Despite the final days of October approaching, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is not yet done with its payments for this month. On Friday, October 31st, recipients of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will receive a second SSI check since the month started.
This is not a bonus payment but rather it is a scheduling quirk implemented by the SSA for the benefit of the recipient. Here is what you need to know.
SSI payment schedule
Unlike the regular Social Security benefit which is paid across Wednesdays throughout the month, the Supplemental Security Income check is typically paid on the first of the month. If, however, the first of the month falls on a weekend or a holiday, the SSA will push up the payment for that month to the last working day of the previous month.
As a result, the official payment schedule will often have months where not one, but two SSI payments are made. In these cases, the following month will not have any SSI payments. It is important to note that whilst some months may have two payments and other months appear to have none, payments for all calendar months are accounted for on the schedule and each SSI recipient will receive a total of twelve SSI benefits for each year.
“When the first day of the month falls on the weekend or a Federal holiday, you receive your SSI payment on the last business day before the first day of the month. That means you may get two SSI payments in the same month,” the SSA explains. “We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment. It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.”
As such, the October 31st SSI payment that beneficiaries will receive this Friday is the SSI benefit for the month of November. This means that there will be no SSI payment being made throughout the month of November since it will have been paid to recipients one day earlier.
The agency does also note that, “if you received Social Security before May 1997 or if receiving both Social Security and SSI, Social Security will be paid on the 3rd and SSI on the 1st.”
SSI benefits will increase in 2026
Last Friday brought with it the highly anticipated COLA announcement. On October 24th — following days of delay due to the government shutdown — the SSA finally announced the exact percentage by which all benefits will be increased in the new year.
In 2026, all benefits, including the SSI, will be increased by a modest 2.8% starting with the benefit for January. Since the January SSI will be paid on December 31st due to January 1st being a holiday, SSI recipients will technically be receiving their 2026 COLA increase in 2025. However, it is still worth noting that the December 31st payment is the SSI benefit for January 2026.
In addition to announcing the 2.8% increase for all benefits, the SSA has also shared the monthly maximum amounts that will be paid to SSI recipients in 2026.
“The monthly maximum Federal amounts for 2026 are $994 for an eligible individual, $1,491 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $498 for an essential person,” as per the SSA.
The SSA also explains its calculation process for these figures as follows: “In general, monthly amounts for the next year are determined by increasing the unrounded annual amounts for the current year by the COLA effective for January of the next year. The new unrounded amounts are then each divided by 12 and the resulting amounts are rounded down to the next lower multiple of $1.”