When organizing a notice based on importance of the information, first state the action,
decision, or information that most directly affects that reader. The remainder of
the notice contains specialized information, exceptions, or secondary points that
are progressively less significant to the reader. For example, a disallowance notice
is organized to:
-
a.
inform the reader that we disallowed their application;
-
b.
state the reason(s) for the disallowance;
-
c.
provide information on how to appeal the decision; and
-
d.
give SSA contact information if the reader has questions.
Other notices are more general in content and are sent to a large group of people
(for example, the 2009 Economic Recovery Payment notice). The most important information
for notices sent to a large audience is the information that affects the most readers.
Organizing a notice on the basis of importance to the majority of the audience ensures
that the information, action, or decision with the greatest significance to the largest
number of readers comes first, followed by notice content that involves successively
fewer readers.