We realize it may be a stretch for ordinary people to want to keep up with the comings and goings of the Social Security Administration, but sometimes circumstances permit where someone does want to follow the latest news regarding the agency due to a possible retirement or disability interest. This blog is an ongoing piecemeal of recent stories that have involved Social Security. Some are tidbits and some are important things that should be known in the world of retirement or disability and others are just interesting stories and nothing more.
Audit Of Reopening Social Security Offices Conducted
It seems that the potential for Social Security offices to open back up and be running similar to how things had been conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown still appears to be quite a long ways away. A story published online June 22, 2021 from Fedweek indicated that a recent audit of Social Security’s partial opening still created some obstacles to fully re-opening Social Security offices. The main problem, according to the story, was that Social Security is not receiving information from Social Security visitors about the potential of being exposed to COVID-19 and those visitors who have later contracted COVID-19 are reporting it to Social Security. Below is a portion of the story posted by Fedweek.
The audit was done in response to a congressional request to assess the results of SSA’s policy in effect since March 2020 in which its 1,200 field offices, where 28,000 employees normally work, are open to the public by appointment only. Services meriting appointments include for example requests for immediate payments by persons in dire need. In addition to the employees required for such appointments, a limited number of managers and other employees enter the offices to perform certain other tasks such as receiving and sending mail.
The audit found that on average, some 2,200 employees and some 1,600 visitors have been in the offices daily. However, the IG found that the agency “does not maintain contact information” for all visitors to those facilities nor for contractors such as security guards and cleaning staff.
There are no specific plans for Social Security to fully open up offices any time soon. President Joe Biden has directed federal agencies to create long-term workforce plans that will satisfy bargaining obligations so that federal employees have advanced notice of changes to work arrangements.
Funding Identified For Continuing Disability Reviews
President Joe Biden’s administration has a budget plan that would increase Social Security funding by nearly 10 percent. This is a welcomed proposal because Social Security has been drastically underfunded, but it doesn’t appear all funding would be used to improve services at Social Security, which is where the money is needed, but also to increase the number of Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) the agency conducts. According to this document, Social Security plans to increase the number of CDRs 36 percent and to increase the number of redeterminations for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients by 23 percent. These CDRs and redeterminations are important, but improving Social Security service is the most crucial thing that has to be addressed, especially because most people have been unable to visit a Social Security office for the last 15 months due to the pandemic.
