From Social Security Update, an agency newsletter:
Social Security received high scores again this year on the Plain Language Report Card — A+ for compliance and A for Writing quality — in a year that many agencies saw a decline in their scores. This year, the report card concentrated on two pages of the website: the www.socialsecurity.gov home page and the redesigned my Social Security page at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.
Since 2012, the Center for Plain Language has graded federal agencies on compliance with the Plain Writing Act — the 2010 law that requires government writing to be clear, concise, and well organized.
I would give SSA propers for many of its website's descriptive articles for the public which are pretty well done. However, start reading SSA correspondence to claimants and it's sometimes a different story. For example, the letters one receives after a favorable decision (notice of award, windfall offset, etc.) can be very difficult to understand both individually and when considered together. Don't get me started on notices concerning overpayments, which often don't tell you what you need to know, and can be confusing in what they do tell you.
ReplyDeleteEveryone gets a trophy in today's world. The bar is set so high! Or low! Stop being such a hater if SSA gets any good news!
ReplyDeleteJust like DDS is 90%+ when it audits itself, when more the reversal rate at OHO is much more than that.
ReplyDelete12:44. DDSs do not audit themselves. They are audited mercilessly by the Feds and 90% would be unacceptable
ReplyDeleteI'll give them some credit for the website. However, as the above poster already mentioned much of the correspondence explaining benefit awards, payments, over payments and other important issues are horrible. From just my view they seem to be getting worse. Just the other day a client who was awarded SSDI benefits, no SSI, 6 months ago got a letter stating "We are discontinuing your benefits because of information we have." It said nothing else. Not even what type of benefits. Of course I figured out what this meant but it caused my client a lot of stress.
ReplyDeleteBlame the agency for the failure of the reader to comprehend. Typical. If we dumb it down any more we will the agency will sound like a trump rally.
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