SSA Cuts Staff as Workers Warn Benefits Fall Behind

The Social Security Administration lost more than 7,000 employees in 2025, then reassigned more than 2,000 workers to its national 800 number. That moved them away from claims processing and in-person help at field offices. The American Federation of Government Employees says workloads are falling behind and benefits aren’t being paid promptly. The agency calls its digital-first approach a service success; workers carrying out that service say the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

The workers behind the wait times

“Staff has been stripped to the bone and morale is in the toilet. But we keep showing up because we care about serving the American people,” AFGE said. The union represents roughly 35,000 SSA workers and disputes the agency’s account of conditions inside its offices.

AFGE Council 220 told Federal News Network, “Employees are set up to fail with this data,” adding, “It's hard for us to believe, much less trust, the agency's data when we don't have access to the underlying information.” The union says workers are behind on workloads and benefits aren’t paid promptly.

The agency’s staffing decisions have also shifted labor between services. After the workforce reductions, SSA reassigned more than 2,000 employees to the 800 number, taking them from claims processing and field-office help. Council 220 officials said most workers were assigned to answer calls, and phone staff might lack the training or time to help callers.

On Oct. 6, AFGE again called on Congress after filing a national grievance over SSA’s decision to end alternative work schedules starting Nov. 16. In August, the union wrote Congress asking for restored funding after SSA lost more than 7,000 employees in 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal workforce. The appeals put Congress in the picture, but the source doesn’t describe restored funding or a reversal of the schedule decision.

A digital service push, and its limits

SSA reported that the national 800 number’s average wait fell to 5.6 minutes in fiscal 2026, down from seven minutes in 2025. The agency introduced automated self-service through interactive voice recognition technology in all field offices and said average field-office waits fell by two minutes compared with 2025.

More than 105 million people had registered for a my Social Security account, SSA said, making it the largest digital financial services provider in the United States. The agency also said it corrected roughly 15 percent of active Social Security numbers by adding information such as missing death dates and citizenship status.

SSA said its improvements saved the public 200 million hours in 2025, equivalent to 100,000 work years that otherwise would have been spent waiting for service. It also said it had reduced open audit recommendations to a 40-year low and generated $16 billion in savings since 2024.

But AFGE says digital channels can’t replace the staff and support people need. “We know artificial intelligence systems and online services are inadequate to serve our unique clientele,” the union said. “Even with the best staff in the world, you can't stop a sinking ship with a couple of buckets and a sponge.” Council 220 also said productivity was difficult to measure while workers dealt with crashing IT systems.

The 2026 American Consumer Index Survey found overall satisfaction with federal agency call centers and websites fell 3 percent from 2025; SSA’s satisfaction rating fell 1 percent. Reports from the SSA Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office recommended IT modernization. As of June 2026, SSA had 48 open GAO recommendations, including four priority recommendations concerning IT services. The reports cited aging IT infrastructure as one of the largest obstacles to improving service delivery.

SSA says technology and intelligent call routing help workers answer and direct calls, and employees can escalate and transfer requests to lead technical staff. Commissioner Frank Bisignano said the digital-first strategy was producing “transformational improvements and historic results,” while the agency said it was delivering “better, faster, higher-quality service across all channels.”