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.
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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.
Disappointed i.
My mom and myself receive benefits from you all and we are yet to see our third stimulus payment….why do the most needed people have to wait so long???? Nobody wants to answer this anywhere…very sad and hurtful.. smdh
Eduardo C.
Expired id’s?
Steven Q.
It’s all counterfeit money anyway the government should buy everyone a new home
Amy G.
Agree with all the people above, why?
Adeline V.
I have a problem to pay my rent, is very spinsive to leave in Miami. I whose homeless years ago I’m going to be again. I used to have my own place to leave beautiful car, known I lost everything put me in so much stress
Please I need a help to pay my rent
John G.
Same here! You would think, with all the smart people and new technology working on the stimulus payment one would figure out how to get the checks to people who are on disability first.
Yearly cost of increase $10. was a joke.
The joke continues….but it means little to them who receives large every year.
On disability, still haven’t received payment.
Jed f.
I had a major stroke right as the pandemic started and have been out of work for a year. Trying to raise my four boys and manage my bills. Still waiting on my disability a year later. Every month I am sitting here with a finale disconnect notice for my electric bill. Can not even make arrangements with my utility company cause SSA still has not told me anything on my disability. Love how we are treated as citizens
Matthew d.
I’m in the same predicament as many of these people. Why isn’t that if you already have our information in your system, and we’re some of the last to get our stimulus checks. The first one I didn’t get till nearly everything was done, and as for as assistance with anything, like snap or any other government assistance. I get denied with the reason being I make to much. You have got to be joking. They’re so worried about me sending in the last 3 months of receipts for hospital bills I’ve paid, and the same thing with how much I spent on my meds. Now why don’t all my other normal household bills aren’t adding into that. It’s ridiculous. A person who gets 961 a month and I’m supposed to be able to survive on this. Pay all bills, and buy groceries. I’m basically impossible. I sometimes feel like I’m getting pushed for having a debilitating disease. I never asked for this it’s the hand I was dealt. Yet a working person is able to get the help they need. I know of people right now who choose not to work or do anything with thier lives because it has been made so easy for them. Live in an apartment that they actually get paid to live in. SERIOUSLY!!!! Not a soul is paying for me to live in my home. I pay for everything myself and I’m watching them use a food stamp card when I’m the store. We have the lowest income yet the last to get the stimulus checks. Everything is backwards. If I didn’t had the choice to work or be on disability I would definitely choose work, but I can’t. I sorry that I became deathly ill and no cure for what I have, but I did work since I was 15 years old and I paid into ssi for these reasons. I guess that’s all the assistance y’all planned on giving me because I’ve been denied for everything else. Not everyone is looking for a hand out some actual need it for real. Priorities are not in favor for people on disability. I pray to the Lord everyday that the people with nothing are the ones needing the help bad. Please pay attention to what we’re saying and don’t blow us off. It’s already a tough one as it is. Just hoping to get the things I think we should be entitled too
Tina L.
hi my name is Tina and I was wondering if you guys could help me out and find out what’s going on with the stimulus check if you don’t mind I had to redo my paperwork for this yearand everything shouldn’t have to change I have a debit direct debit I like to know why we haven’t got our stimulus check is there a way somebody can give us a just a blank straight answer what are you guys doing everybody else seems to got the money oh wait the business is the big business and the people who don’t want to deliver the mail they got money all the business veterans I think that’s pretty shame so I was wondering if you guys to get help and see what you guys going to do about this text to the American people in need like those SSI SSD it’s a and veterans can you guys help can you guys respond and be honest but once in your lifetime thank you
L L.
Contact Dept Health n Human Services and tell them you need MEDICARE EXTRA HELP. The extra help pays all co-pays and deductibles including the 144.00 a month medicare charge (depending on your income). Also pays for Medicaid decutables.