As the second week of November sets in, the Social Security Adminsitration (SSA) will likely be preparing for the roll out of its first major batch of Social Security benefit payments for the month. On Wednesday of this week, the first of three batches of Social Security recipients will receive their benefits for the month.
There are currently well over 70 million beneficiaries in the Social Security program, some are retirees, others are survivors or disabled individuals, and some are recipients of the Supplemental Security Income. The SSA follows a very particular schedule for its payment of benefits, with the regular Social Security benefit and the Supplemental Security Income following its own respective payment schedules. Payment dates for both types of benefits can be found on the same payment schedule, which can be found on the SSA’s website.
When are benefits paid to recipients each month?
The SSA follows a rather specific payment schedule for its Social Security benefit payments. Benefit checks are rolled out on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month. Each beneficiary will, of course, only receive one benefit check each month. The SSA has, however, spread out its payment days throughout the month likely due to the sheer volume of recipients in the program. As such, the specific date on which a beneficiary will receive their check depends on their date of birth.
The payment schedule for the regular Social Security benefit, which includes retiree benefits, survivor benefits, and disability benefits, is structured as follows:
- second Wednesday of the month — beneficiaries with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th of their respective birth month
- third Wednesday of the month — beneficiaries with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month
- fourth Wednesday of the month — beneficiaries with birth dates from the 21st to the 31st of their respective birth month
There is a small caveat to this schedule for a specific batch of beneficiaries, however. If a beneficiary has been receiving Social Security benefits from May 1997, or if they are receiving both the regular benefit, as well as the Supplemental Security Income, then this batch of beneficiaries will receive their Social Security benefit on the 3rd of the month.
The Supplemental Security Income is typically paid on the first of each month. If the first of the month happens to fall on a holiday or a weekend, however, the SSA will push up this payment to the last working day of the previous month. This way, beneficiaries are able to have their benefit check for month as the month begins rather than waiting for the first working day of the new month.
The November Supplemental Security Income had been paid to recipients on October 31st since November 1st fell on a Saturday this year. If the SSA did not push up payments in these cases, SSI recipients would have had to wait until November 3rd for their SSI benefit as that is the first working day of the month.
Complete payment schedule for November
Payments for November benefits had already begun at the end of October due to the SSA’s scheduling quirk for SSI benefits. While benefit payments for November have already begun rolling out, Wednesday, November 12th will bring with it the first major round of benefit checks for the month.
As such, here is a complete outline of all payment dates for the month of November:
- October 31st — SSI for November
- November 3rd — Social Security for those receiving benefits before May 1997 or those who receiving both Social Security and SSI benefits
- November 12th (second Wednesday) — Social Security for recipients born between the 1st and the 10th
- November 19th (third Wednesday) — Social Security for recipients born between the 11th and the 20th
- November 26th (fourth Wednesday) Social Security for recipients born between the 21st and the 31st