Social Security touts 5.6-minute phone waits as disability hearing backlog grows

In a year-end update dated Nov. 6, the Social Security Administration said callers to its national 800 number now wait 5.6 minutes on average. Two years ago the average was 27.6 minutes. The agency also said waits at field offices and decision times on disability claims and hearings have improved ¹.

Under Commissioner Frank Bisignano, the agency has been calling fiscal 2026 a record year. Fiscal 2026 is the federal budget year that ended Sept. 30. Its figures show a zero percent busy rate on the phone line for the last six months of the year, and 40% of calls were handled without a live representative ².

SSA's digital-first strategy is driving transformational improvements and historic results across the agency

Some of the improvements are real. But each headline number comes with fine print, and the fine print matters most to the people who rely on the agency: retirees, widows and people too sick or injured to work.

The disability line is getting longer again

The agency says its backlog of first-time disability claims fell 23%, from nearly 1.2 million at the end of fiscal 2024 to 911,000 at the end of fiscal 2026 ². It also says those first decisions now come 40 days faster ².

From Channel GOPTrump's 'find 11,780 votes' call played at hearingDonald Trump · 245 plays · captioned, with the source named

That 911,000 figure is the highest of the agency's last three readings, though. In a May release, the agency put the backlog at 853,000 in April 2026 ⁸. It rose to 884,000 in July and 911,000 by Sept. 30, an increase of about 58,000, or 6.8%, IBTimes UK reported based on the agency's own updates ³.

The starting point also moved. The June and August updates measured progress against a 2024 peak of "nearly 1.3 million." The October update used "nearly 1.2 million" instead, which made the drop 23% rather than more than 30% ³.

The later stage is worse. A person who is turned down can appeal and ask for a hearing before a judge. The agency's dashboard shows pending hearings rose from about 281,000 to 358,000 over 12 months, according to IBTimes UK ³. The agency says the average hearing wait over the year fell by 72 days ². But tens of thousands more people are now in line.

How the phone wait is counted

Callers to the 800 number are often offered a callback instead of staying on hold. In a December 2025 audit, the agency's inspector general found that when a caller took that offer, the agency counted the wait as zero ⁵. Those callers actually waited an average of 1 hour and 49 minutes in October 2024 and 1 hour and 2 minutes in September 2025 ⁵.

The same audit found that about 25 million calls in fiscal 2025 ended without service, including hang-ups and callbacks that went unanswered ⁵. Agency leaders said the audit confirmed their figures were accurate, and the inspector general made no recommendations ⁵.

Government Executive reported that Bisignano changed the counting method in the summer of 2025. It also reported that the 42-minute peak he often compares against dates to November 2023, and that waits had already fallen to about 12 minutes by the end of 2024 ⁴.

Fewer workers doing the job

The service claims come as the agency has fewer workers than it has had in decades. It has about 50,000 employees ⁵. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group, found the agency lost about 7,500 workers, or 13%, from January 2025 to January 2026, leaving its smallest workforce since 1967 ⁵. Fewer than 100 people were hired in 2025 ⁵.

Since July 2025, about 1,000 field office employees a day have been pulled to answer 800-number calls ⁵. The inspector general did not look at whether that hurt service at local offices ⁵.

Democrats raised this trade-off when Bisignano testified to two House Ways and Means subcommittees on June 10 ⁴.

Do you think the 1-800 number thing is a magic bullet in place of not having enough employees?

A pre-election email to account holders

The agency's account of its year did not reach only reporters. On Oct. 30 and 31, the Friday and Saturday before Tuesday's midterm election, people with online "my Social Security" accounts got an email under Bisignano's name praising the president ⁶⁹. The agency has more than 100 million online accounts, according to The Washington Post ⁹.

Under President Donald J. Trump, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is transforming into a model of excellence

Experts said the email may have violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that limits partisan political activity by federal employees ⁶. Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told The New York Times that the emails seemed to work less like public service announcements and more like "propaganda" ⁶. No ruling has found a violation. Available reporting does not show that the Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the law, has opened an investigation ⁹.

There is a precedent. That office previously found that Martin O'Malley, a former Social Security commissioner, violated the Hatch Act ⁹. The agency did not immediately answer questions about why the emails were sent or how many people received them ⁹.

Taken together, the agency's updates lead with the measures that look best, shifted the baseline for the disability backlog, and reached beneficiaries' inboxes days before an election. Bisignano has described his job in political terms, saying in May: "I made a commitment to President Trump and the American people to protect and strengthen Social Security" ⁸. That matters because older Americans trust what they read from Social Security, and the agency's figures should be judged on full counts, including callback waits and the hearing line.

The Record

1. May 7, 2025Frank Bisignano is sworn in as Social Security commissioner ⁸.
2. Jun 10, 2026Bisignano testifies to two House Ways and Means subcommittees, where Democrats press him on staffing and phone-wait figures ⁴.
3. Sep 30, 2026The backlog of first-time disability claims reaches 911,000, up about 58,000 from the agency's June update ³.
4. Oct 30, 2026Over Oct. 30 and 31, online account holders receive an email under Bisignano's name praising President Trump, days before the midterm election ⁶.
5. Nov 6, 2026In a year-end update, the agency puts the average wait on its 800 number at 5.6 minutes, down from 27.6 minutes two years earlier ¹.

Free to reprint Republish this story on your site or in your newsletter

Any site, blog or newsletter may run this story free of charge. Keep the credit line and its link to the original, do not sell it, and edit only for length or house style (the full terms). Photos carry their own licenses, noted under each photo on this page, so use the text alone unless a credit says otherwise.

<h2>Social Security touts 5.6-minute phone waits as disability hearing backlog grows</h2> <p><em>By The GOP Files Kitchen-Table Desk. This article first appeared on <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/social-security-touts-5-6-minute-phone-waits-as-disability-hearing-backlog-grows">The GOP Files</a> on Saturday, November 7, 2026.</em></p> <p>In a year-end update dated Nov. 6, the Social Security Administration said callers to its national 800 number now wait 5.6 minutes on average. Two years ago the average was 27.6 minutes. The agency also said waits at field offices and decision times on disability claims and hearings have improved .</p> <p>Under Commissioner Frank Bisignano, the agency has been calling fiscal 2026 a record year. Fiscal 2026 is the federal budget year that ended Sept. 30. Its figures show a zero percent busy rate on the phone line for the last six months of the year, and 40% of calls were handled without a live representative .</p> <blockquote><p>SSA&#39;s digital-first strategy is driving transformational improvements and historic results across the agency</p><p>&mdash; Frank Bisignano, Commissioner of Social Security</p></blockquote> <p>Some of the improvements are real. But each headline number comes with fine print, and the fine print matters most to the people who rely on the agency: retirees, widows and people too sick or injured to work.</p> <h2>The disability line is getting longer again</h2> <p>The agency says its backlog of first-time disability claims fell 23%, from nearly 1.2 million at the end of fiscal 2024 to 911,000 at the end of fiscal 2026 . It also says those first decisions now come 40 days faster .</p> <p>That 911,000 figure is the highest of the agency&#39;s last three readings, though. In a May release, the agency put the backlog at 853,000 in April 2026 . It rose to 884,000 in July and 911,000 by Sept. 30, an increase of about 58,000, or 6.8%, IBTimes UK reported based on the agency&#39;s own updates .</p> <p>The starting point also moved. The June and August updates measured progress against a 2024 peak of &quot;nearly 1.3 million.&quot; The October update used &quot;nearly 1.2 million&quot; instead, which made the drop 23% rather than more than 30% .</p> <p>The later stage is worse. A person who is turned down can appeal and ask for a hearing before a judge. The agency&#39;s dashboard shows pending hearings rose from about 281,000 to 358,000 over 12 months, according to IBTimes UK . The agency says the average hearing wait over the year fell by 72 days . But tens of thousands more people are now in line.</p> <h2>How the phone wait is counted</h2> <p>Callers to the 800 number are often offered a callback instead of staying on hold. In a December 2025 audit, the agency&#39;s inspector general found that when a caller took that offer, the agency counted the wait as zero . Those callers actually waited an average of 1 hour and 49 minutes in October 2024 and 1 hour and 2 minutes in September 2025 .</p> <p>The same audit found that about 25 million calls in fiscal 2025 ended without service, including hang-ups and callbacks that went unanswered . Agency leaders said the audit confirmed their figures were accurate, and the inspector general made no recommendations .</p> <p>Government Executive reported that Bisignano changed the counting method in the summer of 2025. It also reported that the 42-minute peak he often compares against dates to November 2023, and that waits had already fallen to about 12 minutes by the end of 2024 .</p> <h2>Fewer workers doing the job</h2> <p>The service claims come as the agency has fewer workers than it has had in decades. It has about 50,000 employees . The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group, found the agency lost about 7,500 workers, or 13%, from January 2025 to January 2026, leaving its smallest workforce since 1967 . Fewer than 100 people were hired in 2025 .</p> <p>Since July 2025, about 1,000 field office employees a day have been pulled to answer 800-number calls . The inspector general did not look at whether that hurt service at local offices .</p> <p>Democrats raised this trade-off when Bisignano testified to two House Ways and Means subcommittees on June 10 .</p> <blockquote><p>Do you think the 1-800 number thing is a magic bullet in place of not having enough employees?</p><p>&mdash; Gwen Moore, U.S. representative, D-Wis.</p></blockquote> <h2>A pre-election email to account holders</h2> <p>The agency&#39;s account of its year did not reach only reporters. On Oct. 30 and 31, the Friday and Saturday before Tuesday&#39;s midterm election, people with online &quot;my Social Security&quot; accounts got an email under Bisignano&#39;s name praising the president . The agency has more than 100 million online accounts, according to The Washington Post .</p> <blockquote><p>Under President Donald J. Trump, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is transforming into a model of excellence</p><p>&mdash; Frank Bisignano, Commissioner of Social Security</p></blockquote> <p>Experts said the email may have violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that limits partisan political activity by federal employees . Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told The New York Times that the emails seemed to work less like public service announcements and more like &quot;propaganda&quot; . No ruling has found a violation. Available reporting does not show that the Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the law, has opened an investigation .</p> <p>There is a precedent. That office previously found that Martin O&#39;Malley, a former Social Security commissioner, violated the Hatch Act . The agency did not immediately answer questions about why the emails were sent or how many people received them .</p> <p>Taken together, the agency&#39;s updates lead with the measures that look best, shifted the baseline for the disability backlog, and reached beneficiaries&#39; inboxes days before an election. Bisignano has described his job in political terms, saying in May: &quot;I made a commitment to President Trump and the American people to protect and strengthen Social Security&quot; . That matters because older Americans trust what they read from Social Security, and the agency&#39;s figures should be judged on full counts, including callback waits and the hearing line.</p> <p><em>Read the original, with every source linked, at <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/social-security-touts-5-6-minute-phone-waits-as-disability-hearing-backlog-grows">thegopfiles.com</a>. Republished under The GOP Files' <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/republish">free republishing terms</a>.</em></p> <img src="https://thegopfiles.com/api/rp/social-security-touts-5-6-minute-phone-waits-as-disability-hearing-backlog-grows.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border:0;width:1px;height:1px">

Copy the HTML Paste it into your editor's HTML view. The one-pixel image at the end tells our newsroom the story ran; it stores no reader data.

Sources

1. BabyBoomer.org, “Boomer Headlines Nov. 7, 2026: Social Security Wait Times, 401(k)s & More” (2026-11-07). babyboomer.org/news/boomer-headlines-2026-11-07/
2. The Money Overview, “Social Security's 800 number averaged 5.6-minute answers in fiscal 2026, down from 28” (2026-11-03). themoneyoverview.com/social-securitys-800-number-averaged-56
3. IBTimes UK, “Social Security Disability Backlog Grew by 58,000 in Months Before Its Pro-Trump 'Best Performance' Email” (2026-11-03). ibtimes.co.uk/ssa-disability-claims-backlog-rises-911000-182
4. Government Executive, “Bisignano deflects customer service questions in congressional testimony” (2026-06-10). govexec.com/management/2026/06/bisignano-deflects-customer-s
5. Money Talks News, “Social Security Reports Short 7-Minute Phone Waits, but That's Not the Whole Truth” (2026-10-09). moneytalksnews.com/social-security-reports-short-minute-phon
6. The Hill (via Yahoo News), “Social Security email praising Trump may violate Hatch Act” (2026-11-01). yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/social-security-email-prais
7. HAIA Foundation, “Social Security Cut the Wait for a Disability Decision by Five Weeks. The Line for a Hearing Grew by More Than Eighty Thousand.” (2026-09-30). substack.haia.foundation/p/social-security-cut-the-wait-for
8. Social Security Administration, “A Historic Year: Commissioner Bisignano Delivers a Stronger Social Security” (2026-05-07). content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSSA/bulletins/4163a1e
9. Idaho Public Press, “SSA's Trump Email Before the Midterms Sparks Hatch Act Questions” (2026-11-03). idahopublicpress.com/ssa-s-trump-email-before-the-midterms-s

Found an error? Tell the newsroom. Corrections are noted at the top of the story.