Social Security

Retention Date: 05/19/2025

A. Purpose

This emergency message (EM) provides policy guidance and processing instructions for handling the pending protective filing requests established using the electronic SSA Protective Filing (eSPF) tool (a.k.a. Online Protective Filing tool) after decommissioning of the tool on November 21, 2024.

B. Background
eSPF was released on March 19, 2022, as a public-facing web tool that allowed individuals to submit a request for an appointment to file for benefits and record a protective filing date for themselves or on behalf of someone else. Effective November 21, 2024, eSPF will be decommissioned but any pending appointment requests that remain still need to be worked until all requests are addressed.

The chart below lists the available eSPF options, a description of each option, and the remark generated in the enhanced Leads and Appointment System (eLAS).

Upon submission of the appointment request, the information is sent to eLAS to create a protective filing record for further action.

IMPORTANT: Continue to monitor and work eSPF requests until no eSPF requests remain.

C. Retrieving eSPF Protective Filing Requests

Field office (FO) managers will continue to designate appointment requests to FO staff who will address them by following the instructions below, based on office staff availability and workload volumes.

Take the following actions to review and work eSPF requests:

Retrieve listing of eSPF requests from the eLAS Listing Request Menu or by using Workload Action Center (WAC).

Retrieving records in eLAS:

1. Select the “Listing Request Menu” tab on the eLAS home page. The “Listing Request Menu” screen provides access to available listings in eLAS.

2. On the “Listings Request Menu” screen, enter the Office Code and select “Pending”, then select “Submit”.

3. Select “Single Unit” and enter “ONLPFL” in the “All 6 Positions” field.


IMPORTANT: All eSPF requests in eLAS are identified by Employee Name (EE) and Unit Code ONLPFL.

4. For desired workload type, select “Initial Claims/No Appointment”.

5. For Age Category, select “All”.

6. To see only records with Time Sensitive or General Field Office Alerts, select “Yes” to Critical Cases Only. To see records with or without alerts, select “No” to Critical Cases Only.

7. Select “Submit”.

Retrieving in WAC:
1. Ensure you are logged into PCOM; check the office code.

2. Select “+” next to workloads to expand the list.

3. Select the box next to eLAS. Select “Request Workload” and begin the import.

4. WAC displays the imported workloads in the download window. eSPF requests are identified by unit ONLPFL.

Beginning in December 2023, WAC also displays eSPF 1^st and 3^rd party submissions under the Pending eLAS listing.

D. Reviewing the information provided – “Special Circumstances”

When using eSPF, the individual submitting the request had an option to report a “Special Circumstance” that created one of the following “sensitive” or “office alerts”, or a remark in eLAS and WAC:

· Military casualty (MC) or Wounded Warrior (WW)

· Veterans Affairs 100% disability

· Homelessness

· Medical condition that is untreatable and expected to result in death

· Need sign language interpreter service

· Need visual accommodation

· Recently released from a correctional institution.

Except for “Recently released from a correctional institution”, which created a remark only, eSPF requests containing any of the other Special Circumstances above created an alert in eLAS and WAC.

Requests with an alert indicating any of the above “Special Circumstances” or with a remark indicating recent release from incarceration should be worked first. Work all other eSPF requests starting with the earliest receipt date.

E. Scheduling appointments

Attempt to call the claimant prior to scheduling an appointment if the eLAS record contains a “Special Circumstance” alert or remark noted in Section D. Follow instructions below in Section E.2. for protective filings that meet these criteria.

For all other eSPF requests, depending on the office volume and workload, schedule appointments with or without claimant contact.

1. Scheduling with no claimant contact or contact was unsuccessful

Schedule the first available appointment that is at least seven days out on the appointment calendar for the claim types already established in eLAS.

· Send the appointment confirmation notice through eLAS.

Work eLAS records containing a special circumstance alert or a remark indicating recent release from incarceration first.

a) Attempt to contact the potential claimant by phone.
i. If the phone contact is unsuccessful:
a. Document the contact attempt in the remarks section in eLAS and schedule the first available appointment.

b. If there are no appointments immediately available, annotate remarks in eLAS. The request will remain on the listing to address first the next day.

c. For situations in which individuals received on-screen closeout (see chart in section B) do not provide a new closeout notification and make every effort to schedule the appointment prior to the end of the closeout period. See section G.2 below to send a closeout notice when an individual did not receive one on-screen.

NOTE: If no appointments are available, annotate remarks in eLAS. The request will remain on the listing to address first the next day. Make every effort to schedule the appointment prior to the end of the closeout period (60 days for T16 and 6 months for T2). Closeout language automatically appears on-screen for some users (see chart in section B). Do not provide new closeout notification if on-screen closeout language was already provided see section G.1. If the claimant alleges a “Special Circumstance”, schedule the appointment at least 7 days out on the appointment calendar for an appointment confirmation notice to generate from eLAS.

IMPORTANT: If the appointment was scheduled without contacting the claimant, technicians are required to verify the identity of the claimant at the time of filing the application for benefits. When scheduling an appointment without claimant contact, technicians should select “No” below the “Number holder contacted and identified successfully?” prompt. Selecting “No” will ensure the “Verify PI” button is not enabled. “Verify PI” should not be selected until the claimant’s identity is verified at the beginning of their appointment.

2. Scheduling appointments with claimant contact

Unless the claimant alleges a “Special Circumstance” as noted in Section D, there is no requirement to attempt to contact the claimant to schedule an appointment.

Work eLAS records containing a special circumstance alert or a remark indicating recent release from incarceration first.

NOTE: For all claimants, including those who allege a “Special Circumstance”, schedule the appointment at least 7 days out on the appointment calendar for an appointment confirmation notice to generate from eLAS.

ii. If phone contact is successful:
a. Verify the claimant’s identity per GN 00203.020.
Note: If the caller is someone other than the claimant (e.g., parent, legal guardian) make sure they are a proper applicant, per GN 00204.003, before making any updates in eLAS or releasing information. Follow the identification instructions for the caller (if different than the claimant) in GN 03360.005.
b. After successfully verifying the claimant’s identity, document that you verified the identity on the eLAS Summary screen by changing the response for “Number holder contacted and identified successfully?” to “Yes.” This will enable the “Verify PI” button.

c. Select the “Verify PI” button. This will take you to the Verify PI screen, which will propagate the information from the eSPF tool for you to review with the potential claimant and to make any necessary updates. Select “Save” to store the information to PI. This action will receipt in the UNVER issue on the Development Worksheet.

IMPORTANT: Failure to complete the steps above will result in Modernized Claims System (MCS) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Consolidated Claims Experience (CCE) not receiving the correct protective filing date or the appointment information, and the record in eLAS will remain open indefinitely. See MS 00601.013 for more information on the UNVER issue on the eLAS WKSH.

d. Once identity has been verified and documented into PI, proceed as follows:
· For “Special Circumstance” allegations, offer to take the claim right away. However, if the potential claimant indicates that they prefer scheduling an appointment, honor this request and, if necessary, provide accommodations such as an interpreter. Manually establish an appointment following normal procedures if none is available and expedited claims taking is required (e.g., terminal illness, MC/WW, etc.). Do not suppress the appointment confirmation notice.


· For all other appointments, follow normal procedures to either take the claim or establish an appointment based on the online request. Do not suppress the appointment confirmation notice.
· If no appointments are available, annotate remarks in eLAS. The record will remain on the listing to address first the next day.

· Since protective filing closeout language automatically appears for some eSPF requests (see chart in section B), do not provide new closeout notification see section G.1, and make every effort to schedule the appointment prior to the end of the closeout period.

· See the Note in Section F if the verified claimant does not want an appointment and decides not to file.

F. Taking Claims Involving an eSPF Request

An appointment originates from the eSPF tool when ONLPFL is present on the Appointment Board in the Visitor Intake Process-rewrite (VIPr) or in the unit code in eLAS. If ONLPFL is present, technician MUST start the claims interview in eLAS before entering the SSN in MCS or the SSI CCE.

NOTE: After verifying the identity of the claimant and the information in PI, if the claimant decides not to file, and a closeout notice has not been provided yet, follow existing procedures in GN 00204.012C and SI 00601.037D.2.c to issue the proper closeout notice(s) and receipt in the closeout issue(s) on the Development Worksheet screen in eLAS, as appropriate.

If we have already provided closeout language (either on-screen for first parties or as part of the appointment confirmation notice for third parties) make a remark in eLAS that the customer no longer wishes to file. Do not send an L-991. Refer to EM-24006.

NOTE: All verified information from eLAS (address, telephone number, language preference) propagates to VIPr.

If the appointment is in VIPr and eLAS has an open UNVER issue, you will receive an alert:

If you receive this alert, click the “Verify” button and enter the claimant information in eLAS to resolve the “Verify PI” button (see E.2 above).

G. Closeout Process

1. Users Receiving On-Screen Protective Filing Closeout Language

The eSPF tool provided the mandatory closeout language on the screen to individuals who selected one of the following options when completing the eSPF request:

· Yourself

· A minor child (including your own) whose care you are responsible for or for whom a court has appointed you the legal representative

· An incompetent adult whose care you are responsible for or for whom a court has appointed you the legal representative

· Someone else who is with you as you answer these questions

The receipt date (REC) for the T2CO and T16CO issues on the eLAS Development Worksheet (WKSH) screen automatically prefill. Do not send a closeout notice or alter the REC dates for the T2CO or T16CO issues in eLAS.

2. Users Not Receiving On-Screen Protective Filing Closeout Language

Individuals who selected one of the following options when completing the eSPF request did not receive an on-screen closeout:

· Your Spouse

· Someone else who is not with you but has a good reason why they cannot sign their own application at this time.

Beginning August 10, 2024, all initial claim appointment notices (e.g., T2, T16, and Concurrent T2/T16) include protective filing closeout language when the appointment is scheduled in eLAS at least 7 days in the future. Before taking the steps below, review the T16CO and T2CO issues on the eLAS Development Worksheet. If these issues are receipted in, that means a closeout was already sent.

If someone who did not receive on-screen protective filing closeout language misses their appointment that was scheduled in eLAS less than 7 days in the future (i.e. no closeout was provided in the appointment notice), take the following actions to close out the protective filing:

1. Prepare a manual closeout notice in the Document Processing System (DPS) by selecting the “Closeout letter (General)” notice from the “Initial Claims” folder in DPS;



2. Select the “Concurrent” header and “Concurrent” closeout language option in DPS to include the proper closeout language for both T2 and T16 in the notice. Be sure to input the correct protective filing date and the appropriate closeout period end dates for T2 and T16, when creating the notice in DPS;



3. When prompted, select the option for “Other Optional Text” for Universal Text Identifier (UTI) AAA009 and insert the following text in the “Other Optional Text” field:



“We tried to call you, as scheduled, on {insert date}, but we were unable to reach you. If you want to schedule another appointment, please call us.”.

4. Send the closeout notice to the claimant;



5. After completing the closeout notice, manually receipt in the T2CO and T16CO issues on the eLAS WKSH screen (See MS 00601.013).

NOTE: Follow normal closeout procedures in GN 00204.012 and SI 00601.037 if the claimant’s identity and the information in PI was verified when the appointment was scheduled.

H. Multiple Protective Filings

Beginning on March 12, 2024, the eSPF tool prevents the submission of duplicate protective filing requests for the same potential claimant. Users were limited to successfully submitting one protective filing request per SSN using the tool within a six-month period (MSS24-032 OTH).

However, you may still encounter multiple eSPF protective filings in eLAS. If you encounter multiple protective filings in eLAS:

1. Follow instructions in GN 01010.008B.2 to identify and evaluate potential earlier protective filing dates previously established when taking a claim.

2. When working your eLAS listings and there are multiple protective filings:

a. Annotate any future appointment on the subsequent record(s).
i. If that appointment is missed, management shall delete any multiple eSPF request(s) submitted prior to the appointment date after 210 days.

ii. If you speak with the claimant at the appointment and verify their identity and verify PI, you must resolve the UNVER issue on each eSPF request for the record to fall off the listing according to the eLAS purge criteria.

I. eSPF Requests Older Than 210 Days

All eSPF requests appear in eLAS as concurrent. Sometimes, an eSPF request has been worked (e.g. an appointment scheduled, or a claim taken), and remains pending on the eLAS listing. This can happen because:

1. The technician contacted the claimant but did not resolve the Verify PI button in eLAS; or

2. The claimant was a no-show for their appointment.

In both circumstances, review the record carefully to ensure that the eLAS record accurately reflects the correct protective filing date (if a claim was taken) and all relevant policies and procedures were followed.

If after reviewing the record and determining that no additional action is necessary, management shall delete this eLAS record once 210 days has elapsed from the protective filing date and no future appointment is scheduled.

J. Public Inquiries Involving the eSPF tool

The eSPF tool provided a confirmation message on screen and sent an email confirmation of the appointment request to the requestor (if they provided an email address) stating that SSA will schedule an appointment and send notification within 7-14 business days.

1. If a member of the public contacts SSA, states that they used the eSPF tool, and they are calling to schedule the appointment, query eLAS to confirm if there is already an “ONLPFL” record pending, or an appointment already established.

· If an appointment has not been established, but an eLAS record with ONLPFL is present, follow instructions in Section E.2.a. ii. above.

· If you cannot locate an eLAS record, or the caller alleges they received an error message, follow normal procedures to establish a protective filing record in eLAS and schedule the appointment.

IMPORTANT: If remarks in eLAS indicate the protective filing was established by a spouse or a third party who helped someone else who was not with them (option 4 or 6 as described in the chart in Section B), you have the ability to schedule, reschedule, or cancel appointments and print/email appointment confirmation notices only if the caller is the same individual who submitted the information via the eSPF tool. If the caller is a different third party, or if the claimant was contacted prior to scheduling (refer to Section E.2.), inform them that the potential claimant or the individual who submitted the eSPF request must contact us to make changes.

NOTE: No data is saved or sent to eLAS, and a protective filing date is not established when:

· the individual using the eSPF tool received an error message;

· they did not complete all mandatory fields to submit the eSPF request; or

· the submission failed.

2. If a member of the public contacts SSA to inquire about whether eSPF is still available, explain that:

a. The tool was decommissioned on November 21, 2024.

b. We will continue to process existing eSPF requests using our normal business process.

c. Customers may continue to use our existing online services including:

i. i3820 for children; and

ii. iClaim for adults.

d. We can schedule an appointment for them.

K. Important Reminders

· Complete the PROTFL REC date field in eLAS ONLY when a claim is taken, but at least one of the claim types on the eLAS record cannot be pulled into MCS or SSI CCE.

· Do not delete the UNVER request date when working protective filings or complete the Verify PI process prior to contacting the claimant and verifying their identity.

· Failure to take the appropriate steps to Verify PI before establishing a claim will result in the claims system not receiving the protective filing date and not properly receipting in the issue in eLAS. See MS 00601.013 on how to properly receipt in the UNVER issue on the eLAS WKSH.

· If an individual missed the appointment and contacts us to discuss SSI after the eSPF protective filing expires, the new contact with the claimant creates a new oral inquiry (as defined in SI 00601.025). In this case, document a new protective filing in eLAS and close it out, as appropriate (see EM-24006D.7)

.Please direct all program-related and technical questions to your Regional Office (RO) support staff using vHelp or Program Service Center (PSC) Operations Analysis (OA) staff. RO support staff or PSC OA staff may refer questions, concerns, or problems to their Central Office contacts.

References
EM-24006 – Policy Changes and Procedures to Streamline the Recording of Protective Filing Dates
GN 00203.020 – Identity of Claimants
GN 00204.010 – Protective Filing
GN 00204.012 – How to Close a Protective Writing
SI 00601.025 – Protective filing – Oral Inquiry
SI 00601.037 – Closing out Protective Filings
GN 03360.005 – Releasing Information by Telephone
MS 00601.013 – Development Worksheet (WKSH)
MSS 24-032 OTH – Electronic SSA Protective Filing (eSPF) Took Enhancement Release