The Social Security Administration (SSA) reported ever-worsening hearing wait times for disability claimants across the U.S. for the second quarter of this fiscal year (FY).
Now at 583 days, the national average hearing processing time is 38 days longer since September 30, 2016 (545 days), and has grown by more than 100 days in less than two years, since 480 days on September 30, 2015. Almost 50 percent of U.S. hearing offices now report waits of 600-plus days. This includes 14 hearing offices—servicing 111,296 claimants—where the average hearing processing time exceeded 700 days.
The total number of pending hearings declined 2.2 percent since December 31, 2016, marking the first quarterly drop in several years. However, the backlog remains almost 60 percent higher than where it stood in FY 2010, and up over 30 percent since FY 2013.
Of the 1,116,624 hearings currently pending nationwide, over 60 percent have been waiting at the hearing level over 270 days.
