From staff cuts and closures of fields offices, to a new commissioner and the roll out of automated systems, the year thus far has been one of sweeping changes for the Social Security Administration (SSA). When the Trump Administration was elected to office in the beginning the year, it deployed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the SSA, and the result was major criticism from former officials and advocates.
In February, the agency also announced plans to reduces its workforce by 12% over the course of the year, and to date, the agency has indeed cut its staff force by about 7,000 employees. Additionally, several field offices had been closed. As such, the agency currently has its lowest staff count on record in around five decades while the number of beneficiaries continues to grow.
According to a press release from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Social Security customers are feeling the strain of these cutbacks, with some even going months without their benefit checks. Here is everything you need to know.
Customers feeling the strain
Recent updates on the SSA website tout improved customer service due to the roll out of upgraded technology and automated systems on the agency phone line, however, former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley previously claimed that these metrics were not accurate. Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also issued a press release with real-life examples of Social Security recipients struggling due to the agency failing to meet their needs.
According to the release, Rebekah Walker, a disability beneficiary, did not receive her monthly benefit in July. When querying the matter with the agency, Walker was told via online message that she had been overpaid by $48,609.60, and that she will be cut off until she could prove this to be false or pay them back. “Ms. Walker, who has complex heart abnormalities and one functioning lung, headed to her local Social Security office for answers, waiting about 30 minutes before they turned her away. The earliest appointment slot wasn’t for two weeks,” the press release read.
It appears that to this day, Walker still has no clarity from the SSA. “Nearly three months later, Ms. Walker has received a couple of letters, but is still unclear on where her case stands.”
Morale takes a hit
Low staff counts have resulted in overwhelmed field offices, where morale was not particularly high to begin with. Doing more with less has become the norm for frontline workers now. The SSA has recently boasted its reduced wait times on the agency phone line, however, these efforts appear to be worsening the overall situation for workers.
“In my 24 years, I have never seen it so bad to the point that a lot of us are medicated,” said one Social Security technical expert who works in a field office in the Midwest and takes an anti-anxiety medication daily. She asked not to be identified because she didn’t want to jeopardize her position and scheduled early retirement. “We openly talk about it,” she said. “We joke about it, because what else can you do?” — as per an excerpt from the press release.
From March to August, the agency’s reduction in force amounts to 1,230 employees, with another 1,000 workers being reassigned to work the phone lines in July. The result: additional strain on already understaffed field offices.
“Commissioner Bisignano has been stuck reshuffling the remaining staff, trying to solve the most immediately visible customer service challenges, and hoping that technological breakthroughs will help in the longer term,” said Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It remains to be seen whether that will turn things around, but millions of people are counting on him to succeed.”