The Social Security Administration pays out $1 trillion in annual benefits to tens of millions of people. Widely considered the most popular government program, it doesn’t earn those plaudits through its customer service.
People who need help from one of Social Security’s 1,230 field offices often find that the telephone system doesn’t work. Sometimes it automatically disconnects calls after 15 minutes on hold. Others find that hold times stretch to hours or that the telephone system never picks up.
“Applications and original documents get lost. One of our applications disappeared and didn’t surface for two years,” says Alison Weir, a staff attorney and policy advocate at Greater Hartford Legal Aid in New Haven, Connecticut, speaking at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee on May 17.
“Early in the pandemic the fax machine ran out of paper and the paper wasn’t replaced for months. Interpreters disappear mid-hearing,” Weir said. Between 2008 and 2021, more than 100,000 people died while awaiting decisions on their disability benefits.
Some benefit seekers have asked their elected representatives for help, but even Congressional offices report having trouble getting through the maze.
Too few employees and too much work
Presenters to the Ways and Means Committee hearing on Social Security’s customer service issues pointed to a system that has too much work and too few resources. Since 2010, Social Security has acquired 21 percent more beneficiaries, whose ranks have grown from 54 million to 65 million. Ten thousand baby boomers become eligible for retirement benefits every day.
But during the same period, the administration’s budget dropped by 14%, after adjusting for inflation. Social Security now has 60,000 workers — its lowest staffing level in 25 years — and has 13 percent fewer employees available to serve the public than in 2010.
During the worst of the pandemic, Social Security shut 67 field offices, shortened the hours that its remaining offices were open to the public and delayed updates to its information technology and telephone systems. As of April 7, nearly all the agency’s field offices are open again, though just a little more than half of its workforce is physically present. The remainder work from home.
More online services are only a partial fix
Social Security offices have a backlog of cases in the wake of the pandemic, and outdated systems prevent it from working through it efficiently, said Peggy Murphy, who is the district manager for four Social Security offices in Montana. “We need an overhaul.”
More online access for adults who have internet access would be helpful, witnesses said, pointing out that it’s not currently possible to fully apply for disability benefits online. But even with that problem fixed, not everyone has or can afford internet access. Yanina Cruz, head of the Hispanic Council on Aging, said that 42 percent of people aged 65 and older don’t have internet access at home, a number that’s often higher among multilingual communities and those with people of color.
Some people will still need help understanding and filling out Social Security forms, Cruz said, adding that 70% of adults over age 60 have difficulty using printed material and 80% have difficulty filling out forms. Many low-income people have internet access only on a cellphone, and a small screen makes filling out forms difficult or impossible. People with limited English language skills or intellectual disabilities may also need in-person appointments.
An updated telephone system, more automation, and better scanning and remote printing capacity could help free employees to help individual customers. Better remote services would also help. Grace Kim, deputy commissioner of operations at the Social Security Administration, said that teleservices have struggled around rules that require original documents and ink signatures.
Outdated systems create problems for employees, too
A lack of modern tools, overly complex procedures, and not enough money to hire and train new people has also kept the agency from meeting its workload. Some employees don’t yet feel it’s safe to return to in-person work, and teleservice problems make them less productive than they might otherwise be.
Other employees leave because they feel their workloads are too heavy, because the agency isn’t able to pay them sufficiently for overtime work, or because they are frustrated by how long it takes them to become effective. Because Social Security programs are so complex, it takes a new worker up to three years to become productive. The agency has an overall attrition rate of 10%, but that number is as high as 17% in the 800-number center.
When workers leave the Social Security Administration, it’s usually voluntary because firing poor performers requires years of documentation. Hiring freezes and limited budgets also make bringing new employees on board difficult, so managers prefer to keep mediocre workers, judging them better than nothing.
Proposed legislation titled “Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust,” could improve many of these problems, and its 201 cosponsors hope to bring it to a vote in the near future. But it was dealt a serious blow recently when a watchdog, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget,
