Public Forum on the Representative Payee Program

The Social Security Advisory Board held a policy forum on the Social Security Administration’s Representative Payee Program on March 27, 2017 at the 20 F Street NW Conference Center. This forum included panels on identifying who needs a representative payee, monitoring representative payee performance, and the way forward.

Currently, more than 6 million payees manage $80 billion in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 3.5 million adults and 4 million children determined to be incapable of managing their own benefits. Generally, the administration looks for family members or friends to serve as representative payees. If no family or friends are available, the administration seeks qualified organizations to serve as the representative payee. Projections indicate that the number of people needing assistance with their benefits will increase dramatically in the coming decades as the U.S. population ages.

The discussions at the forum included the process of determining capacity, best practices, collaborative efforts and new approaches from the front lines, necessary oversight, program evaluation, and preparing for the future. You can read more about Social Security’s Representative Payee program here: https://www.ssa.gov/payee/.

Source: https://www.ssa.gov/news/newsletter/

By: Thomas A. Klint of Premier Disability Services, LLC®