The Social Security Administration (SSA) is in the middle of a major fire (a metaphorical one, not a literal one) with the discovery of a record number of pending actions that have increased the number of wrongfully made payments to Social Security beneficiaries: as revealed, have sent more than $1 billion in improper payments.
This backlog, the result of a combination of fewer staff, increased workloads, and funding cuts, has created a significant challenge for the Agency in accurately distributing benefits.
$1 Billion in Mistaken Payments to Beneficiaries
In February 2024, SSA reached a new peak in its backlog of outstanding actions, recording 5.2 million of these, a historic figure that has contributed to an increase in improper payments. According to the report titled Reducing Outstanding Actions at Processing Centers (022313), issued by the SSA Inspector General, this backlog has had a direct impact on the number of incorrect Social Security payments made to beneficiaries.
The report that found these irregularities also highlights that SSA’s primary performance measure is to reduce the number of outstanding actions at processing centers (PCs), as these outstanding actions are a key factor contributing to the increase in improper payments.
However, since fiscal year (FY) 2018, both the backlog of outstanding actions and SSA’s goal to reduce them have shown a steady increase. Between fiscal year 2018 and 2023, the Agency managed to meet its objectives in four of the six fiscal years, but the backlog of outstanding actions grew by 44%, from 3.2 million to 4.6 million.
Why Did Social Security Send $1 Billion in Improper Payments?
This delay in the resolution of pending actions has generated a direct impact on Social Security beneficiaries. Actions that remain unresolved for extended periods tend to result in improper payments, either in the form of underpayments or overpayments. This problem is becoming more significant as the backlog continues to increase.
The SSA itself said that several factors have contributed to these botched payments. For starters, there have been staff cuts, resulting in increased workloads and a decrease in funds allocated to pay overtime, which would have allowed a large volume of employees to be available to process more outstanding actions.
Despite SSA’s efforts to meet its annual goals, the Agency failed to reduce the backlog of outstanding actions in fiscal years 2019 and 2022, and no overall decrease in outstanding PC actions has been observed over the past few years.
What Is SSA Going to Do to Resolve These Improper Payments?
In light of this serious situation, the Office of Inspector General has made three key recommendations for SSA to consider reducing the backlog at processing centers. SSA has expressed agreement with these recommendations and is expected to take steps to effectively address this issue.
What can you do if you received an improper Social Security payment?
When the SSA sends an improper payment to a beneficiary, whether it is insufficient or excessive, there are specific procedures that are followed to correct the situation.
The first thing that will happen is that the SSA will identify the error and determine if the payment is larger or smaller than appropriate. If the payment is excessive, an additional payment will be processed to make up the missing amount.
This adjustment is usually done automatically, although in some cases it may require the intervention of the beneficiary to report the error. If the beneficiary receives less than they deserve, he or she should contact SSA as soon as possible to report the discrepancy.
The beneficiary can do so by phone, online, or in person at a local office. It is important for the beneficiary to have documentation to support their claim, such as a statement or letter from the SSA indicating the amount they should have received.
If the payment is excessive, the SSA will also take the first step by identifying the program. The beneficiary will be contacted to inform them of the error and request a refund of the excess amount paid.
This may involve a reduction in future payments or an agreement for the beneficiary to repay the improper amount. It is also advisable that you as the beneficiary report any excess money you receive from the SSA, because, one way or another (sooner or later) the agency will recover that money by writing it off from future checks.
