Social Security Announces Workforce and Organization Plans
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: February 28, 2025
Consistent with recent executive orders issued by the White House, the Social Security Administration will continue to implement efficiencies and reduce costs, with a renewed focus on mission critical work for the American people.
The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services. Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees. Rumor of a 50 percent reduction is false.
Initial steps to reduce the workforce included offering a limited number of employees the opportunity to leave the agency under the Deferred Resignation Program and Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA).
Yesterday, the agency announced to all employees that Social Security would soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions. The announcement includes offering Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to all employees on a first come first serve basis and expanding VERA to all employees. Both VERA and VSIP require employees to opt in and to separate from the agency by specific dates.
Social Security anticipates that much of the staff reductions needed to reach the target of 50,000 will come from retirement, VSIP, and resignation. Additional reductions will come from reduction-in-force (RIF) actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions. RIF also can include directed reassignments from one position to another position in the agency. Agencies are required to submit their RIF plans to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by March 13, 2025. No date has been set when a RIF might begin after OPM approves the plan.
SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient. SSA will now have seven Deputy Commissioner level organizations.
These steps prioritize customer service by streamlining redundant layers of management, reducing non-mission critical work, and potential reassignment of employees to customer service positions. Also supporting this priority is looking for efficiencies and other opportunities to reduce costs across all spending categories, including information technology and contractor spending. SSA is committed to ensure this plan has a positive effect on the delivery of Social Security services.
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Bila K.
This is a significant update from the Social Security Administration regarding workforce and organizational restructuring. The focus on streamlining operations and reducing costs while prioritizing customer service is commendable. For more detailed insights on background checks, especially in Florida, check out this guide:
Jane M.
Sounds like you are part of the Trump bunch.
2blind2see
Definitely
Julie
You are really making a good effort to look on the bright side. Either that or you don’t need Soc. Sec. or you’re still hanging on by a thread to believe trump and musk are gonna come through for folks! 👐 i believe you are sorely misguided and may want to check into this topic a bit more.
Kay
How is closing offices and reducing staff prioritizing customer service? My daughter recently called and was on hold for 4 HOURS, TWICE!. That’s not any kind off customer service. Are we still going to receive our payments on time? it’s my only income.
Jeannine O.
Went to SSA for death benefits for my 2 year old grandson. My grandson is an American citizen as was my son. My son lived in Vietnam teaching English and my daughter in law and grandson still live there. I opened my son’s case on 11/4 8 days after his death. There is a 6 month window to apply for benefits by my son’s widow to obtain benefits from opening of case to application. A lump sum payment would be paid for the months between opening the case and applying for benefits.
Unable to get an appointment in March ( appointments with more than 5 month wait.) when d-i-l would visit. Told just walk in to apply, which we did today. The phrase today was “things have changed.” No longer able to walk in to apply for death benefits, must make appointment and the next available appointment is past the 6 months deadline. Now d-i-l will need to travel 3 hours to the American embassy in Saigon to apply for benefits and will still miss the 6 month window. $2400 dollars down the drain because things changed. Everything changed when my son died for all his family. His son, his wife, his parents. They were going to come live near us, but without the husband that probably won’t happen . Even though immigration wise it could happen, but later.. foreign spouses/ widows might not be able to come.
Ami
Just wondering if our monthly retirement payments for social Security are going to be made on time or will you be late 30 to 60 days or more? You know, we rely on these payments that we’ve been paying into all our working days. They are not entitlements.
C.B.
Hi, Ami. Thanks for reading our blog and for your question. All SSI payments and Social Security benefits are scheduled on time without delay. For pay dates, you may find the Schedule of Social Security Payments | SSA calendar useful. We hope this helps!
Tammy S.
Can you explain to me how a ssa judge granted me disability but widow still have not approved 18 months and I have had neck surgery sent this
Margaret H.
I wish someone would advise the Democrats that SS benefits are not going to be touched. They need to stop fear mongering that our SS benefits are going to be cut. They are creating anxiety in those that believe benefits are going to be cut. I don’t believe this, but I did have to find articles explaining why they they are pushing this lie.
Chick C.
Headlines like these make people nervous:
Social Security Division Likely To Shutdown Shortly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoE1Oc_Dg8w
Derrick
SSI may not be touched but the system to get people signed up for SSI is being slashed. My mother tried to sign up at an office and they now require appointment. The hold time to make an appointment is over 2 hrs and scheduled over a month out. Local office now only has 1 person and a security guard in Villa Rica GA. This is destroying the system without “taking benefits”
Christine
There are four political parties in the US: Republican, Democrat, Independent and Money. Money being the most powerful of the four and it transcends all political views. Right now the Republican Party is threatening 70 million seniors money. We’ll see how that works out in the coming midterms.
Liz
Maybe the benefits won’t be ‘touched’, but getting them certainly is much, much slower and the customer service has steeply declined in just a couple of months. My spousal benefits application has been sitting in limbo for over 60 days. No one answers the phone, including at our local office. This is not an exaggeration. I have been trying to call various numbers for weeks and have reached no one. Local offices in my rural area have had staff slashed. Until very recently, the SSA staff was efficient, helpful, knowledgeable and FAST. It needs to be changed back to that now.
Karen
Cutting the staff increasing call times and maybe delaying applications and payments amounts to the same thing if you need the checks to pay rent and food.
F_MAGA
They are gutting it without saying out loud that they are gutting it. With all of the thousands of Federal job losses & mass deportations (Migrants pay into SS but don’t collect it) Social Security will be depleted in record time. Then once they have broken it, they will try to privatize it to make their rich Wall Street buddies happy while the rest of us that paid in for our whole lives are screwed.
F_MAGA
They are gutting it without saying out loud that they are gutting it. With all of the thousands of Federal job losses & mass deportations (Migrants pay into SS but don’t collect it) Social Security will be depleted in record time. Then once they have broken it, they will try to privatize it to make their rich Wall Street buddies happy while the rest of us that paid in for our whole lives are screwed.
CKG
I think there is someone stronger than the MAGA selfish right. It is possible that the harder they try to gut social security, the more social security succeeds ….getting its monthly payments out and waiting on customers and signing people up for payments, based on what they have earned over their lifetimes. God be with Us.
Jane V.
You obviously only listen to Trump and Fox News.
2blind2see
Read between the lines, you can cut SS by making it near impossible to verify your ID. Sad you fight so hard to not see what is obvious. Not your turn now but it will be….
Stan
The agency is certainly not bloated. In Germany, we are told it takes 6 months to get a response. My wife got a call back from an employee in South America, trying to help ease the backload on Frankfurt.
Looking at the staff size, it’s about the same as it was in 1995, while the volume of work has risen dramatically.
I suspect that by cutting staff now, this opens up the opportunity for a private company to get a contract to perform the same services.
Kimberly K.
I’m going through an expedited reinstatement of my disability benefits. This has been since Nov 13th 2024 and it is now March 12th 2025 and every time I call I get different and inaccurate information. Then when they ask for additional documents which were already sent, I’m just sending in the same information multiple times…..this is redundant and seems that it’s only prolonging the process. Why is this expedited reinstatement taking so long and why are agents giving me inaccurate information?
Charlene G.
I’m just trying to figure out what bank I have
Rhonda A.
I have a work ticket but it’s been over twelve years. I am taking care of both my parents daily they are 86 and 89 years old can I get paid to work for them I was told that but I don’t know how to go about it.Can you please give me some information about how to apply for the both parents and I want have to worry of getting paid to much and with my diagnosis I can take care of them at the same time I need to be able to go on my own pace and take care of myself. As long as I have my medication I can do my best taken care of the both parents. Please advise me how to go about this please
Thank you
Rhonda Sue Alvarez
12/04/1971
***-**-****
Judith S.
I can help with that. The program is called CDS or Consumer Directed Services. You can shop the Home Health agencies in your area and they will help you. They will take care of your background check and will basically “train you”… The agencies pay differently so you should shop around but don’t let them know you are shopping them. Most people don’t know that each agency pays differently. Hope this helps
C.B.
Hi, Rhonda. Thanks for visiting our blog. For information about the Ticket to Work program, please visit our Welcome to Work Site page. We hope this helps.
Linda
I wanted to know is our payments going to be delayed by 30 or 90 days in ssdi please answer
C.B.
Hi, Linda. Thanks for reading our blog and for your question. All SSI payments and Social Security benefits are scheduled on time without delay. For pay dates, you may find the Schedule of Social Security Payments | SSA calendar useful. We hope this helps!
AJ
How can SS be “bloated” when I cannot get anyone to answer my phone calls. When I left my number to be called when next in line, no one ever called me. Then they want you to call to make a appointment to go to a office. This should be able to be done online.
Debbie M.
You said it!:wait times and getting through to offices is ridiculous now when they cut personnel it will get worse. Also some ssan recipients have trouble getting to local offices if these change how many ss offices are in a region and they require appts instead of answering questions one the phone what will these seniors do.
2blind2see
It’s on the people now to take back WHAT is OURS. SS is not government only when they need to borrow from it! Pay back what you’ve taken and NEVER replaced. This is not about money for rrumpmush. It’s CONTROL! They want Americans yo now to them! Still some magas but more sane and wide awake
KATHRYN R.
So tired of my SS benefits being described as an entitlement. No, they were taken from wages I earned. If SS is going to be completely gone, I want all my monies, all my deceased husbands monies and interest, because all that money were funds that our household could have used when they were earned.
Debbie M.
Tou said it s8ster we paid into system for these “entitlements “. We need to make sure to vote in the upcoming special elections in the states they are in and also midterms in 2026 so there will be a majority in Congress that will protect our so called ” entitlements “, our democracy, free speech and American freedoms in general for all!!