The Social Security Administration urgently needs more staff in order to improve customer service, reduce wait times for benefits and drive down call delays, according to a former employee.
Avram Sacks is a nationally acclaimed Social Security expert after previously working at the agency in the 1980s as a litigator, defending its push to claw back billions of dollars in overpayments to recipients.
Sack now works closely with recipients of Social Security benefits as an attorney helping people who are being pursued by the Administration for overpayments.
The U.S. Sun spoke with Sacks following the re-election of US President Donald Trump, who has plans to make significant changes to Social Security and other federal agencies.
Sacks told The U.S. Sun that it remained to be seen whether Trump acted on his promises to change Social Security and what impact it may have on recipients.
“I don’t really know to what extent which, if any, of President Trump’s ideas, will take root and gain momentum,” Sacks said.
“It is also difficult to know what it said for effect, and what is said to reflect an intended result.
On Trump’s plans to remove tax on Social Security benefits, Sacks said the removal of taxes would “chip away at the solvency of trust funds.”
Amid lengthy backlogs in claims, Sacks said recipients were suffering due to lengthy delays dealing with issues within the agency.
He said the government department was inefficient, and short staffed meaning a backlog of cases had built up over years.
While Trump is acting to cut federal staff numbers, Sacks called for more funding to be given to the agency.
“Simply put, the SSA needs more funding in order to hire more workers in order to improve customer service, reduce telephone hold times, and reduce wait times for benefits,” Sacks told The U.S. Sun.
He added that agency administrative costs are already quite low, sitting at about 0.5 % of the total cost of the program.
COSTS DECREASING
While administration costs have fluctuated between 1% and 0.8% of the program’s total cost, Sacks said they have been steadily decreasing since 2013.
He also noted that more Social Security workers should be required to work in the office and not from home, a move which would help recipients.
“Requiring more Social Security workers to work in the office and not from home can only help Social Security beneficiaries, but the agency really needs more workers,” Sacks said.
The comments come amid a push from US President Donald Trump to require government workers to go into the office rather than work remotely.
BACK TO WORK
On the first day of office, Trump ordered all agencies to end remote work giving them 30 days to comply with the order.
However, some federal agencies have expressed concern that there would not be enough space for workers all to be in the office.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency employee told the Washington Post her boss said there’s only room for 60 percent of employees in their current office.
They were ordered to telework twice a week even before the Covid-19 pandemic due to these constraints, the employee said.
A Bloomberg report this week said more than 20,000 employees, or about 1% of the federal workforce, signed up for an offer to quit their jobs in exchange for a deferred resignation deal.
GOOD POLICY CHANGES
Sacks added that the Social Security Administration made “significant” policy changes in 2024 which had had a real positive effect on the lives of claimants and beneficiaries.
Some of these include shifting the burden of proof regarding “fault” in overpayment cases to the agency, eliminating food from being counted as income for SSI payments and relaxing rules when proving the recovery of an overpayment.
“These and other changes have had a positive effect on countless claimants and beneficiaries,” Sacks said.
WHEN SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS ARE MADE
Social Security payments are issued on the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of each month based on the recipient's birth
Second Wednesday: For individuals born between the 1st and 10th of the month Third Wednesday: For those born between the 11th and 20th Fourth Wednesday: For those born between the 21st and 31st Read More Details
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