Fact Sheet: Reauthorization of WIPA and PABSS Programs

Fact Sheet: Reauthorization of WIPA and PABSS Programs

Background

The Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) and Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) programs, funded by the Social Security Administration, provide vital information to individuals with disabilities regarding their public benefits, along with advocacy and information that allow them to go to work and increase their self-sufficiency. Without these programs, many people will have no place to turn for benefits counseling and employment advocacy services. The Congressional authorization for the WIPA and PABSS programs has expired, and many WIPA programs are in the process of shutting down. These programs were authorized by Congress as part of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1998. Without action by Congress or the Social Security Administration, all of these crucial programs will be gone by the end of September 2012. The benefits counseling and employment information and advocacy infrastructure that has been built over the past decade has become a critical component in assisting individuals to become part of the general workforce, and it must be preserved.

• The WIPA and PABSS programs have provided a vital service that assists individuals with disabilities to go to work, and achieve self-sufficiency and financial independence.
• The WIPA program has been an effective investment of tax dollars. Research and evaluation of the program has shown that it clearly reduces reliance on public benefit programs and turns people with disabilities into taxpayers.
• The cost of the WIPA program has been approximately $375 per individual served. The cost of the program is more than offset by extensive long-term savings in Social Security funds.
• If the WIPA and PABSS programs are eliminated, over a decade of infrastructure development will disappear and people with disabilities will have no alterative for this type of service.

APSE is asking Congress to take one or more of the following actions:

1. Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue has publicly stated that he needs to know that Congress supports these programs before he will release funding for them to continue. Please contact Commissioner Astrue and tell him that Congress supports these programs and they must continue.
2. Support the introduction and passage of the Social Work Incentive Amendments of 2012, that would reauthorize the WIPA and PABSS program for five-years.
3. Support the passage of a 2-year extension of the WIPA and PABSS programs through September 2013, maintaining the existing infrastructure while Congress considers a longer-term reauthorization that makes changes to increase the programs’ effectiveness.

For further information:

Laura Owens, Executive Director

APSE

416 Hungerford Drive, Suite 418

Rockville, MD 20850

Phone: 301-279-0060

Email: