Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion; Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High

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The agency placed the blame partly on a shortage of workers and funding.

The backlog of payment actions at the Social Security Administration (SSA) is now at a โ€œrecord-breakingโ€ level, causing the agency to make more than a billion dollars in improper payments to beneficiaries, according to the SSAโ€™s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The SSAโ€™s backlog of pending actions hit an โ€œall-time highโ€ of 5.2 million as of February, the OIG said in an Aug. 8 statement, citing an analysis published in June. Pending actions at the agencyโ€™s claims processing centers that remain unresolved for a long period of time have resulted in โ€œlarger improper payments, including growing underpayments or increasing overpayments to beneficiaries.โ€

Overpayments put Social Security beneficiaries under a great burden since the agency will ask them to pay back the overpaid amount at any time. Some recipients may not be in a financial position to repay.

Meanwhile, underpayments mean beneficiaries donโ€™t receive their correct monthly payment, which is financially challenging for many recipients.

The delay in resolving pending actions caused the SSA to make $1.1 billion worth of improper payments by February, the OIG stated.

โ€œCustomer satisfaction has been an ongoing concern for SSA,โ€ said Michelle Anderson, acting inspector general for SSA. โ€œThis report continues to highlight the urgency for SSA to reach its pending actions performance goal and to ensure beneficiaries receive their proper payments as promptly as possible.โ€

SSA blamed the โ€œrecord-breakingโ€ backlog on increased workload, staff reductions, and lower-than-expected funding for overtime. Overtime funding could be used to pay workers to resolve more pending actions, thus reducing the backlog, the agency said.

The SSA had reviewed the draft version of the OIG report and sent a response to the watchdog in June. The agency agreed on the need to trim the processing centersโ€™ pending actions backlog and processing delays. However, that would require โ€œadditional resources,โ€ it said in its response.

The SSA pointed out that the agency has โ€œover 650 fewer employees working on processing centersโ€™ workloads now than we did eight years ago, while our beneficiary count has risen from roughly 64 million people to nearly 72 million in that same time period.โ€

Moreover, the SSA is experiencing staffing challenges with high separation rates in key roles. Without adequate funding, the agency is โ€œleft to prioritize growing workloads with our current resources in mind.โ€

Byย Naveen Athrappully

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