There is much discussion about Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and hearings to determine whether a Social Security disability claimant is disabled and entitled to benefits, but before a claimant ends up at a hearing they would have been denied on their claim previously by Disability Determination Services (DDS). This agency, which is state based, but funded by Social Security, makes initial disability decisions on claims. And, although the majority of claims DDS sees are denied there are plenty that are also approved, which removes the need for ALJs to get involved in the process. Many times the importance of DDS is overlooked in the disability process, but the funding for DDS is crucial and Social Security is calling for increased spending for DDS services with the expectation that the number of disability claims is expected to increase in coming years.
According to Social Security’s budget priorities the agency is planning on taking steps to fund DDS to address the increase in the number of claims Social Security is expected to process in the coming years.
In FY 2021, we are replacing DDS staff losses and providing an additional 1,300 hires to position the DDSs to address the disability claims backlog and a potential spike in claims. The Budget will support maintaining these new hires in FY 2022 and fund increased overtime for a total FY 2022 increase of nearly 1,400 work years or 10 percent, allowing us to significantly increase our capacity to process disability claims. Compared to FY 2020, we plan to complete nearly 300,000 more claims in FY 2021 and over 700,000 more claims in FY 2022. However, the backlog will continue to grow until we work through the influx of initial claims, which will require a multi-year effort.
Hopefully Social Security keeps funding DDS a priority so the backlog of claims does not shift from the hearing level to the initial disability application level.
