Social Security Offices Are Facing Uncertain Times

Tamara E. Holmes, Sharon Jayson and Martha C. White,

AARP

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En español

Published April 24, 2025

a woman sits in front of a social security office

Sandra Hamm, a Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipient, went to her local SSA office in Austin, Texas, after receiving a series of letters from the agency about her benefits. "I felt I needed to talk to somebody," she says.

Arturo Olmos

These are uncertain times at Social Security field offices.

In the last two months, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has begun shrinking its staff with a goal of shedding 7,000 jobs, more than 12 percent of its workforce. Nearly 2,000 frontline workers at local offices have left as part of a buyout program.

Amid this restructuring, the agency announced, amended and then abandoned a plan to implement new identity-proofing requirements that would have severely restricted people’s ability to apply for benefits by phone.

This comes as the SSA transitions to appointment-only service at its more than 1,200 local offices, putting more pressure on its overwhelmed toll-free phone line as more people call to schedule visits.

The agency, which administers $130 billion in monthly payments to more than 73 million Americans, said in a recent statement recognizing April as National Social Security Month that it is “surging employees in support positions to front-line service positions.” Many field offices are seeing an influx of customers, some seeking certainty that policy and personnel changes won’t affect their benefits, others simply tired of waiting hours on the phone to get routine help.

“The customer service crisis at Social Security has been building for years. As the population ages, demand is going up — but funding from Congress hasn’t kept pace, and now we’re seeing even more staffing cuts without a clear plan to improve service,” says Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president for government affairs.

“Americans have paid into Social Security their whole working lives, and they’ve paid for the support that comes with it,” he adds. “Anything less is unacceptable.”

Amid the deepening crisis, AARP visited three SSA offices in different parts of the country to ask customers about their experience and their concerns.

Middletown, New York: ‘I came here to make sure I don’t lose anything’

April 8 dawns blustery and unseasonably cold in this Hudson Valley town, and rather than lining up outside the local Social Security office, the people who started arriving nearly an hour before the 9 a.m. opening are keeping warm in their cars, eyeing the sprawling brick building’s double glass doors.

When the doors open, customers are invited to sit inside as they wait their turn to get information about benefits, report an address change, obtain paperwork or seek other services.

Amid news reports about Social Security staff reductions and plans to restrict phone service (plans the SSA announced later that day that it was retracting), some say they’ve come for face-to-face reassurance that the agency’s churn wouldn’t affect their benefits.

“I came to make sure I don’t lose anything,” says Benjamin Washington Taylor, 76, of Middletown, braving the wind on a bench while waiting for a bus to take him home.

Having read about the cutbacks and changes, he says, he went to the office “out of an abundance of caution” to verify that the SSA’s information on him is correct. A conversation with an office staffer quelled his fears. “Thankfully, there's nothing to worry about. According to the lady, I am updated.”

Deborah Gilbert-Mann, 59, of Bloomingburg, New York, brought her husband, George Mann, 69, straight to the office from his dialysis appointment to secure an official letter verifying his benefits. That service is available online, but “it’s easier just coming in person,” she says.

deborah gilbert-mann wears a blue and gray jacket outside an office

Deborah L. Gilbert-Mann at the Social Security office in Middletown, New York. She says the SSA's online services aren't helpful for her husband, who "doesn’t know how to use a smartphone or a computer."

Michael George

As she disassembles her husband’s wheelchair to put it in her car, Gilbert-Mann voices alarm at the prospect of the SSA losing workers and making it harder for people like him to access services.

“It would be a concern because not everybody is computer-savvy,” she says. “He doesn’t know how to use a smartphone or a computer, so they would need to keep staffing the way it is.”

Robert Crump is in the same boat. The 60-year-old New York City resident says he lacks computer skills and could not report a recent change of address online, which resulted in him missing his disability benefit check. Much to his relief, an agent at the Middletown office was able to process his address change, void the old check and issue a new one.

“It was very professional and courteous,” Crump says. He says all the agents at the office were busy assisting customers during his visit and that he doesn’t think a reduced staff can maintain service levels there.

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Those concerns are personal for Jacqueline Lake of Maybrook, New York, who is here to ask about her husband’s benefits. Lake, 65, is deaf and uses sign language. “If they reduce staff, they won’t have anybody for an interpreter,” she says.

Lake is especially concerned that the SSA will seek to push more beneficiaries online to get help. She says she doesn’t have a computer. She does have a smartphone, which she calls her “lifeline,” but struggles to browse the web and find what she needs online. “I just don’t know where to look for things, or what to look for,” she says.

james rollins senior, wearing a dark blue pullover and sunglasses, stands outside a brick building

James A. Rollins Sr. says he was frustrated with Social Security's "analog approach" after being told he couldn't address an issue with his Medicare enrollment online or by phone.

Michael George

Even those who want to use remote services can be stymied. James Rollins Sr., 65, a management consultant and the former president of the Middletown NAACP, has been trying to fix an error he made in enrolling for Medicare last year that caused a problem with his premium payments, interrupting his coverage. He called the SSA and was told he had to print out a form and bring it to an office to get reinstated.

“You can’t just drop it off. You have to take a number and wait, simply to hand the form off to someone,” Rollins says. He found this “analog approach” frustrating.

“Something’s wrong with that picture, and what they’re doing in Washington, I can’t see this helping,” he says. “If they’re cutting staff, they’re doing a further disservice to the people who have worked their lives to support this country by paying taxes.”

— Martha C. White

gale sloan outside a social security office

Gale Sloan waits outside the SSA office in Suitland, Maryland, while a friend waits in line for help appying for benefits. "They're making things so difficult now," she says.

Greg Kahn

Suitland, Maryland: ‘There’s nobody being called’

When Gale Sloan, 66, retired in 2022, she found applying for Social Security benefits a reasonably easy task. So, when a friend started going through the process this year, Sloan volunteered to show her the ropes. That’s what brings her to the SSA office in Suitland, just outside Washington, D.C., on April 14.

While her friend sits with about 50 other people inside a packed waiting room, Sloan stretches her legs outside. She expects to be here a while. “I just asked the guy that was working back there how many people are in front of us, and he said 16,” she says. “They’re making things so difficult now.”

Sloan isn’t the only frustrated customer here. Many visitors complain of long lines, confusion about processes and procedures, and an inability to get the answers they need.

Angela Tunnell, 77, says she tried to avoid coming in entirely by calling Social Security’s national helpline to get information she needed to do her taxes. “I was put on hold for 120 minutes,” she says. After waiting all that time, she got disconnected, so she headed to the office to try her luck in person.

pam donbrosky wears a red and blue nationals t shirt

Pam Donbrosky couldn't get a phone appointment to discuss a benefit claim before May 30, so she tried her luck at the Suitland office. She was sent home to wait for the phone meeting.

Greg Kahn

Pam Donbrosky, 70, wants to apply for divorced-spouse benefits on her former partner’s earnings record. She, too, tried calling first and was told she could make a phone appointment to discuss her case. The earliest available date was May 30.

“I thought that maybe I could come in person and get this rolling,” she says. But after waiting two hours to speak to an SSA agent, she was sent home to wait for her original appointment.

Not everyone is fazed by the long lines. Retiree Tyrone Harris misplaced the SSA-1099 form he needed to complete his taxes. He’s been waiting about half an hour but stepped outside the office to return a phone call. “I could have made an appointment, but I walked right in,” he says. “It’s not bad.”

crystalyn gale wears sunglasses and a black jacket

Crystalyn Gale plans to retire soon but says she will try getting claiming help at the Suitland office on another day: "It is crazy overcrowded."

Greg Kahn

Others are less patient. Crystalyn Gale, 62, took one look at the line and decided to come back another day.

Gale says she plans to retire this year and wants guidance on applying for her benefits. She wasn’t certain if she would have to come in person or could do it online. “I wanted to physically talk to somebody just to make sure,” she says. “But it is crazy overcrowded.”

Chester Austin, 80, will also take his chances on another day. He says he came to inquire about eligibility for a retroactive “bonus check” available to some former government workers who receive both Social Security and pensions. Upon arrival, he got a ticket marked C295, representing his place in line at a letter-designated window. While waiting his turn, he saw that the last number called had been C281, and nobody was behind the “C” window.

“There’s nobody being called. Never been called for a C,” Austin says. “So why should I sit there?”

— Tamara E. Holmes

Austin, Texas: ‘We got turned away at the door’

April 14 is also a busy day at the Social Security office at 1029 Camino La Costa, one of two in the Texas capital. A steady stream of customers files in, toting paperwork in folders. They arrive by car, truck, rideshare, accessible van and on foot from the closest bus stop. Some use canes, walkers or wheelchairs; others steer strollers or have toddlers in tow. One woman carries her dog inside.

Still, there are no lines, as locals say there were months ago. Like all SSA offices, this one is now supposed to take only visitors with appointments. A security guard greets walk-ins and hands out printed pages with a QR code they can scan to schedule a visit.

Sherelle Gibson, 33, and her husband, Randal Moore, 39, learned that a week ago, when they showed up to get a replacement Social Security card for their 2-year-old son, True.

sherelle gibson smiles outside of a social security office

Sherelle Gibson and her husband had to make multiple visits to an Austin SSA office to successfully apply for a replacement Social Security card for their 2-year-old son.

Arturo Olmos

“We got here at 7 in the morning because usually the line would get all the way backed up,” Gibson says. “We stayed in line two hours until the window opened to tell us, ‘We don’t take walk-in appointments anymore. You have to schedule an appointment.’ We got turned away at the door.”

This time they have an appointment. They arrive by bus around 10:15 a.m., 40 minutes before their meeting. Their son's replacement card will be mailed to them.

Marion Clinton, 65, also needs a replacement Social Security card. He arrives by CapMetro Access, an Austin public transit service for people with disabilities, about 90 minutes before his 12:10 p.m. appointment.

marion clinton sits in a wheelchair outside an office in austin

Marion Clinton took an accessible public transit van to the Austin office to request a new Social Security card, bringing multiple forms of ID "in case anybody wants to know I am me."

Arturo Olmos

“I heard they were closing the Social Security offices here,” he says. “If they’re closing the local offices, how the hell am I going to get a replacement Social Security card?”

It is possible to request a new card online, but the Marine Corps veteran says he “didn’t try to do anything online. I didn’t want to get caught up in the red tape online by entering the wrong whatever.” Instead, he’s brought a raft of documents, including his birth certificate, Texas state ID and military discharge papers, “in case anybody wants to know I am me.”

His new card is also coming by mail, Clinton reports on his way out. “The security guard was incredibly helpful. The gentleman I saw was helpful,” he says. “I didn’t have any problems with the people here.”

Rebecca, 40, who asked to be identified by her first name only, is here to get a Social Security number. She arrived in Austin from Sydney, Australia, in late March, just a few days before starting a human resources job with a tech recruitment agency.

“I haven’t been able to get paid because I don’t have a Social Security number,” she says. “I tried to do it online. It said I would have to come in. I was told by other people that you go and line up, but when I lined up, the security said they stopped taking walk-ins in February.”

Her 9:40 a.m. appointment has become a journey — “Now they’ve said I have to print off a page. I’ve got to go find a library. I have my work visa and everything with me.” An hour and 45 minutes later, after taking an Uber to the library and another one back, she’s got her nine-digit number and will receive her Social Security card in the mail.

Sandra Hamm, 64, receives Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an SSA-administered benefit for people with disabilities and older adults with little or no income or financial resources. A month out from hip replacement surgery, she depends on a cane to get around.

She came to the Social Security office after receiving two letters about her benefits in the same week. She called the office and completed some paperwork that the SSA sent by mail. Then she got another letter. “When I got three letters in the mail, I decided to go in and talk to somebody,” she says.

“I didn’t try online. I do not have a tablet or a computer. And the phone is too small for me. I felt I needed to talk to somebody,” Hamm says. “I just needed to come down here.”

— Sharon Jayson

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Tamara E. Holmes is a Washington-based writer and editor. She has written extensively about money, entrepreneurship and careers for more than two decades. Her work has appeared in such publications as USA Today, Working Mother and Essence.

Sharon Jayson is a contributing writer who covers aging, family, health care and retirement. She previously worked for USA Today and the Austin American-Statesman, and she also has written for Kaiser Health News, Time magazine and The Washington Post.

Martha C. White writes about business, finance and the economy. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, Time, NBC News, Money and other outlets.