Retirement Social Security

Social Security Is Making Big Changes to How It Handles Applications - Here's What It Means for You

The SSA is in a state of transition.

By Chris Lewis, CEPF , Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated May 31, 2026

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) is facing down some harsh realities. With President Donald Trump's administration reducing the federal workforce, the SSA has lost 7,000 workers over the past year. That has led the agency to implement several changes to mitigate potential disruptions from the restructuring.

These changes can significantly affect your retirement plan, so it's important to understand them and take steps to avoid delays, long wait times, and potential late payments.

Here are the major changes to Social Security and what they mean for you.

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Wait times have gotten out of hand

The gutting of the federal workforce has caused wait times to skyrocket in certain states with the most layoffs. 25 million calls to the SSA were undealt with in 2025, mainly due to cancellations, disconnections, and missed callbacks. Moreover, the callback wait time was 100 minutes, while callers waited an average of 15 minutes.

Even with greater efficiency, expect this to continue, as phone lines are overloaded and few workers remain to manage complex issues or escalate them.

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Field office and phone staff have been cut

Around 3,000 of the job cuts were in customer-facing field office and phone center positions, a devastating development for Americans seeking more information about their benefits.

A key reason for this was the government's insistence on reducing remote working options to force employees back into the office. Many phone center employees had been working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, and had no desire to return to the office.

New technology lets you book your own appointment

To address workforce reductions, the SSA has piloted a new online scheduling platform in two states. The platform allows you to self-schedule initial claims appointments online through SSA.gov, rather than speaking with someone on the phone.

It still remains to be seen how this new web portal will function across the entire country without crashing.

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The almost botched rollout in Tennessee and Nevada

The SSA had planned to roll out the National Appointment Scheduling Calendar (NASC) and the National Workload Management (NWLM) system to ease the workload for workers and make it easier for customers to schedule appointments.

However, the national rollout has been paused for a pilot program in Tennessee and Nevada. There's still no set date for the systems to go live in other states, but the SSA says they will go live at some point in 2026.

Critics are skeptical of new technology replacing workers

Former SSA senior advisor Kathleen Romig said, "You can't reorganize your way out of a staff crunch. If there aren't enough people to get the work done, reshuffling them won't ultimately help." Given the difficulties with automated and AI-based systems, she's got a point that improving efficiency will only do so much.

The American Federation of Government Employees union is calling on Congress to pass $3 billion in supplemental funding to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 phone reps and up to 20,000 frontline field office workers. However, that seems unlikely to pass, given the Trump administration's focus on slashing the federal workforce.

If you're applying for disability, expect even longer wait times

The number of Social Security Disability appeals pending rose by more than 73,000 from January 2025 to February 2026, with the hearing backlog climbing from roughly 270,000 cases in January 2025 to around 344,000 by February 2026.

With these sharp increases in the backlog, it will be significantly more difficult to get your case through the system. Expect a wait time of eight months, and plan accordingly.

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Rural residents, seniors, and people with disabilities will be affected the most

The job cuts have hit field offices the hardest, with many states shuttering locations and directing people to call or visit the website for information.

It's now the norm for some Americans to have to drive 2.5 hours to reach a field office. For seniors and people with disabilities who depend on in-person help to manage their benefits, this is a major blow.

What to do right now if you need to reach Social Security

Unless you're in Tennessee or Nevada, you'll need to call the national SSA number, 1-800-772-1213, or try to use the online login portal to find what you're looking for.

Try calling early in the morning and later in the week, or later in the month.

Bottom line

The SSA is in a tough position, as the technology has not yet caught up to offset the reduced impact of the 7,000 workers who were laid off. For most beneficiaries, the immediate reality is longer waits, harder-to-reach offices, and a system under serious strain. The new scheduling tools may eventually help, but they're rolling them out slowly and are only available in two states.

The single best thing you can do today is set up an online account at ssa.gov/myaccount. Login.gov and ID.me are the only sign-in options for SSA's online services, so creating one of those accounts in advance means you can do a bunch of things without needing to pick up the phone. That will save you time and help you enjoy a stress-free retirement, instead of spending hours on hold or waiting for a callback that will never come.

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