Appeals Council Status Report Now Available Online

     Over the weekend Social Security added an Appeals Council Status Report feature to its online system. This allows attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants to go online and obtain a report on the status of their cases pending at the Appeals Council. Much time has been wasted over the decades as attorneys called the Appeals Council to ask about the status of their cases. Why would attorneys call to ask the status so much? When you have a case that sits at the Appeals Council for a year and a half your client gets antsy and wants to know what's going on. Can you blame them? There's been nothing an attorney could do other than call the Appeals Council to ask what's going on. They never told you anything much but, at least, you could determine that the case was still pending.

     I hate to be ungrateful for the electronic help we're getting but when will we be able to get information on our cases pending at the initial and reconsideration levels and, for that matter, on cases that have been approved and are pending payment? I'm not telling people at Social Security anything they don't already know but extending the system to the initial, reconsideration and payment center levels would save everyone, particularly Social Security, a lot of time.