With the close of Fiscal Year 2025, Commissioner Frank Bisignano sent an update to Congress on the tremendous progress being made at the Social Security Administration (SSA). President Trump’s pledge to protect and preserve Social Security guides our mission to transform SSA into a digital-first agency that operates at peak efficiency and provides world-class service to every American. By empowering our workforce, thinking differently about our service channels, and embracing technology, we are building the operational foundation that will support our success for years to come.
As a result of the hardworking, dedicated employees at SSA, we have made improvements across each of our service channels. We reduced wait times on our National 800 Number from 28 minutes in Fiscal Year 2024 to just 15 minutes in Fiscal Year 2025, while serving 65 percent more callers. In-office wait times decreased by nearly 27 percent from 30 minutes to 22 minutes since the last fiscal year. Visitors who had a scheduled appointment only waited around 6 minutes on average to receive assistance.
SSA also successfully reduced the initial disability claims backlog that had reached record highs last year. In June 2024, there were 1.26 million pending claims. That backlog has now been decreased to 865,000. We further reduced the initial claim average processing time by 13 percent to 209 days from the previous 240 days at the beginning of the year.
To further our efforts to transform SSA into a digital-first agency, enhancements were made to expand the services available through personal my Social Security accounts, allowing users to easily manage their benefits online. The growth in new account holders, combined with the increased engagement on the value of doing business online, enabled a nearly 20 percent increase in online transactions in Fiscal Year 2025 compared to the prior year. To build on these gains, SSA set a bold goal to expand to 200 million my Social Security account holders by the end of 2026. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to sign up today for a personal my Social Security account.
Commissioner Bisignano stated in the letter that we will build upon our progress and continue to modernize our services with support from Congress. Read the letter to learn more about the incredible work SSA is doing to ensure that our programs and services remain a source of economic stability for generations to come.
