Thanks for your patience — we’ve had a brief unplanned hiatus while we wrap up some other projects, but we’re ready to make 2024 the Summer of Casework!

When we host casework events (and our webinars are coming back soon — stay tuned!), the questions we hear most often are about how other casework teams work.

We’ve talked before about how difficult it is to find answers to data questions about casework, but we decided to at least give some questions a try. Our new blog post covers some back-of-the-envelope answers to basic questions about casework (how many caseworkers are there? What’s the average count of caseworkers per office? What on earth counts as a casework job title these days?) and includes some surprising insights on casework titles and team structure.

Not to get sentimental, but these kinds of questions matter because casework matters: the work itself is vital, so understanding how it gets done and who does it is important too.

I am always here for questions, comments, suggestions, or just to chat. Feel free to reach out by replying to this email, or shoot me a note at anne@popvox.org.

Anne Meeker
Deputy Director
POPVOX Foundation

News About Casework

Detailed Ethics guidance on new cosponsored constituent events rules

Ethics, CHA, and the Communication Standards Commission have detailed guidance out about the new rules relaxing restrictions on cosponsored constituent events. Be sure to read carefully AND make sure your potential community partners are aware of the rules as well.

(TODAY) Fireside Chat: Tips for District Offices on Working with Whistleblowers

House staff are invited to join the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds and speakers from district offices for a virtual fireside chat on June 13 from 2–3 PM EDT. Speakers will discuss tips for working with whistleblower constituents and oversight sources from a district office perspective. House staff can register for the event through the Congressional Staff Academy website. For more information and to view speaker details, see the Office’s events page.

Big moves in the House Leg Branch Appropriations Bill

The House Legislative Branch Appropriations bill contains two big steps toward more support for casework: first, additional nudging for CRS to expand its agency liaison list to include regional and processing center contacts; and second, asking the Chief Administrative Officer to survey resources available to casework teams to identify places where the House can provide additional support. If you have strong feelings on this (for example, on whether a dedicated casework support office would be helpful…), let us know!

Casework in the news:

Huge applause to Team Hassan [D, NH] for their work helping Americans evacuate from Haiti!
RollCall reports on threats faced by district and state offices around the country.
Public service casework messaging from Senator Boozman [R, AR]
Passport fair coverage for Senator Warnock [D, GA]
Day of Constituent Service coverage for Rep. Tenney [R, NY]

Casework-related hearings:

What We Have Here…is a Failure to Collaborate: Review of GAO’s Annual Duplication Report: House Oversight Committee, June 13, 10 AM
The Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection: House Financial Services Committee, June 13, 10 AM
Hearings to examine work and Social Security Disability benefits, focusing on addressing challenges and creating opportunities: Senate Finance Committee, June 18, 10 AM

Casework-Related Agency News

The literal book on VA benefits

The VA’s former Undersecretary for Benefits published a book for veterans and families on understanding the full range of what they might be eligible for from the VA. This seems like a solid gold resource for new caseworkers… This also follows the introduction of a bill in the House that would require the VA Secretary to more actively promote transition-related benefits to qualifying service members.

Direct File is here to stay!

After a very successful 12-state pilot project, the IRS announced that the DirectFile pilot will be made permanent and expanded to all 50 states in the next filing season. Relatedly, the Taxpayer Advocate Service notes an area of tax service well in need of streamlining: ID theft cases, where victims wait on average almost two years for rectification.

Such a cool SSA data visualization

Social Security launched SecurityStat, a visualization of key performance indicators and goals for SSA public service. Definitely worth playing around to get a sense for your state’s averages. Other pieces of SSA’s glow-up include a revamped website that also saves on site infrastructure costs.

Bill on agency service delivery moves

The House passed a bipartisan bill that would require OMB to designate a service delivery lead and coordinate efforts to measure and improve government customer service across agencies.

Highest-ever VA trust scores

Scores from the VSignals survey show the highest-ever level of trust in VA services, up to 80% from a low of 55% in 2016. Relatedly, this is a nice retrospective on how VA care has changed with the VA app (which has an astonishing 4.8 stars in the Apple App store).

Predatory veteran “claims services”

New benefit opportunities under the PACT Act have led to a thriving network of companies scamming veterans by offering paid services for help with Compensation and Pension claims. Congress removed criminal penalties from this law years ago. Casework teams should be wary of scam services sending veterans to Congressional teams and then charging veterans for help (speaking from experience…).

New digital legacy tools for veterans

The National Cemetery Administration launched new tools to allow veterans to leave behind a digital archive of their service, and allow family and friends to share memories and tributes after the veteran passes.

FEMA is gearing up for hurricane season but staffing shortages remain

FEMA is working on proactive staffing and training to avoid detailing employees from elsewhere in DHS this year. A gentle reminder for folks who may handle hurricanes to say hi to your regional administrators and talk about how you can coordinate now.

Fed employee Flexible Spending Accounts paused after fraud

If you have a lot of federal employees in your district, you may hear about the pause in FSA enrollment (new enrollments and changes from qualifying life events) following a significant surge in fraud. Existing enrollees can still make claims.

Big whistleblower protection case

A case pending with the Merit Systems Protection Board could decide whether an informal complaint to an oversight body (as well as a formal one) may still constitute a protected disclosure. If your team works with whistleblowers, this is one to keep an eye on.

Some student loans may be placed into forbearance for July

Borrowers in the SAVE program may see their payment for July placed into forbearance while the Department of Education finishes loan amount calculations.

Good news on new unemployment portal for New Jersey

New Jersey is the first state to launch an updated user-friendly portal for UI benefits after participating in a pilot project with the Department of Labor. The process has also resulted in a 14% decrease in applications requiring additional review.

Newsletter: An Unscientific Survey of Caseworkers