Update From Commissioner Saul

      An e-mail message to staff from Andrew Saul, Commissioner of Social Security:

Subject: Budget Update

    I am happy to report that the President signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, which funds our work through September 2020. Knowing our budget for fiscal year 2020 allows us to better plan hiring and make other funding decisions. Our approved budget is about the same amount as last year. This legislation also contained an average 3.1 percent pay raise for Federal employees, effective in January 2020.

    As I have said, our fundamental goal is to ensure timely and accurate service for the public. We will focus our funding on improving service and reducing wait times. We will build on our progress in reducing the disability hearings backlog and modernizing our information technology. We must also continue to protect the integrity of our programs by processing our medical continuing disability reviews as they come due for a review.

    We have already started efforts to maximize our resources for the front lines. I asked our leadership team to closely review all of our spending to identify any opportunities to reduce costs and to redirect any savings to our direct service operations. I have been visiting local offices to better understand your concerns and hear your ideas for improvement. Based on your input and feedback from systems experts, as well as the top reasons people contact or visit us, we are developing new, customer-centric automation to better support you and the public we serve. We are also enhancing our website to make it easier for people to find and use our online information and services.

    You handle an incredible amount of work, helping millions of people a year. Therefore, I understand that in addition to better tools and technology, you want more people to help you serve the public. I already approved 1,100 hires in the processing centers (PC) and on the National 800 Number. While we still need to work through the details of our budget, I intend to fund additional hiring in field offices, PCs, the National 800 Number, and the State disability determination services.
    Thank you for your hard work and dedication to public service. We have made progress. We are on track to meet our commitment to eliminate our hearings backlog next year. Our service on the National 800 Number is better now than it was this time last year. Yet, there is still more we need to do, and we will use this funding to continue to improve.

    Andrew Saul
    Commissioner

     Without knowing more, I wouldn't get a bit happy about the 1,100 hires. On its face that's a small number but there's a long history of Social Security Commissioners announcing hiring plans without mentioning that the hires weren't new positions, just replacements for workers who were leaving. Sometimes there's a net staff loss despite the hiring.