Interim benefits (IB) are payable when the Appeals Council (AC) exercises its own motion authority to review an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) favorable disability decision, but a final decision has not been issued within 110 days from the ALJ decision date. The AC may exercise this authority if an SSA office protests the ALJ's decision, or because of quality review sampling.

When the AC decides to review a decision, the claimant receives a notice. The notice informs the claimant that their favorable ALJ decision has been selected for review. The notice also informs the claimant of the delay in payment of benefits while the case is under review and that there is a limit to the delay.

The CS receives the IB start orders via the Paperless case control system. If no start order is received for IB, see DI 42010.225A.

CS are responsible for contacting the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) to clarify any inconsistencies in the IB start order.

CS are required to provide the Benefit Authorizer (BA) with the following details:

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  IB start date,

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  if applicable, IB suspension months due to non-payment provisions,

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  primary insurance amount, and

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  monthly benefit amount after any benefit adjustment due workers’ compensation (WC), public disability benefit, and windfall elimination provision offset. If the CS is unable to verify WC data and no payment amount is alleged, use State’s maximum weekly WC rate based on the year of the date of injury listed in DI 52150.045 to determine offset amount.

The CS will instruct the BA if the case is concurrent Title II and Title XVI, and if an appointed representative or representative payee is involved.

NOTE: Defer completion of form SSA-831-UF (Disability Determination and Transmittal) or an A101 and EF101 (Determination of Award) until issuance of a final decision.

NL 00703.580 Notice of Interim Disability Benefits for ALJ Cases.