On Friday, Oct. 23, the Social Security Administration (SSA) said the 2026 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was its "best overall performance" in history. The agency said every service measure improved by double digits, and it credited a "digital-first" strategy that steers people to its website and automated phone system 12.
The figure leading the announcement: callers to the national 800 number waited an average of 5.6 minutes in fiscal 2026, down from 28 minutes in fiscal 2024. The agency also said it had a zero percent busy-signal rate over the last six months, and that automated systems handled 40 percent of calls 2.
delivering better, faster, higher-quality service across all channels
The release came 11 days before the Nov. 3 midterm election. Most of its claims can't be checked from outside the agency. But one has already been examined in detail, and it is the phone number.
What the phone number leaves out
The 5.6-minute figure uses a measure called "average speed of answer" 2. In December 2025, the SSA's own watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), audited that measure at the request of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. The audit found it understates how long many people actually wait 3.
From Channel GOPWarren asks Greer for a tariff refund planElizabeth Warren · 180 plays · captioned, with the source named
In fiscal 2025, the agency reported an average speed of answer of 15.9 minutes. Callers who asked for a callback, though, waited an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes for it. Callers who stayed on hold for a live agent averaged 59 minutes 3.
When a caller accepted a callback, the agency counted that wait as zero 7. The measure also leaves out abandoned calls, which numbered 21.3 million in fiscal 2025, or 25 percent of all calls 3.
This new watchdog report reveals that true wait times were more than three times higher than what Commissioner Bisignano claimed.
Commissioner Frank Bisignano responded that the audit confirmed his agency's figures were calculated accurately 3. Both things can be true. The math is correct, but it measures something narrower than the time a retiree spends trying to reach a person.
In September 2025, the most recent month in the audit, callback waits still averaged about an hour 7. The agency's Oct. 23 release doesn't give a newer callback figure. It reports the same average-speed-of-answer measure the watchdog looked at 2.
Fewer workers, more callers
The agency is doing this with far fewer people. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group, found that the SSA lost about 7,500 employees, or 13 percent of its staff, from January 2025 to January 2026. That left it with fewer workers than at any time since 1967. Fewer than 100 people were hired in 2025 7.
A later count put the loss at more than 8,000 workers over about 15 months, including more than 3,800 customer service staff who helped field office visitors and phone callers 6. Starting in July 2025, about 1,000 field office employees a day were moved onto the 800 number 7.
That matters because the phone gains were partly built by pulling workers out of local offices. Field office staffing was down 13 percent in June 2025 compared with October 2024. The inspector general did not study whether moving staff to the phones hurt service at those offices 3.
The agency also stopped publishing its regular monthly service numbers in June 2025. It later brought back some of them, but it still leaves out call wait times, waits for appointments and the number of unfinished requests 6.
Democrats call the numbers misleading
At a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing in June, Democrats pressed Bisignano on how the agency counts waits. Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel, objected to what he called press releases "claiming dramatic improvements" while people report long lines and being turned away 4.
it seems misleading to claim a zero call wait time for seniors that waited hours or days for a call back
At the same hearing, Rep. Judy Chu, a California Democrat, cited inspector general data showing that callback callers wait nearly two hours. Bisignano disputed that, saying callbacks generally come in under 30 minutes 5. In written testimony, he also wrote that "we have more work to do" 5.
Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat, introduced the Social Security Customer Service Act in April. It would bring SSA staffing back to its level at the end of the Biden administration and send at least three-quarters of new hires to jobs serving the public. The American Federation of Government Employees, the union for many SSA workers, supports it 8.
This bill is about restoring basic service and making government work for people again.
The disability backlog
The agency also said the backlog of first-time disability claims fell 23 percent, from nearly 1.2 million to 911,000, and that first decisions now come 40 days faster than in fiscal 2024 2. That is real progress for people who have waited months for an answer.
But in June, Bisignano told lawmakers the backlog stood at roughly 862,000 4. That means, on the agency's own figures, the pile of waiting claims was larger at the end of the fiscal year than it was in the spring 24.
The October release also highlights the agency's cleanup of Social Security number records and $645 million in old debts returned to the trust funds 2. The release doesn't say how many people tried and failed to get help this year.
The Record
- Inspector general audit finds the SSA's "average speed of answer" excludes callback waits, which averaged 1 hour 51 minutes in fiscal 2025 3
- Rep. Haley Stevens introduces the Social Security Customer Service Act to restore staffing to its level at the end of the Biden administration 8
- At a House hearing, Bisignano says the initial disability claims backlog is roughly 862,000; Democrats call the agency's wait-time claims misleading 4
- SSA calls fiscal 2026 its best year ever, citing a 5.6-minute average phone answer time and a 911,000-claim disability backlog 2
Sources
- WBIW (republishing SSA release), “Social Security's digital-first strategy produces best performance in agency history” (2026-10-23). wbiw.com/2026/10/23/social-securitys-digital-first-strategy-
- Newsroom America (SSA release), “Social Security Administration Reports Best Performance in Agency History for FY 2026” (2026-10-23). newsroomamerica.com/a/KTtOSKheX369ssEjgQGJI0pFHyI/ssa_says_i
- Nextgov/FCW, “SSA phone wait times longer than publicly reported metrics, per OIG report” (2025-12-22). nextgov.com/digital-government/2025/12/ssa-phone-wait-times-
- Newsweek, “Social Security Chief Says Service Is Improving. Critics See a Different Reality” (2026-06-10). newsweek.com/social-security-chief-says-service-improving-cr
- 401(k) Specialist, “Social Security Claims Record-Low Wait Times as Critics Disagree” (2026-06-12). 401kspecialistmag.com/social-securitys-bisignano-reports-rec
- 401(k) Specialist, “Social Security Administration Faces Turmoil After 8,000+ Staff Cuts and Reporting Changes” (2026-06-04). 401kspecialistmag.com/social-security-administration-faces-t
- 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
- Office of Rep. Haley Stevens, “Rep. Stevens Introduces Social Security Customer Service Act to Restore Service” (2026-04-02). stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-stevens-introduce
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