As Social Security field offices reopen, it’s time to expand and revitalize them

Since Social Security field offices first opened their doors more than 80 years ago, they have been a part of every community. Like our post offices and public libraries, Social Security’s more than 1,200 field offices provide us with essential services. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they averaged 175,000 visitors each and every day — over 40 million a year.

That’s why it is such welcome news that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has just announced that the field offices will reopen to the public starting in late March. And it’s why it’s imperative that Congress allow SSA to spend the funds needed to not just reopen field offices, but also expand them.

Americans visit Social Security field offices at times of transition, ones often involving sadness, vulnerability, and stress—when a loved one dies, when someone is confronting a serious disability, or when a worker is approaching retirement after a lifetime of labor. They come to these offices seeking clear information and assistance regarding their earned benefits under our Social Security system, an institution to which they’ve contributed all their working lives.

For decades, Social Security field offices were known for their exceptional customer service. But over the last decade, congressional Republicans have sabotaged Social Security offices, with disastrous consequences. Between 2010 and 2021, SSA’s operating budget shrank by 13 percent even as the number of beneficiaries grew by 22 percent. Congress imposed these budget cuts despite Social Security’s accumulated surplus of $2.9 trillion, more than enough to fully fund operating costs without adding even a penny to the federal debt.

Those draconian budget cuts led to an unavoidable decline in service, despite the best efforts of a dedicated workforce. Between 2010 and 2018, SSA closed 67 field offices across the country. At the other offices, operating hours were shortened and often staff reduced. People were forced to wait a year or more for hearings to determine eligibility for Social Security disability benefits, with nearly 110,000 Americans dying while waiting for a hearing.

That was the state of Social Security’s customer service prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, field offices have been shuttered for nearly two years for everything but dire emergencies. This was the right thing to do to keep beneficiaries and workers safe, but it has made it even more difficult for Americans to claim their earned benefits. It has also given lie to the idea that field offices aren’t important because everything can be done online.

In fact, many Americans don’t have access to a computer, or simply prefer to claim their benefits in person. And that isn’t limited to the older generation. Sixty-one percent of Americans say that they want to call or visit a local field office to apply for their earned benefits. Those who answered in the highest percentage that they wanted to visit a field office in person? Those aged 18 to 29! Moreover, 86 percent of Americans want more or, at least, the same number of local field offices in the future — not fewer.

The pandemic has made crystal clear the importance of the field offices. During the pandemic, disability benefit claims decreased significantly — presumably due to the difficulty of applying without the valuable in-person assistance that field offices provide. Consistent with that reduction, groundbreaking research found that, before the pandemic, closing a field office reduced the number of disability applications by 10 percent and resulted in an even larger reduction of disability awards — a whopping 16 percent reduction.

As field offices reopen, they will almost certainly face a backlog of disability applications from people who were unable to claim their benefits at the height of the pandemic, as well as those suffering from long COVID. Field offices must also plan for the provision of survivors benefits to the families of pandemic victims. And along with all of this, 10,000 baby boomers continue to retire every day.

All of these factors mean that field offices can expect an even larger workload in the years to come. Congress must ensure that SSA can handle this increased workload by allowing the agency to spend the funds needed to safely reopen offices, and repair the damage that was done in the decade before the pandemic.

That means opening new offices, and hiring additional staff. In 1985, SSA employed 81,000 workers. But now, even though the population has grown and aged, SSA has fewer than 60,000 workers — a 26 percent decline! That needs to change immediately so that newly reopened field offices have the resources they need to fully serve the community.

Time is money. Americans should not have to wait hours at a crowded field office or weeks for an appointment. Americans not only deserve first-class service; they have purchased it. It is important to recognize that the Social Security Administration’s operating budget is funded out of Social Security’s $2.9 trillion accumulated surplus. That surplus is the result of the contributions workers and their employers make with every paycheck.

It is crucial to understand that Congress is not appropriating a penny for the administration of Social Security. Rather, it is constraining, through an annual “limitation on administrative expenses” (LAE), how much of Social Security’s own funds SSA can spend on administration.

There is no good reason for these congressionally-imposed constraints. Social Security has always been run far more efficiently than private sector retirement programs and insurance companies. Indeed, the system spends less than a penny of every dollar on administration. More than 99 cents of every dollar is returned to working families in the form of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits.

The starvation of Social Security’s administrative budget was ideologically driven by Republicans who aimed to undermine confidence in and support for the program — the proverbial death by a thousand small cuts. Now that Democrats control Congress and the White House, they need to act swiftly to reverse these destructive cuts.

As Democrats negotiate a new package to fund the government after the current continuing resolution expires in a few weeks, they must ensure that SSA is allowed to spend the funds needed to reopen field offices and expand the workforce. If Congress does that, the reopening of field offices will be a moment of triumph for the Biden administration. President Biden will go down in history as the president who restored the first-class customer service of America’s most popular government program, Social Security.

Nancy Altman is president of Social Security Works.