Selected Characteristics and Self-Perceived Performance of Individual Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Representative Payees

Introduction

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two large payment programs. Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), authorized by Title II of the Social Security Act, has 49 million beneficiaries receiving monthly benefits. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, authorized by Title XVI of the Act, has about 7.2 million monthly recipients.

The law recognizes that some beneficiaries are unable to manage their own benefits and allows a relative, friend, or other interested party to serve as a representative payee. Representative payment has been a part of the Social Security program since 1939. Statutory authority to appoint payees is contained in section 205(j) of the Social Security Act for OASDI, and in section 1631(a)(2)(A)(ii) for SSI. The Act authorizes SSA to determine when representative payment is in the best interest of the beneficiary and to promulgate rules by which the program operates. The agency selects payees based on information provided in a prospective payee's application.

The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 required SSA to study representative payees' performance in managing and using benefits on behalf of beneficiaries. The National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies conducted the study for SSA. The study included a survey of representative payees and beneficiaries, performed under contract by Westat, Inc.

The NRC Report

The Commissioner of SSA set four objectives for the NRC study: (1) assess the extent to which representative payees are not performing their duties, (2) learn whether the representative payee policies are practical and appropriate, (3) identify the types of payees most likely to misuse benefits, and (4) find ways to reduce misuse and to protect beneficiaries.

As is evident from these objectives, the concern that led to and shaped the study was with misuse of benefits and how this can be detected and prevented. Accordingly, the majority of the NRC report centers on misuse and evaluates current program policies and practices. Although the report found that the majority of payees performed their duties well, there were a number of recommendations to prevent misuse and to improve payee selection. The full report is available online at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11992#toc.

After the NRC report was released, the Commissioner directed relevant agency components to pursue additional research based on the survey data produced for the study. This note represents part of that effort.

Purpose

We analyze data that were not highlighted in the NRC report, although we also report findings in the context of the potential misuse indicators suggested by the NRC. This note seeks to answer questions not directly addressed in the NRC report:

• What are the characteristics of payees? Specifically, are there differences in the characteristics between representative payees of SSI-only recipients, OASDI-only beneficiaries, and concurrent recipients?
• Do payees think they are meeting their beneficiaries' needs? Do payees' views differ according to program type, income, years of service, and potential misuse indicators?
• What are the characteristics of payees who do not think their beneficiaries' needs are met?
• How favorably do payees regard their service?

This note focuses on individual representative payees. Organizational payees, which comprise about 9 percent of the NRC sample, are not addressed in detail.¹

Background

In December 2007, 9.7 percent of OASDI beneficiaries, 44.6 percent of SSI recipients, and 22.9 percent of those receiving both had their benefits managed by representative payees, either individual or organizational (Table 1). SSA regulations require representative payees for nearly all minor beneficiaries, all adult beneficiaries who have been ruled incompetent, and beneficiaries who, while not legally incompetent, nevertheless have a mental or physical condition that prevents them from managing (or directing the management) of their funds. If such a condition is suspected, the field office must develop legal, medical, or other evidence that suggests lack of capability.

Duties of Representative Payees

SSA regulations describe the following duties of a representative payee:

• Use the benefits for the best interests of the beneficiary,
• Keep the beneficiary's funds separate from his or her own (except for certain parents and spouses),
• Treat any interest earned on the benefits as the beneficiary's property,
• Notify SSA of any change in the beneficiary's circumstances that could affect the beneficiary's eligibility for benefits or benefit amount,
• Report, upon request, on how the benefits received were used, and
• Notify SSA of any change in circumstances that could affect performance of the payee's duties.

According to the Social Security Act, "… misuse of benefits by a representative payee occurs in any case in which the representative payee receives payment under this title for the use and benefit of another person and converts such payment, or any part thereof, to a use other than for the use and benefit of such other person."² An example of misuse would be the payee using funds for his or her own benefit or the benefit of a family member other than the beneficiary. Representative payees are required to submit a report to SSA annually. If the information in the report is appropriate, there is usually no follow-up unless there is another indicator of misuse such as a complaint from the beneficiary or a third party.

Data

We use data from the NRC study, which addressed how payments being made to representative payees were being used (NRC 2007). The data include interviews, performed under contract by Westat, of about 5,000 representative payees and 2,500 beneficiaries for whom they manage benefits.³ The results of these interviews are contained in a database that is available for study by SSA researchers.

It should be noted that the data are self-reported and may include biases, especially when respondents are asked subjective questions about the perceived needs of their beneficiary. However, subjective responses provide a glimpse of the attitudes toward their roles as representative payees.

Variables

The variables used in this analysis are listed and defined in Table 2. The variables are largely self-explanatory, with the exception of those listed as "potential misuse indicators." Based on the Westat survey, NRC identified the following 15 potential indicators of misuse:

1. Payee is a non-relative.
2. Payee does not live with beneficiary.
3. Payee is under 50 years of age.
4. Payee has sources of income other than employment.
5. Payee receives welfare (TANF).
6. Payee lists self-employment income.
7. Payee receives either OASDI or SSI income or both.
8. Payee is a convicted felon.
9. Payee has served time in prison.
10. Payee's mailing and residence addresses differ.
11. Payee has had three or more address changes in the last two years.
12. Payee does not have a phone number in the administrative records.
13. Payee has been terminated two times or more.
14. Payee serves for four or more beneficiaries.
15. Payee lives in a different zip code from beneficiary. (NRC 2007, 67)

NRC attempted to validate these characteristics by conducting an in-depth study of a sample of payees with these characteristics. NRC suggests using these characteristics to detect cases of misuse.⁴ We were able to identify all the potential misuse indicators from the survey data except indicator 15, involving payee and beneficiary living in different zip codes. We include these variables in our tabulations to assist researchers. In addition to reporting the percentage of individual representative payees exhibiting each of the 14 identifiable potential misuse indicators, we report the average number of misuse indicators that apply to each representative payee.

As mentioned above, results are reported for individual payees only. Although organizational payees were also surveyed, they are not studied here. The sample also excludes certain representative payees for whom data on several key variables were missing. Variables affected by missing data included program type, years of service, income, reported ability to help the beneficiary or understand his or her needs, age, conviction status, and reported beneficiary needs.⁵

Discussion of the Individual Representative Payee Characteristics

This note presents representative payee demographic profiles and their views on the services they provide to beneficiaries. Statistics are shown by beneficiary program type (SSI only, OASDI only, and concurrent), years of service as a representative payee, the representative payee's income, and the presence of potential misuse indicators.

What are the Characteristics of Representative Payees?

Table 3 presents statistics on representative payee personal characteristics, living arrangement, income, years of service, social problems, and potential misuse characteristics, all shown by beneficiary program.⁶ In general, SSI and OASDI representative payees have quite different characteristics.

The majority of payees are female, white, and younger than age 50. An examination by program type shows that payees of SSI recipients tend to be younger and are more likely to be minority or female than payees of OASDI beneficiaries. Most payees are the beneficiary's parent or some other relative. Thus, it is not surprising that most payees live with their beneficiary. Only two-thirds of the payees of concurrent beneficiaries live with the beneficiary, compared with over 80 percent of SSI- and OASDI-only payees.

There are differences in years of service as well. Over 27 percent of SSI payees have been serving for 10 or more years compared with less than 18 percent of OASDI payees. Payees for concurrent beneficiaries have the most experience, with 45 percent serving for 10 or more years.

On the whole, payees tend to have low annual incomes. Over half have annual incomes of $15,000 or less. OASDI representative payees have higher incomes when compared with SSI and concurrent payees. Over 65 percent of SSI payees have annual incomes of $15,000 or less, compared with 50 percent of OASDI payees.⁷ Less than half of payees have earnings; the proportion is especially low among the concurrent payees (36 percent).

Regarding government assistance, many payees who serve OASDI beneficiaries receive OASDI benefits themselves. Over 40 percent of OASDI payees receive OASDI benefits, while only 16 percent of SSI payees also receive SSI payments. OASDI payees are more likely than SSI payees to receive a private or government pension or a veteran's benefit, but SSI payees are more likely than OASDI payees to have received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other program assistance.

Although the percentage differences are small, twice as many SSI representative payees report being addicted to drugs or alcohol (2.3 percent versus 1.1 percent), and they are also more likely than OASDI payees to have had significant involvement with the criminal justice system (5.8 percent versus 3.2 percent). Almost all payees have at least one of the NRC potential misuse indicators. Payees exhibited just over three of these characteristics on average, regardless of program type.

The most common of the potential misuse indicators is serving four or more beneficiaries (78 percent); in addition, many payees are under age 50 (58 percent). The least common indicators are having three or more address changes in the last 2 years (2 percent), having served time in prison (2.5 percent), being a convicted felon (3.4 percent), and being a nonrelative (3.6 percent). SSI payees tend to exhibit potential misuse characteristics more often than OASDI payees.

Do Representative Payees Think They are Meeting the Needs of Their Beneficiary?

Of interest is whether payees think they successfully perform their role by meeting the needs of the beneficiary. Success is measured in their own accounts of whether the beneficiary's needs are met. Although success may not be entirely within the payee's control (for example, the beneficiary may be difficult to care for, or the available funds may be inadequate), their reports indicate whether payees think they are fulfilling the programmatic intent of their role.

Payees were asked two sets of questions regarding their ability to meet the needs of their beneficiary. The first set addressed whether the beneficiary had ever gone without one of six necessary items (housing, utilities, food, clothing, medical services, or medication). The second set asked how well the payee believed the beneficiary's needs were being fulfilled in each of four basic areas of need (housing, food, clothing, or medical services). The first set of questions measures the payee's perception of absolute gaps in needed support, and the second set allows the payees to indicate if they felt the beneficiary received less support than was needed, but still received some level of support.

Almost all payees report that their beneficiary never went without housing, utilities, food, clothing, medical services, or medication (Table 4). However, almost 12 percent of representative payees think their beneficiary is not receiving all the housing, food, clothing, or medical support he or she needs. Although less than 1 percent of representative payees report their beneficiary has gone without clothing, food, or housing, and less than 3 percent report going without medical services, 7.6 percent feel they were not able to fully meet the beneficiary's clothing needs, 6.3 percent feel they were not able to fully meet the beneficiary's medical needs, 5.4 percent feel they were not able to fully meet the beneficiary's housing needs, and 4.3 percent feel they were not able to fully meet the beneficiary's food needs.

Program Type. There are small differences by program type for those who reported that their beneficiary went without at least one specific need. Table 4 shows that 6.5 percent of SSI payees report that their beneficiary went without one or more of the measured needs, compared with 4.8 percent of OASDI payees. However, when we consider the more subjective measure of whether all of the needs of a given type were fulfilled, more SSI payees reported an unmet need than did OASDI payees (13.8 percent versus 9.5 percent, respectively). Concurrent payees' responses are more closely in line with SSI payees (14.9 percent).

Income and Years of Service. Although the reported ability to meet their beneficiaries' needs is generally similar for SSI and OASDI payees, self-assessed ability to perform their role may differ across other payee characteristics. For instance, income and years of service may both influence payee ability to meet beneficiary needs (or to help beneficiaries meet their own needs). Higher-income payees may be better able to supplement the beneficiary's funds with their own money (that is, non-SSI and non-OASDI money) to support the beneficiary. One might also expect more experienced payees to view themselves as better able to provide for the beneficiary.

Table 5 reports perceived ability to meet the beneficiary's needs, broken down by payee income. The proportion reporting that their beneficiary has always had all needs met generally increases with income. Similar patterns hold for most of the specific need types as well. The percentage of payees reporting a need was not completely met generally declines as income increases, too. Eighty-five percent of payees with annual incomes of $5,000 or less report all needs were met compared with 96 percent of those with annual incomes of more than $100,000.

Table 6 does not indicate a clear relationship between years of service and payees reporting that the beneficiary either went without specific support types or needed more supports than were received. Any learning curve may not be evident in the data because the years-of-service measure possibly masks how long an individual has actually been caring for the beneficiary. For example, parents have probably been taking care of their children longer than they have been acting as a payee simply because many of the beneficiaries did not start receiving SSI or OASDI at birth.

Potential Misuse Characteristics. The NRC study's focus on misuse suggests that payees exhibiting the identified misuse characteristics may be less able to meet the requirements of a payee. Table 7 shows how representative payees think they are meeting the needs of their beneficiaries, broken down for each of the identifiable misuse characteristics.

Among all representative payees, 94.2 percent indicated their beneficiary had never gone without a specific need. Payees in most of the potential misuse indicator categories were less likely to report that all the beneficiary's needs were met than representative payees as a whole. Two characteristics are associated with less than 90 percent of representative payees reporting all their beneficiary's needs were met: the payee is not a relative (88.7 percent) and the payee has served time in prison (88.9 percent). As in Tables 4–6, medical care (medical services or medication) was the main support type payees reported the beneficiary not receiving.

Turning to perceptions of whether beneficiaries' needs were completely met, payees with each of the potential misuse characteristics follow the general pattern of representative payees overall. For all of the potential misuse characteristics, between 85 and 92 percent of the payees believe all the needs have been fully met. Payees who have served time in prison, received TANF payments, and, particularly, have had three or more address changes in the last 2 years report lower levels of being able to meet all the needs of their beneficiary.

What Are the Characteristics of Payees Whose Beneficiaries Have Unmet Needs?

Table 8 presents the characteristics of payees by whether they considered themselves able to meet all the needs of their beneficiaries, according to the two sets of questions described above under "Do representative payees think they are meeting the needs of their beneficiary?" The patterns are similar for both measures of need.

The proportions of payees who are male, white, and live with the beneficiary are higher among payees reporting no unmet needs than among those who do report unmet needs. Those reporting no unmet needs are also more likely to have been payees for shorter periods, have higher incomes, and represent an OASDI beneficiary. Payees who are TANF and SSI recipients are less likely to report all beneficiary needs are met; and those receiving assistance from other sources are more likely to report any, and especially more than one, unmet beneficiary needs. Among payees with a substance addiction or a conviction, a higher percentage report at least one unmet need than report all beneficiary needs are met.

How Favorably Do Payees Regard Their Service?

Most payees are satisfied with their ability to help their beneficiary (Table 9). Eighty-two percent of payees are "very satisfied" and 14.5 percent are "somewhat satisfied." SSI payees are the most likely to be "very satisfied," but when "somewhat satisfied" is included, close to 97 percent of payees in all three groups report satisfaction.

Overall, the most common concerns involve the responsibility and the requirements of being a payee. These concerns are greatest for concurrent payees. However, less than 3 percent of all payees have concerns (not reported).

As with the ability to help their beneficiary, most payees are satisfied with their ability to understand their beneficiary's needs. Fewer SSI payees report being "very satisfied" but as before, when "somewhat satisfied" is included, all three groups report similar levels of satisfaction.

The ability to meet the beneficiary's need may be influenced by the payee's income, as suggested above. We find an unexpected, slightly inverse relationship between satisfaction in the ability to help the beneficiary and income level (Table 10). The poorest payees are the most likely to feel "very satisfied" in their ability to help the beneficiary while the higher income payees are the least likely to report being "very satisfied." Those with highest income (over $100,000 per year) are also the most likely to have all types of concerns (except "relationship" concerns) and the least likely to be "very satisfied" in their understanding of the beneficiary's needs. It should be recalled that these are subjective measures which may reflect the representative payees' own perceptions about what is required.

Conclusion

These survey data provide us with much information that is not available from SSA administrative records. They help us to understand the characteristics of individuals serving as payees for SSA's beneficiaries and to identify their perceived needs. With additional analysis and information, these data may be useful in developing and evaluating criteria for payee selection, as well as in providing continued support for representative payees.

Tables