Each month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends out checks to recipients for two kinds of benefits: the regular Social Security benefit, and the SSI, or Supplemental Security Income benefit. The regular Social Security benefit, which is paid to retirees, survivors, or disabled individuals, is paid on Wednesdays throughout the month, each month. The SSI benefit, on the other hand, is typically rolled out to recipients on the first of each month, however, there are often minor fluctuations with this payment date.
This had been the case with September, and instead of the SSI benefit for September being paid to recipients on the first of the month, the SSA had sent out these checks several days earlier, on August 29th. So while it may seem as though an SSI payment was skipped this month, this is not the case. As such, here is a breakdown of how the SSA structures its payment, as well as an update regarding the upcoming COLA announcement.
Another double SSI for October
The SSI, or Supplemental Security Income benefit differs slightly from the regular Social Security benefit. According to the SSA, adults and children might be eligible for SSI if they have:
- Little or no income, and
- Little or no resources, and
- A disability, blindness, or are age 65 or older.
Typically, SSI payments are rolled out on the first of each month, however, there are months where the SSI payment date fluctuates. Even in these cases, the SSI payment will always be paid earlier to recipients, and never later than the first of the month. This was the case for the September SSI as well, with beneficiaries receiving their payment on August 29th.
Since the September SSI was paid out at the end of August, there has not been and will not be any SSI payment rolling out for the entirety of September. The next SSI payment is scheduled for October 1st, and this will be the SSI check for the month of October.
“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 explained previously in a blog post. “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.”
The remaining SSI payments for 2025 will be sent out on the following dates:
- October 1st – SSI benefit for October
- October 31st – SSI benefit for November
- December 1st – SSI benefit for December
- December 31st – SSI benefit for January 2026
2026 COLA projection
Once a year, all benefit amounts are increased relative to the rates at which inflation has increased year over year. This is known as the Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA, and the SSA is set to announce the 2026 COLA soon on October 15th. The COLA is determined by taking the CPI-W for the third quarter of the current year and measuring it against the third quarter CPI-W of the previous year. If there is an increase, that percentage figure becomes the next COLA.
According to The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL), the next COLA is projected to come in at 2.7% based on July’s data, and this figure has held steady following the release of August data as well.
“Inflation is substantially higher than our model predicted at the beginning of the year. In January 2025, our model predicted that inflation would cool, and the COLA would come in at 2.1 percent. Instead, the prediction steadily ticked upward throughout the year as the Trump administration implemented economic policy changes, including aggressive tariff policies that some experts say have the potential to increase inflation,” TSCL wrote.