… On Saturday, July 25, 2026, Upload Documents will launch the first batch of forms utilizing a new conversational approach. With this method, form items will be presented as questions to the customer in a more easily understood, conversational style. Similar to previously introduced dynamic webforms, conversational forms will not necessarily ask questions in a linear sequence that mirrors the paper form. Instead, customer responses will determine which additional questions appear. All questions are pre-developed and presented in standardized language. As with dynamic forms, certain information fields will be required, and customers will not be able to submit forms unless all required fields are completed.
IMPORTANT: Although form questions will be presented in a new conversational manner, the resulting PDF generated after submission will be identical to the paper and fillable PDF versions of the form. Customers will be presented with a preview of the final PDF prior to submission to see how their responses to conversational form questions are reflected on the form, and to observe how form items corresponded to the conversational webform questions on screen. Customers will have the opportunity to edit any responses prior to submission. …
Social Security Administration Announces New Online Tools and Notices for Disability Claims Agency enhances online platform to expand service for disability cases
Baltimore, MD – The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced major enhancements to mySocial Security, expanding self-service options and the notices available to individuals navigating the disability claims and appeals process. The new tools will provide individuals with greater visibility, faster access to information, and more efficient case processing throughout the lifecycle of a disability claim.
“Our digital-first approach to service is now extending to disability through the Claim Status Tracker, expansion of digital notices, and online document submission, enabling SSA to deliver better outcomes for the American people,” said Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano. “By making more tools available online, we are empowering claimants to stay informed and manage their Social Security benefits with greater ease and confidence.”
“These digital tools will streamline operations and empower claimants to stay informed and promptly respond to important developments throughout the hearing process, eliminating the need for hearing offices to make outbound calls and instead, focus on reviewing cases in a timely manner,” said Chief of Disability Adjudication Jay Ortis.
Enhancements to mySocial Security
Submit Disability Adjudication Forms Online: Individuals can now complete and submit disability adjudication forms directly through their personal mySocial Securityaccount, including:
Form HA-4631, Recent Medical Treatment;
Form HA-4632, Medication Information; and
Form HA-4633, Work Background.
Online submission helps ensure adjudicators receive information quickly and supports more efficient case processing.
Track Disability Claim Status Online: Individuals with a pending disability claim, appeal, or recently adjudicated claim can now view the status of their case online at the Hearings and Appeals levels. The Claim Status Tracker provides real-time updates, processing time estimates, and key milestones throughout each level of adjudication. Features include:
Notification when the hearing office receives a Request for Hearing;
Status updates as the hearing office reviews information and prepares the case for hearing;
Status updates when a hearing decision is issued; and
Appeals Request for Review status updates, receipt of review requests, and completion of actions.
Access Proffer Letters Securely: Individuals can securely access proffer letters in the mySocial Security Message Center. A proffer letter is a notice sent when new evidence is added to a case after a hearing, allowing claimants to review and respond before a decision is made.
Access 26 Additional Social Security Notices in mySocial Security Message Center: Individuals can view electronic copies of their hearing-related notices by logging into their personal account. The following notices are now available for digital release to accountholders:
Notice of Hearing
Request for Good Cause for Late Filing
Request to Withdraw a Hearing Request
Please Contact Us
Postponement of Hearing
Amended Notice of Hearing
Notice of Continued Hearing
Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing
Request for Hearing Acknowledgement Letter
Notice to Show Cause for Failure to Appear
Response to Request for Expedited Processing
Good Cause Found to Reschedule Hearing
Transfer Request for Hearing
Claimant Questionnaires
Waiver of Timely Written Notice
Time to Submit Evidence
On the Record Notice
ALJ Approval of Fee Agreement
ALJ Disapproval of Fee Agreement
Important Notice About Representation
Notice of Closing the Record
Notice Regarding Substitution of Party Upon Death of Claimant
Congressional Letter
Letter Template
Claimant Restriction Letter
Case Status Letter
Notice of Hearing Reminder
Proffer Letter
Claimants may opt to receive email or text notifications when new documents are available. Paper notices will continue to be mailed to claimants and their appointed representatives. This enhancement supports faster case processing and timely communications.
SSA continues to increase the functionality of mySocial Security to ensure that the more than 100 million Americans with accounts have a seamless experience when accessing their personal information. With an account, individuals have 24/7 access to their personalized retirement benefits and 1099 forms, can receive tailored notifications, request a replacement card, manage benefits or estimate future benefits, request replacement documents, check the status of pending applications, and conduct other services anytime, anywhere, without needing to visit an office or wait on the phone.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is remaking itself around a digital identity system that tens of millions of its beneficiaries cannot use – while simultaneously dismantling the in-person safety valve that has long allowed people to navigate the system when digital verification fails. …
But that digital system is built on identity-proofing mechanisms that millions of Social Security beneficiaries cannot satisfy. To access many of SSA’s online services – including creating a my Social Security account, resetting credentials, obtaining replacement documents, checking claims, or managing benefits – individuals must authenticate their identity using commercial data sources.
Those identity checks can include credit histories, mobile carrier records, address histories, and financial account data. They generate “soft inquiries” on credit files and hinge on the existence of a stable and verifiable financial footprint.
The problem is straightforward: millions of Social Security beneficiaries do not have the data these systems require. …
Numerous disability claimants operate with inconsistent documentation due to frequent address changes, medical crises, or disruptions tied to long periods out of the workforce. For these beneficiaries, digital identity verification is not simply difficult. It is often impossible.
Under SSA’s new operational model, that impossibility now carries far-reaching consequences. When digital verification fails, the fallback is a field office – but the agency is cutting field office traffic by 50 percent and reducing staffing across local offices. …
This dynamic recasts SSA’s modernization not as a technological upgrade but as the construction of a two-tiered system – one for beneficiaries with strong credit files, stable addresses, broadband access, and technological competence – and another for those without such resources, who will increasingly face longer waits, reduced access, and the escalating possibility of being unable to access benefits at all. …
… That public filing outlined a regime where callers would have to log into SSA online to get a one-time code that would prove their identity in order to get help with those four transactions. Since the spring, the agency has required users to supply that pin to change their direct deposit information over the phone.
Now, an SSA spokesperson says that it will update the document “to clarify that the use of the Security Authentication PIN (SAP) feature is entirely optional.”
“We are encouraging my Social Security accountholders to use the enhanced SAP feature to quickly and securely verify their identity when calling the National 800 Number,” they said, noting that the existing processes to verify identity will remain on the agency’s phone line.
The agency had estimated that the policy requiring people to verify themselves with a PIN would send over three million people to SSA field offices, but the spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW that “beneficiaries and my Social Security accountholders will not be required to visit a field office if they do not choose to use the SAP feature.” …
I'm hearing that Social Security is having a significant problem with its ERE system. Attorneys aren't able to upload files. This has been going on since Monday and is a national problem.
By the way, I'm calling it ERE but, honestly, I don't know what the official name is now. It's gone by various names. ERE (Electronic Records Express) is the oldest name and, I think, the name most commonly used by attorneys representing claimants.
Over the decades it’s been my experience that people new to the Social Security world dramatically underestimate the complexity and sensitivity of the work that the Social Security Administration does. I wonder how long it will take for DOGE employees to figure this out. I doubt that their arrogance can long coexist with knowledge of just how complex Social Security is.
As an example of the complexity let’s imagine a recent widow calling in to ask about benefits she might be able to receive. Sounds like that would be a common sort of transaction and it is. Here’s some of the questions that should come up and there are plenty more that may come up:
How old are you?
Do you have any minor children?
Do you have any disabled adult children?
Are you working and, if so, how much are you earning?
How much income of any kind do you have now?
How much do you have in the way of resources, such as money in the bank?
Are you disabled?
Depending on the answers to those questions and potentially more, the widow and members of her family may be entitled to these sorts of benefits and she and others in her family may easily be entitled to two or three of these at the same time:
Aged widows benefits
Disabled widows benefits
Child benefits
Disabled adult child benefits
Mothers benefits
SSI
Retirement benefits
Disability Insurance Benefits
If you think that there are online systems available now or in the near future able to seamlessly help a grieving woman whose only online device is a cell phone deal with all this online you just don’t understand people, much less grieving people and you must not have dealt with what passes for AI service now.
The DOGE people aren’t used to working in an environment including multiple legacy systems. They’re never had to cope with computer illiterates. Those benighted souls weren’t the customers they were aiming at or cared about. They’ve never had to deal with anything like Social Security’s complexity. It will take them at least a couple of years to begin to learn it and I do mean “begin.” They really need to know it in depth and that can take a decade or more. They’re not going to be around the agency anywhere near that long.
… Chief among [DOGE’s] plans: Using their tech expertise to build apps and websites to help federal workers and Americans trying to access government services, according to two people familiar with DOGE internal workings. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, a close friend of Musk’s who was responsible for the company’s inviting look, has been recruited to help lead the effort. Even this has invited criticism, however. Musk has repeatedly criticized Social Security, one of the government’s most popular programs, and DOGE staffers have been working inside the agency. But an effort to give the Social Security website and services a user-friendly digital overhaul was already underway at the U.S. Digital Service — until Musk pushed out the team working on it, according to Mina Hsiang, who led the USDS before the department became the U.S. DOGE Service in January.
“When you fire people who have deep understandings of the mission you want to accomplish, you’re sort of starting from zero,” she said. …
… Feds in the transformation office received emails Monday informing them that they will be fired, one affected employee toldNextgov/FCW. SSA didn’t respond to questions on the status of the employees in affected offices.
“Your further employment at the agency would not be in the public interest,” read the memo emailed to them on Monday. They didn’t get any advance notice, the affected employee said.
With the office’s elimination, it’s not clear what will happen to the agency’s website, the affected employee further told Nextgov/FCW, as that office housed the SSA team that works on SSA.gov, the online front door to the agency that provides critical benefits to millions of Americans.
Work to overhaul that website, which was recognized with a Service to the Citizen award in 2023, was ongoing.
“If there's a website problem, I don’t know who's gonna fix it,” said Betsy Beaumon, the agency’s former chief transformation officer under the Biden administration who was recently chosen to receive a Fed100 award for her work last year. “There are some contractors who do some of the actual hands-on work, but the people that work with them are on this team.” …
The Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) is pleased to announce the
release of the Representative Availability Portal (Portal) as part of the
Enhanced Representative Availability Process (ERAP). The Portal is a dynamic,
modern, and user-friendly website that allows representatives, through their
Designated Scheduling Groups (DSGs), to provide us their availability for
hearings. While you can still email your monthly availability to us if you
choose, the Portal is a simpler and more convenient way to provide us your
availability.
We plan to register Portal
users over the next several months as part of a phased national rollout,
ultimately offering the Portal as an option for all representatives in 2025. If
you are interested in registering individuals to submit availability through the
Portal on behalf of your DSG, please send an email ... to ...
Anything would be an improvement over the mess we've got now, both for attorneys and Social Security.
From a press release issued by the General Services Administration (GSA):
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) announced its latest round of
investments totaling $50.2 million, aimed at modernizing critical
services across two federal agencies. ...
With $19.5 million in TMF support, SSA aims to transition to a more
efficient, user-friendly service featuring electronic signature
capabilities and a robust online document upload platform. By 2028, SSA
anticipates reducing paper mail volume by roughly half and saving over
600 staff work years annually. For the public, this could potentially
save customers up to 1.3 million hours in travel time. ...
SSA plans to use $9 million in TMF support to create user-centered
design guidance, build new digital tools, and modernize current backend
systems for an enhanced customer experience. This effort aims to
simplify notice language, create more digital options for receiving
notices, and transform how SSA connects with applicants and
beneficiaries. ...
As medical records grow increasingly complex and staff resources remain
limited, SSA faces challenges in processing disability claims
efficiently. To address this, SSA intends to use $1.9 million in TMF
support to enhance several key systems, including the National Case
Processing System and the Intelligent Medical-Language Analysis
Generation tool. ...
I don't see an explanation for the other $10 million.
Today, the Social Security Administration announced a large step in a
multi-year effort to simplify processes for people who are applying for
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) by starting to offer an online,
streamlined application for some applicants starting in December. SSI
provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults
who have little or no income and resources.
The initial step – known as iClaim expansion – aims to
establish a fully online, simplified iClaim application that leverages
user-tested, plain-language questions, prepopulated answers where
possible, seamless step-by-step transitions, and more. The online
application aims to reduce the time spent applying as well as the
processing time for initial claim decisions. ...
The rollout of the iClaim expansion will generally be available to
first-time applicants between 18 and almost 65 who never married and are
concurrently applying for Social Security benefits and SSI. A goal of
the second phase – currently targeted for late 2025 – is to expand this
to all applicants. ...
This rollout is quite limited -- concurrent claims for people who have never married. Why is it limited in those ways other than to hold down the number of claims filed in this manner? It's like they want to say they're doing it even though they're only barely doing it.
Today the Social Security Administration announced that customers who created an online account (e.g., mySocial Security
account) before September 18, 2021, will soon be required to transition
to a Login.gov account to continue access to their online services.
Over five million of these account holders have already transitioned to
Login.gov.
The agency is making the changes to simplify the sign-in
experience and align with federal authentication standards while
providing safe and secure access to online services. ...
The New York Times is running a piece on the ongoing scandal of criminals, by hook or crook, obtaining enough information about a person receiving or eligible to receive Social Security benefits and then convincing the Social Security Administration to divert those benefits to the criminals. It happens thousands of times a year and involves tens of millions of dollars. It goes on and on with no apparent fix in sight.
Rural areas of the United States warrant separate attention when
considering how to communicate information about federal programs in
part because their geography affects how information can be shared
effectively (remoteness results in greater distance between field
offices and lower level of broadband internet access) and in part
because rural communities have a higher representation of many
program-eligible groups (e.g., those older than 65, those who have a
disability, and those who are low-income).
Mode of program communication affects the likelihood of the
information reaching the public. Traditionally, the Social Security
Administration mailed statements to all workers. In addition,
private-sector employers often trained new hires about funding their
retirements during orientation. As both these forms of communication
have been substantially reduced since 2011, the public’s knowledge of
OASDI benefits has been low.
When considering the general shift toward online information
dissemination, this is a particular concern for those in rural areas,
people with disabilities, and groups with low digital literacy.
Broadband access is not as ubiquitous in rural areas as it is in
nonrural ones. Perhaps as a result, many who reside in rural places are
digitally illiterate and would have difficulty navigate online. In
addition, most federal websites do not meet federal accessibility
guidelines, creating a barrier for those with disabilities.
Community context is important, particularly when considering
program enrollment that may carry a stigma, such as SSI or food and
energy assistance. Identifying local community partners who can provide
technical assistance may help. For communities of particularly
marginalized groups (e.g., the unhoused, those recently released from
prison, low English proficiency individuals, and those with serious
mental health disabilities), having dedicated staff trained in dealing
with populations facing vulnerabilities may be particularly useful. ...
The Coalition For Constituents With Disablities (CCD), the major umbrella organization of non-profits who help the disabled, has sent comments to the Social Security Administration on its plan to allow electronically filed claims for Supplemental Security Income. Here are a few excerpts:
.. We would like to express our general support for SSA’s efforts. For too long, there has been an unnecessary divide between SSI and SSDI claimants. SSDI claimants could complete their applications for benefits completely online, while SSI claimants were subjected to long wait times at Field Offices, or over the phone, to complete an application for benefits.
The process for applying for SSI is labyrinthine and confusing. Our members seeking SSI report often being met by well-meaning, but overworked employees prone to misunderstandings and mistakes. Further, SSI recipients are among the most at-risk members of society, and SSI benefits are often their families’ only source of cash available to pay for shelter and other necessities. ...
The proposed request indicates that third-party assisters may use iClaim to apply for an applicant. It also indicates that after a third-party assister completes the application, the applicant will be required to either physically sign the application, or verbally attest to its contents telephonically. However, if a claimant is using the online system to provide this information, it seems unnecessary to require either a wet signature or verbal attestation by an employee. In our experience, claimants are still having difficulty receiving mail, particularly in poorer areas. Further, requiring SSA employees to call claimants also adds an extra, unnecessary burden on employees. SSA should explore allowing claimants to sign their application at a later time and complete an e-signature. ...
The proposed request notes that “iClaim uses dynamic pathing, which ensures claimants are only asked to complete the questions that are relevant to them.” In principle, this seems to be a positive development. We commend SSA’s goal of ensuring the application process is streamlined as much as possible. That said, SSA should make public how the dynamic pathing process will work. ...
The Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) has issued a brief report recommending that the Social Security Administration "use evidence-based measures to evaluate access to agency services"
which isn't the most exciting recommendation you'll find even in the
context of government advisory board reports. There's another more complete report which
adds detail. However, the brief report includes this chart which I
think is far more interesting than the text in either report. (Click on
the image to view full size.)
What
I get from this is that the dramatic increase in internet services
provided by the Social Security Administration has had almost no effect
upon the demand for services provided in person or over the telephone.
The idea that Social Security can wean the public off personal service
so that in the future the public will just deal with the agency through
its online services is bunk. There's no reason to expect that's ever
going to work. By all means, provide online services but don't expect
that online services will ever replace field offices and telephone
service.
From a notice published today by the Social Security Administration in the Federal Register (footnote omitted):
... SSA is embarking on a multi-year effort to simplify the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) application process. ...
As part of this effort, our goal is to develop a fully online, simplified SSI application process. As an important step toward that goal, we are currently planning to implement in late 2023 the SSI Simplification Phase I initiative, or iSSI. iSSI will be a pathway in the existing Social Security internet Claim (iClaim) System that will streamline and shorten the SSI application for Title XVI disability applicants. iClaim is an online portal the public can use to apply for multiple types of Social Security benefits. Currently, this includes Retirement, Spouse's, and Disability Insurance benefits (DIB) (Title II SSDI). ...
Title XVI applicants who want to use the internet to apply
for SSI will use the iClaim system to initiate the application process
and establish the protective filing date of the application. Applicants
filing for themselves can authenticate online using one of our existing
authentication methods, while applicants assisting others can use
iClaim without authenticating. Although SSA encourages respondents to
authenticate in iClaim, they can continue to use the system without
authentication.
When applicants who use iClaim authenticate themselves,
the iClaim system can use some information already within SSA records.
For all applicants, the iClaim system will prompt the Social Security
Disability (Disability Insurance Benefit (DIB)) questions and pre-
populate the applicant's answers within the iSSI portion of the iClaim
pages. The applicants would then only need to answer simplified
eligibility related questions, excerpted from the deferred SSI
application, that will form the core of iSSI. These are what SSA refers
to as ``basic eligibility questions.''
After answering the DIB and SSI basic eligibility
questions, applicants will be automatically transferred to other
existing steps within the SSI Application iClaim path, such as
providing medical information (using the i3368, OMB No. 0960-0579) and
signing a medical release using the i827 (OMB No. 0960-0623). This
process will be seamless to the applicant, as the iClaim system will
take them from page to page without interruption.
Once the applicant submits the information online, SSA
technicians will review it for completeness and send it to the
Disability Determination Services (DDS) to make a disability
determination. ...
This Emergency Message (EM) notifies technicians of a
new online service option called Upload Documents that customers can
use to electronically submit certain technician-requested evidence and
forms. Technicians will initiate the request through the Technician
Experience Dashboard (TED). ...
We will release Upload Documents on July 8, 2023. The initial rollout will be limited to the Boston Region offices using TED.
Upload Documents can be used to serve Title
II, Title XVI, and Title XVIII beneficiaries, as well as individuals who
do not currently receive benefits from SSA.
Initially, technicians will be able to use Upload Documents to request a small number of forms that do notrequire
a signature (Section F). During release 2, we will update Upload
Documents to include additional forms, including some forms requiring a
signature. Customers will be able to sign and submit these forms using
Upload Documents’ electronic signature (“eSignature”) functionality. We
will discuss the eSignature process for Upload Documents in a future EM.
Upload Documents will also allow technicians to request certain pieces of evidence. ...
... TED is a new technician-driven SSA interface that will help modernize and streamline our interactions with customers.
When a technician determines that SSA needs a
certain form and/or evidence that is on the list of items currently
accepted for Upload Documents, the technician can initiate the request
using TED. Before initiating the request, the technician will first
contact the customer regarding the request, offering the use of Upload
Documents. If the customer is interested in using Upload Documents to
submit the requested evidence or form, the technician will obtain the
customer's consent to receive a one-time email from SSA, containing an
access link and instructions for Upload Documents. The technician will
be able to view a customer’s previously registered mySSA email address,
where applicable. The customer can choose to receive the one-time Upload
Documents email at the previously registered email address, or at a
different email address. If the customer consents to receive a one-time
Upload Documents email, the technician should verify the customer’s
preferred email address. The technician will then select the forms and
evidence that are needed from the customer within TED (see screenshot
below). ...
It says something, doesn't it, that this is named for the "technician experience" rather than the claimant or customer experience.
Are they still going to insist on calling the claimant to ask "Is this really your signature?", which defeats the whole point of using an online system for uploading documents? I wonder how often claimants say "No, I didn't sign that." Maybe, never. You have to be careful but you don't have to be paranoid.
The Social Security Administration has issue a press release saying that they've redesigned their website. The press release says that the agency's website is getting about 180 million hits a year.
