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
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Maria V.
I am a new widow to the social security system. My husband died 54 days ago from covid-19 complications. He lived only a week on the ventilator. I want to thank the local office in Las Vegas. The 2 representatives I spoke to were kind and patient and helped me through the whole traumatic and emotional process. They helped me feel like I wasn’t alone in the process. Thank you for all your help.
V.V.
We are very sorry for your loss, Maria. We appreciate your positive feedback! Certainly, we’ll continue trying to provide the best possible service to our customers in all forums.
Robert H.
I have had a student loan turned in 4 times now to have that debt wiped off my record due to the Disability act protecting me from such things and now they have done it a 5th time and claimed my stimulus check. I have been disabled over 10 years now and it is permanent. My wages were garnished 5 years ago which was the last time I went through this process. I turned in all the paper work, was granted approval that I am legitimately disabled and they stopped garnishing my wages. I never got reimbursed though and now they say they show no proof again that I have turned this in, yet I get a check every month and they were ordered to stop garnishing my wages. How and why can this keep happening? Do you have any idea how hard it is to dig up my old Doctors from another state 10 years ago and ask them to justify my eligibility? It’s all just craziness. Change is needed or at the very least someone to help me with this. One time is an accident and understandable. 5 times is pure incompetence.
Tracy A.
They cut my check from $794 to $524 when I moved to Alabama now I will be homeless Come April the 1st I can’t even pay my rent now But they don’t care at all I have called to inform me I get hung up on
Lynn W.
It is extremely hard to be disabled and dealing with this pandemic I am behind on all my bills and I’m really hoping that the SSI payments will increase. The stimulus money is not enough to pay the bills that I’m behind on. Everyone on SSI needs help and there hasn’t been anything said or done to help our hard situation better.
Dianne S.
We don’t draw enough to get by and they sending stimulus checks to families that don’t want to work. We have put our time in. Where are our rewards?
jannettjames419@gmail.com
Mr.Mrs Rufus Jannett James we still haven’t gotten our January check the 600.00 from January we moved to 32 Pinewood Gardens pinewood Sc 29125 our old address we’re know longer living there old address is 4588 Kingstree High way can you please tell us when we will receive our 600.00 for January thank you Mr.Mrs Rufus Jannett James thank you so much God’s Blessings 🙏
Krystal W.
Why isn’t the government helping us on disability,like they helping the tax payers some of us have kids too, & we need extra assistance because of being disable. We barely making it during this pandemic & the winter storm, I cud barely pay my bills this year the we have to go last with stimulus, it’s like we’re rejects because we don’t pay taxes anymore! & Soc sec keep sending overpayment letters that I’ve never received payment on. Something is wrong with soc sec system. It needs to be updated, it has lots of overpayment errors. Or some one in that company is embezzling funds. I even emailed the AG about it but no reply. I called no one has an answer over the phone or in person they just say call payment center,& they don’t know either. I written 4 appeals in 3 years & no reply on any of them. How am I supposed to survive with my kids if the money granted to me from soc sec is garnished by soc sec. Somebody in authority please help me & my children. Have mercy please in Jesus Christ name
James D.
I am asking the same question, I am a disabled vet and get SSD check, I have direct deposit for both of them. Why haven’t I received my stimulus yet! We’re supposed to be first but that’s not what happened! ????????? Will I get a reply back? I guess I will wait and see. Totally depressed over this.
Norma C.
I’m on disability, how come my help is taking so long.
Ariel S.
The team at Home Care Palm Desert does not believe in a one-size-for-all approach to senior care. We provide customized hourly and live-in care plans that offer high-quality home care for your loved ones.