The Underfunded Social Security Administration to Blame for Poor Customer Service

Have you visited your local Social Security Administration (“SSA”) office lately? If you have, I bet you had a tremendous wait before receiving any help from a SSA representative. SSA’s phone lines are also difficult to get through. SSA is aware of the problem and is blaming their budget for these delays.

 “Our service budget has been underfunded since FY 2010,” reported SSA. Budget cuts are never welcomed by Federal agencies, but SSA’s underfunding has posed a particular problem for the Administration given the fact that Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income recipients have risen by 12 percent since 2010.

SSA service has also been hurt by shorter office hours and a 5 percent reduction in employees since 2010. SSA has had fewer visitors to their offices since 2010, which may be due to an increase in online services, but this decrease in visitors has not improved waiting times. In fact, 4.5 million visitors waited for over an hour before receiving help at the local SSA field offices in 2015. This is a 95 percent increase in waiting times since 2010.  

We will have to wait and see how the new Administration plans to fix SSA’s growing customer service problem. Until then, SSA continues to see its reputation tarnished as its customer service flounders.

Got a question about SSDI or SSI that you need us to answer? Please check out our website at www.westcoastdisability.com . We try to provide you with helpful information on our website that will allow you to successfully navigate the Social Security Disability process. Also, feel free to email me your questions at megan@westcoastdisability.com or call me at (800) 459-3017 x 103.