161 and 162:
A PPENDIX A D ATA T ABLES C ORRESPO
Page 163 and 164:
A-3 Table A.2 Cumulative Number of
Page 165 and 166:
A-5 Table A.4 Percentage of Tickets
Page 167 and 168:
A-7 Table A.6 Percentage of Tickets
Page 169 and 170:
A-9 TABLES SHOWING CHARACTERISTICS
Page 171 and 172:
A-11 Table A.10 Ticket Participatio
Page 173 and 174:
A-13 Table A.12 Ticket Participatio
Page 175 and 176:
A-15 Table A.14 Percentage of In-Us
Page 177 and 178:
A PPENDIX B P ROVIDER-SPECIFIC C AS
Page 179 and 180:
informed beneficiaries that state V
Page 181 and 182:
e considerably more successful if S
Page 183 and 184:
them for employment. It was during
Page 185 and 186:
working but are still receiving SSI
Page 187 and 188:
B.11 client over a four-year period
Page 189 and 190:
B.13 placing SSA beneficiaries than
Page 191 and 192:
B.15 that came in for an initial ap
Page 193 and 194:
B.17 all benefits; therefore, EES d
Page 195 and 196:
B.19 outreach program. As noted pre
Page 197 and 198:
B.21 remained employed. 3 Because o
Page 199 and 200:
B.23 estimate of the financial loss
Page 201 and 202:
B.25 Social Security benefits. IDR
Page 203 and 204:
B.27 have to submit pay stubs twice
Page 205 and 206:
B.29 Bridges still provides the 10-
Page 207 and 208:
B.31 While she used to have a polic
Page 209 and 210:
B.33 8. Oklahoma Department of Reha
Page 211 and 212:
B.35 Beneficiaries interested in as
Page 213 and 214:
B.37 permits agency budgets to be c
Page 215 and 216:
A PPENDIX C D EFINING THE F OUR A D
Page 217 and 218:
B. IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS WITH A N
Page 219:
“work and receive full cash benef
show all

Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?