Supporting Statement for Form SSA-1587-OCR-SM,
Beneficiary Recontact Report
20 CFR 404.703 and 404.705
A. Justification
1. Introduction/Authoring Laws and Regulations
Section 202(g)(1) of the Social Security Act states that a surviving spouse of an individual who died and was fully or currently insured shall be entitled to mother's/father's benefits, as long as this spouse is not married and an entitled child of the deceased is in his/her care. 20 CFR 404.703 of the Code of Federal Regulations authorizes the Commissioner of Social Security to request information needed to decide whether entitlement to benefits continues. According to 20 CFR 404.705, the Social Security Administration (SSA) may stop benefits if we do not receive the requested information for establishing continuing entitlement. SSA uses Form SSA-1587-OCR-SM to collect the information needed to make this determination.
2. Description of Collection
In the past, SSA relied mainly on voluntary reports of marriage and other events that cause suspension and termination of benefits. Studies show that some beneficiaries report only when we ask them directly. This results in significant overpayments that often go undetected.
The purpose of the automated recontact program via the SSA-1587-SM is to detect unreported marriages of young children. As of June 2002, SSA mailed the
SSA-1587-SM to representative payees for children only in the month the child attains age 17. We send only one request, and we do not suspend or terminate the child’s benefit if the payee fails to return the form. Instead, we may contact the payee by telephone if we receive no response on the SSA-1587-OCR-SM, since this collection is mandatory, and we require respondents to complete the collection in order to retain their benefits.
For the ease of the respondents, Form SSA-1587-OCR-SM is a pre-filled form, meaning that SSA completes certain fields electronically before sending the form to the beneficiary. The respondents are children age 17 with representative payees.
3. Use of Information Technology to Collect the Information
SSA did not create an electronic version of form SSA-1587-OCR-SM under the agency’s Government Paperwork Elimination Act plan because this is an agency-initiated form on which SSA pre-fills information before releasing it to the respondent. Therefore, we are not able to implement this collection electronically at this time. When new technology becomes available which would allow SSA to pre-fill this information and send it to the beneficiaries, SSA will reevaluate the possibility of making this form available electronically.
4. Why We Cannot Use Duplicate Information
The nature of the information requested and the manner in which it is collected preclude duplication. There is no other collection instrument used by SSA that collects data similar to that collected here.
5. Minimizing Burden on Small Respondents
This collection does not affect small businesses or other small entities.
6. Consequence of Not Collecting Information or Collecting it Less Frequently
There are no technical or legal obstacles to burden reduction.
7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.
8. Solicitation of Public Comment and Other Consultations with the Public
The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on July 9, 2010, at 75 FR 39611, and SSA received no public comments. The second Notice published on September 27, 2010, at 75 FR 59318. If we receive any comments in response to the 30-day Notice, we will forward them to OMB. SSA did not consult members of the public in the development or maintenance of this form.
9. Payment or Gifts to Respondents
SSA does not provide payments or gifts to the respondents.
10. Assurances of Confidentiality
SSA protects and holds confidential the information it collects in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974), and OMB Circular No. A-130.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.
12. Estimates of Public Reporting Burden
Approximately 982,357 respondents use Form SSA-1587-OCR-SM annually. We estimate the average response time is 3 minutes for 49,118 burden hours. The total burden reflects burden hours, and SSA calculated no separate cost burden.
13. Annual Cost to the Respondents (Other)
This collection does not impose a known cost burden to the respondents.
14. Annual Cost To Federal Government
The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $490,386. This estimate is a projection of the costs for printing and distributing the collection instrument and for the collection of information.
15. Program Changes or Adjustments to the Information Collection Request
There are no changes to the public reporting burden.
16. Plans for Publication Information Collection Results
SSA will not publish the results of the information collection.
17. Displaying the OMB Approval Expiration Date
OMB granted SSA an exemption from the requirement to print the OMB expiration date on its program forms. SSA produces millions of public-use forms with life cycles exceeding those of an OMB approval. Since SSA does not periodically revise and reprint its public-use forms (e.g., on an annual basis), OMB granted this exemption so SSA would not have to destroy stocks of otherwise useable forms with expired OMB approval dates, avoiding Government waste.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement
SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at 5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methodologies
SSA does not use statistical methods for this information collection.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Title of Information Collection and Form Number(s) |
| Author | Naomi |
| Last Modified By | 889123 |
| File Modified | 2010-09-27 |
| File Created | 2010-09-27 |