The field office representative must always consider the Privacy Act when we receive
a request for information about a specific individual from another agency. The information
in SSA's beneficiary files is confidential and we cannot release information without
the beneficiary's consent. A consent statement signed and dated by the beneficiary
must accompany any request of this type from another agency. In the same way, when
SSA is proposing to refer a claimant or beneficiary to another agency, you must obtain
consent from the beneficiary.