Letter to the Public on Service
Reading Time: 5 MinutesLast Updated: November 2, 2023
I want to update you about how things are going at the Social Security Administration.
About a year ago, I took the unprecedented step to close our offices to the public. I did this to keep our employees and you—the public we serve—safe. As we enter year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines and other precautionary measures give us cause for hope. For now, we will continue our current safety measures as described in our COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan. This plan is iterative, and we will update it as we receive additional government-wide guidance and information from public health experts in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Like many businesses and organizations, the pandemic has forced us to adapt. I want to thank our employees for their willingness to embrace innovative ways of working while we continue to deliver our mission. As we examine our work in a new light, we are asking which lessons learned could improve service beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
We understand that the public wants to engage with us on some matters in person, and our local offices are integral to our communities. We also know that not everyone can conveniently come to us in person and that when you do visit, you want the process to be efficient. For example, we may need evidence from you, but we do not need to interview you in person. We are currently testing drop box and express appointment options for the public to bring in documentation.
Often, you only need to know your Social Security number and do not need a physical Social Security card. However, if you do need to replace your card, we are testing video appointments if you need a new Social Security card but do not need to change any of the information in our records. Although ideas like these began as solutions during COVID-19, we are considering how they could improve service in the future.
Some of these concepts also allow us to consider how we might continue to use telework, something that most organizations and companies have depended on during the COVID-19 pandemic, to drive longer-term operational efficiencies like reducing space. We could use those savings to provide you more online service options and hire more people to serve you more quickly as well as to retain outstanding employees. We will continue to engage our managers, employees, and unions on ways we could use telework to improve customer service and other issues.
We often note that Social Security touches the lives of nearly every American. Be assured that as we continue to evolve, we are committed to serving everyone including our most vulnerable populations who often require in person assistance. We are working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, claimant advocates, and other organizations to ensure our services are accessible to people with low income, limited English proficiency, mental illness, or facing homelessness. We recently added online tools and information pages to our website including:
- Online resources for People Helping Others access our services.
- Online Outreach Materials for Partner Groups.
- Updated information for Faith-Based and Community Groups including a new toolkit.
As we contemplate the future, we are delivering now. To help improve deteriorating service, we have added over 6,000 frontline employees to help you. We decreased the average wait to talk to our 800 Number agents by one-third and reduced the agent busy rate by over 50 percent in the last two years, and our 800 Number agents handled 1.6 million more calls than they did a year ago.
During the pandemic, we shifted service to the telephone where local office employees answered 13 million more calls last year than they did in fiscal (FY) 2019. They answered your calls in under 3 minutes on average compared to an average wait of nearly 24 minutes in FY 2019.
For individuals who were denied benefits and requested an appeal, we quickly shifted to holding hearings by telephone at the start of the pandemic and then added online video hearings. During the pandemic, we have continued to reduce the number of people waiting for a hearing to 376,000 at the end of February 2021, the lowest level in nearly 20 years. We reduced the average wait for a hearing by over 9 months in the last two years. If you are still waiting for a hearing, please consider scheduling by telephone or video. You can find out more information about telephone hearings and video hearings.
The pandemic has significantly disrupted parts of our disability process, particularly at the state Disability Determination Services (DDS) that make disability determinations for us. We have provided the DDSs with additional hiring and overtime to help address a significant increase in pending initial disability cases. The DDSs have been able to reduce the number of people waiting for a decision on initial disability claims by about 100,000 cases since the height of the pending cases in August 2020. In order to make initial disability decisions as quickly as possible, and to reduce the burden on the medical community still stressed from the pandemic, we have focused our limited resources on completing initial requests for disability benefits and have reduced the number of continuing disability reviews we are conducting.
We have made some notable improvements to our online services:
- Our redesigned Retirement Benefits Portal helps you prepare and apply for retirement benefits, with clearer, simplified information.
- We improved our registration process for our online my Social Security account – more than one million people will register for an account this month.
- Our Message Center allows people with a my Social Security account to access notices online instead of by mail.
- We implemented an online payment option for people to repay debts to Social Security.
- We expanded our online Social Security card replacement service to almost all states. If you need to replace your card, you can request a replacement through your my Social Security account if you:
- Are a U.S. citizen age 18 years or older with a U.S. mailing address;
- Are not requesting a name change or any other change to your card; and
- Have a driver’s license or a state-issued identification card from one of 45 participating states or the District of Columbia. If your state does not yet participate in this service, check back soon. More states are added regularly.
The entire team at Social Security is working hard to serve you. We thank you for your patience during the COVID-19 pandemic and we look forward to welcoming you back in our offices when it is safe to do so. We also look forward to continuing to improve all of our service channels to provide you with convenient options to do business with us.
Did you find this Information helpful?
Tags: COVID-19, my Social Security, social security, SSI
See CommentsAbout the Author
Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
Commissioner of Social Security Administration (June 17, 2019 - July 9, 2021)
Comments
Comments are closed.
Michael D.
Dear sir I am an honorably discharged disabled veteran collecting Social Security disability for 20 years now it is being taken away from me passed around from one agency to another set on one individual’s agent desk for eight months now I am being harassed by the Social Security Administration and getting no help I’ve gone five months with no pay no cooperation with the local office here in Newport News Virginia I see no improvement I see it getting desperate
V.V.
For your security, Michael, we do not have access to private information in this venue. We ask that members in our Blog community work with our offices with specific questions. You can call us at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance or you can call your local Social Security office. Please look for the general inquiry telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator. The number may appear under Show Additional Office Information. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. We hope this information helps.
Hospitals &.
My auto-complete problem has been fixed by correcting my Google account. Sorry for the confusion, this does not relieve SSA of their responsibility to remove the mailing address from the SSA profile, nor to publish comments with a minimum of censoreship.
Lori
When will ppl on SSI recieve there third stimulus payment on there direct express cards. Get my payment option on irs .gov keeps saying payment status not available?? Pls help me/us??
Michael A.
Michael Anthony Hairston. 12/29/1967. I was wondering when we get our stimulus money on our DIRECT EXPRESS CARD. JAMES POPE IS MY PAYEE AN HE HAVE NOT GOT HIS STIMULUS MONEY ON HIS PNC BANK CARD. I KNOW OTHER PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN THERE STIMULUS AN THEY ARE ON DISABILITY ASWELL. IF YOU LET US KNOW WHAT DATE WE WILL GET OUR STIMULUS MONEY WE WANT WORRIED YOU ALL AT THE SOCIAL SECURITY CORP OFFICE. ITS ALOT OF PEOPLE THAT IS ON DISABILITY THAT HAVE NOT GOTTEN THERE MONEY. I HAVE TO PAY MY DUES IN CHURCH AN I HAVE TO GET MORE CLOTHES AN UNDERWEAR AN DIFFERENT THINGS. WHEN TRUMP WAS THE PRESIDENT WE DIDN’T HAVE THIS PROBLEM. HE WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT WE EVERY HAD. YES I AM A REPUBLICAN BECAUSE MY FOSTER DAD WAS WHITE AN HE WAS A REPUBLICAN. I KNOW SOCIAL SECURITY CORP OFFICE AN THERE EMPLOYEES ARE A HARD WORKERS. PEOPLE HAVE TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY CORP OFFICE TIME TO GET THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE ORDER SO THEY DO IT CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME. GOD AN MYSELF HOPE YOU ALL KEEP DOING A GOOD JOB. BUT I DO NEED MY STIMULUS MONEY WHEN YOU ALL PROCESS IT. AND THANK YOU
Mike S.
Were is the raise Biden promised to social security I have to agree with Lisa and after only getting $1400 instead of the $2000 promised Trumpgave us the $600 why is Biden getting credit also it is now looking like Biden is a better liar than Tru
J. H.
SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul is not giving any statements on the fraud and severe Identity Theft that we are being victimized by between the SSA and EDD. There are fraudulent claims being made by criminals (and possibly staff) to the EDD with illegal use of our SSA info and our disability funds are being illegally delayed and withheld. The SSA is also mailing out documents with severely incorrect and fraudulent info including incorrect and fraudulent residential addresses that us victims have never lived at nor notified the SSA about to try to falsely accuse innocent disabled victims of these crimes. I have contacted several law enforcement and other agencies including the OIG, FBI, and IRS and they are all blaming the SSA and EDD. I am finally receiving my funds back. JH
Loretta L.
I get ssi i havent received my 3rd stimlus yet it hasnt been process,not enough info
Sharon m.
Any information when SSDI will receive the 3RD EIP
No information anywhere or very limited
Carolyn s.
So i guess the old people don’t matter…we get no help after paving the way….whats up with this.we’re in the pandemic also
DOUGLAS W.
I would like to see President Biden’s Social Security plan implemented I like the part where the surviving spouse would get a 20% increase and not lose over 60% I’m income which they need to survive on I was not happy with the one point 3 Cola that we got this year it is not enough to make a living on all Social Security recipients need at least for 6 years a 5% per year increase in their social security to bring them into a living income that they can survive on