Emergency advance payments (EAPs) and Immediate Payments (IPs) are two ways to make payments to persons via Third Party Draft who are due SSI benefits and have a financial emergency. EAPs are made under statutory authority. IPs were set up to help individuals who do not qualify for EAPs. They both address the situation where certification to Treasury for regular payments, automated one-time payments (A-OTPs), or manual one-time payments (M-OTPs), cannot be made or would not be fast enough. See SM 01901.000 for discussion of A-OTPs and M-OTPs. The EAP and IP are advances against future SSI payments and must be recovered; they are not additional money due the SSI recipient. You are required to make EAPs and IPs when the criteria for them are met.

A person who has been receiving interim assistance can receive an EAP or IP. The EAP or IP is not payable to the State for reimbursement. Subtract the EAP or IP amount from the retroactive SSI benefits payable. What is left is available for reimbursement to the State.

The amount of an EAP or IP is based on the amount of SSI the person is due. SI 02001.020 gives the Federal benefit rates (FBRs); SI 01415.001ff gives State supplementary payment (SSP) levels; SI 02005.001ff gives the rules for computing SSI benefits.

You can pay an EAP or IP as an advance against PD/PB payments. Reminder: A determination that a person is ineligible because he/she is not disabled or blind does not cause him/her to be overpaid PD/PB payments (see SI 02201.010 A.1].

The rules for when a payment should be made to a person directly, and when payment should be made to a representative payee, are the same for EAPs and IPs as they are for regular payments.