Disability Insurance (Disability)—provides benefits to eligible workers  who have qualifying disabilities, and their eligible family members. They also may use the  Internet to file for benefits, or visit a Social Security Card Center to  request a Social Security card. Recent Hiring Has Helped Field Offices Manage Growing Claims Workloads, but Work Quality and Customer Service Have Declined

Since we last examined service at SSA field offices, SSA has expanded the  level of staffing, and encouraged greater use of automated services. However, rapidly rising workloads have adversely affected customer  service and the quality of some work, despite SSA’s efforts. In fiscal years 2008  and 2009, SSA hired a combined number of 4,931 staff for field offices,  which helped to almost restore field offices to their fiscal year 2005  staffing level. 1). SSA Has Used Several Different Strategies to Manage Growing Workloads

Even with the increases in field office staffing in fiscal years 2008 and  2009, and some increases in average productivity by employees, many field  office managers, responding to a survey conducted in February 2010 by  the National Council of Social Security Management Association, Inc.  (NCSSMA),  stated that staffing levels are inadequate to deal with the  growing public service challenges they face daily in field offices. 2). According to SSA’s fiscal year 2008/2009 field office caller survey, 58  percent of callers got a busy signal or a recording that lines were busy  when they called field offices—up from 45 percent in fiscal year 2007, and  55 percent in fiscal year 2008. Because SSA based its results only on  customers who were ultimately able to get through to the field offices, the  actual percentage of customers that had unanswered calls was likely  higher. SSA Has Not Developed a Plan to Describe How It will Address Future Service Delivery Challenges

SSA has not yet offered a plan to detail how it will continue to do more  work with fewer resources and achieve its strategic goals. In our 2009  report and prior reports, we recommended that SSA develop a service  delivery plan to outline how it would deliver quality service while  managing growing work demands and limited resources. However, because of a continuing concern  about the agency’s lack of a consolidated plan to address service and  staffing, SSA agreed to develop a single document to describe its plan for  addressing future service delivery challenges. SSA officials did not provide  us with an update on where the agency stood in developing this plan. With projected increases to SSA’s workload from retirement and disability  filings from the nation’s baby boom generation, and a continued wave of  retirements of experienced staff, the need for such a plan is greater than  ever. As we stated in our January 2009 report, it will be more difficult for SSA to  meet higher workload challenges as a result of the anticipated retirement  of many of the agency’s most experienced field office workers. Based on  SSA’s projections, 22 percent of SSA’s current workforce will retire by  fiscal year 2013, and the figure will grow to 41 percent by fiscal year 2018. Concluding Observations

While SSA is managing increasing workloads resulting from growing  retirement and disability claims, it still faces the challenge of providing  quality service. Such challenges make it  essential for SSA to develop a plan to manage its increasing workload.
Why GAO Did This Study

Millions of people rely on the services of Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. In fiscal year 2009, SSA's approximately 1,300 field offices provided service to a record 45.1 million customers. People visit field offices to apply for Social Security cards, apply for retirement and disability benefits, request replacement benefit checks, and a host of other services. Over the last several years, growing workloads have challenged field offices' ability to manage work while continuing to deliver quality customer service. The Subcommittee asked GAO to discuss our January 2009 report on SSA field office service delivery challenges. Specifically, this testimony will discuss (1) the state of SSA field office operations, and (2) the status of SSA's efforts to develop a plan to address future service delivery challenges. To respond to the request, GAO relied primarily on the January 2009 report titled Social Security Administration: Service Delivery Plan Needed to Address Baby Boom Retirement Challenges ( GAO-09-24 , Jan. 2009), and updated it with additional information provided by SSA. In that report, GAO recommended that SSA develop a service delivery plan that explains how it will deliver quality service while managing growing work demands. SSA agreed to develop a document that describes service delivery and staffing plans. No new recommendations are being made in this testimony.

What GAO Found

Since we last examined service at SSA field offices, SSA has expanded the level of staffing, and encouraged greater use of automated services. However, rapidly rising workloads have adversely affected customer service and the quality of some work, despite SSA's efforts. Recent hiring by SSA nearly restored field offices to their fiscal year 2005 level, but field offices have experienced rapid growth in their retirement and disability claims workloads. SSA used various strategies to manage the growing workload, including deferring some reviews of beneficiaries' continuing eligibility. However, deferring these reviews means that beneficiaries who no longer qualify for benefits may still receive payments erroneously. Key customer service indicators were also affected. In fiscal year 2009, more than 3 million customers waited over 1 hour to be served. Further, SSA's Field Office Caller Survey found that 58 percent of customers calling selected field offices had at least one earlier call that had gone unanswered, but for methodological reasons, the unanswered call rate was likely even higher. SSA has not yet offered a plan to detail how it will address future service delivery challenges as GAO recommended in January 2009. With projected increases to SSA's workload from retirement and disability filings from the nation's baby boom generation, and a continued wave of retirements of experienced staff, the need for such a plan is greater than ever. SSA estimates about a 14 percent rise in Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, Disability Insurance (Disability), and Supplemental Security Income claims over the next 10 years, rising from a combined total of 9.4 million, in fiscal year 2008 to 10.7 million in fiscal year 2017. In addition, based on SSA's projections, 41 percent of the current workforce will retire by fiscal year 2018. With such challenges, it is critical for SSA to develop a plan to discuss how it will address future challenges. SSA officials did not provide GAO with an update on where the agency stood in developing such a plan.