How does Social Security determine my progress in the Ticket to Work program? 

Your participation in the Ticket to Work program began when you signed an agreement with an employment network or state vocational rehabilitation agency. With their help, you developed an employment plan. While you are in the program, the Social Security Administration will review your progress in achieving the goals of your employment plan every 12 months.

The Ticket program defines “timely progress” as either working and earning a certain amount for a certain number of months in a year, or completing education or training goals. For each 12-month period after you begin to use your Ticket there are different goals you must meet to show you are meeting timely progress requirements. For example, during your first 12 months in the Ticket to Work program, you must earn a minimum of $720 in at least three months out of the 12 months to make timely progress. There are two other ways to meet this requirement. One, you can also meet the first year’s timely progress requirements by completing 60% of a full-time course load in a college, trade school, or vocational training program. Two, you can earn a GED or high school diploma.

Reviewing Your Progress

At the end of each 12-month period that you are in the Ticket to Work program, Maximus will conduct a timely progress review. At these times, Maximus will check to see if you have met the timely progress requirements in the past 12 months. If Maximus determines that you are not making adequate progress, then your Ticket will become inactive (in other words, in “inactive status”) and Social Security can conduct a medical CDR. Switching to inactive status does not automatically trigger a medical CDR. Social Security decides when to conduct a medical CDR based on a number of factors. If you disagree with Maximus’s decision about your timely progress, you can request an SSA review of the decision within 30 days. While waiting for the SSA review, you will be exempt from CDRs.

The requirements for timely progress increase each year. In the second year you must either work six months with gross monthly earnings over $720 or complete 75% of a full-time course load in a college, trade school, or vocational training program. In the third year, you must work and earn more than $1,000 in at least nine months of the 12. You can also show timely progress in the third year by meeting certain education or training goals.