Social Security watchdog opens investigation into telephone wait times and customer service

By Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — The Social Security Administration’s acting inspector general has opened a review of the agency’s call center wait times and its ability to deliver services to Americans.

The investigation was requested by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has repeatedly voiced concerns about the agency’s performance after a Department of Government Efficiency-led reorganization. Warren told reporters in July that she discussed the need for an audit with Commissioner Frank Bisignano when the two met.

“SSA OIG expectation is we will be able to obtain the necessary information in an expedited manner to address the issues you raised in your letter and complete this audit before the end of the calendar year,” Michelle Anderson, the acting inspector general, wrote in a letter to Warren on Wednesday. Anderson noted she spoke with Bisignano about the issues that Warren raised.

Bisignano, who took charge of the agency in May, has promised to greatly improve Social Security’s customer service, particularly on its national 800 number. The agency has been in turmoil following the departure of more than 5,500 staffers and DOGE’s plans to boost anti-fraud measures, which sparked great concern among many of the program’s roughly 74 million beneficiaries and their advocates. People flooded the phone lines and flocked to field offices, fearing their monthly payments could be cut off. Several of the DOGE efforts were later withdrawn amid the blowback.

The commissioner has touted several improvements in customer service, including reducing the time it takes for agents to answer the national 800 number, shortening the wait times in field offices and reducing the initial disability claims backlog. He shifted 1,000 customer service representatives from field offices to the national 800 number in July, beefing up its staffing by 25%.

But Warren has questioned whether the agency is providing the public with accurate information, noting that Social Security has taken down from its website dozens of performance indicators that it had previously posted. They include the number of pending retirement benefits claims, the current share of retirement and disability benefits appointments held within 28 days and live wait and callback times on the national 800 number, among other statistics.

The senator released a report Friday, shared first with CNN, detailing the data and consumer information that were removed after Bisignano took office.

“These metrics’ removal deprives policymakers and the public of key information needed to understand and assess the agency’s performance — and may even impede Americans’ ability to make informed decisions about their own benefits,” the report said.

Warren and the agency also engaged in a recent debate on X, with the senator writing on Wednesday that “the Trump administration is LYING about how long people are stuck waiting for help with their Social Security benefits,” and posting a recent CNN story delving into call center wait times.

Social Security responded on Thursday that Bisignano “welcomed an independent review of the data. The reality is that SSA employees are serving more Americans at quicker speeds.” The agency linked to its online performance page, which was updated with more metrics in mid-August but is still not as comprehensive as earlier versions. It also posted a letter the commissioner sent to Warren in late July, noting that he contacted the inspector general’s office after the two met and offered his support.

“After so many years of challenges, your skepticism of the rapid pace at which we have improved customer service is understandable,” Bisignano wrote to Warren. “This is why I also agreed to have the SSA Inspector General review our long-standing performance data on the phones.”

Warren asked the inspector general to look into whether wait times have worsened under the Trump administration; how caller wait time data is collected; whether the agency is providing the public with accurate information about wait times; and how staffing decisions have affected its ability to deliver services, among other queries.

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