Procedure testing also revealed that SSA maintained incorrect types of payee records for about 9,300 beneficiaries. This misclassification also created further problems: the agency did not receive the appropriate accounting reports from about 3,900 … Some representative payees received requests for reports they should not have needed to submit.
Normally, it is obligatory for the representative payees such as SSI to fill out a once-yearly report that demonstrates how the benefits they receive will be allocated to the beneficiaries. Not only does this crisscross of reporting obligations cause confusion in the administrative strata of the SSA, but it also reduces the overarching ability of the SSA to supervise how such funds are being used.
The report also further states that if these problems are not addressed, then the agency will continue sending payments to the wrong recipient and not adequately monitor the use of the benefits.
This oversight may increase the likelihood of benefits being misused and this will be to the detriment of the beneficiaries that rely on these benefits.
In order to meet these concerns, the OIG put forward the following recommendations. Of them, one of the major recommendations included the need to prudently look into cases where there might be a difference in payees, while the second was the need to ensure that the staff remembered to follow certain procedures when processing representative payee applications.
The SSA has not only agreed to adopt these recommendations, but this will go a long way in eradicating the errors that have led to mismanagement of the payments.
This is still part and parcel of an ongoing move to assess reform measures that can transform the SSA’s operation as it continues to struggle with the management of billions of dollars in payments.
The agency has had showdowns with problems that relate to underpayment and overpayment; this is a situation where any of the beneficiaries is paid lesser or even more than what is expected in the computation of the benefits.
These mistakes have seen huge amounts being paid out by the agency errantly and have called for better controls and checks on spending.
