Shutdown limits Social Security benefit verification letters : NPR

A Social Security Administration office in Washington, DC, seen on March 26.

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Employees at Social Security field offices say the government shutdown has prevented them from providing an important service to some beneficiaries.

While the agency continues to pay retirement and disability benefits, workers say they are unable to provide benefit verification letters to people who call to request them.

These official letters act as a sort of income verification and are therefore essential for obtaining assistance such as housing assistance, fuel assistance, and assistance from nonprofit organizations.

“Not only do people need these letters when they apply for these benefits, but they also often have to recertify to prove that they continue to have an eligible income level, and that often happens on a deadline,” says Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Beneficiaries can still access their verification letter online and through the Social Security Administration’s automated phone system, the agency says. But during the shutdown, in-person support for letters is suspended, and when recipients call to speak with a local office representative, they can’t get help with their letter.

And field office workers tell NPR that many people are calling asking for help. (The workers who spoke to NPR were speaking on behalf of their union because they cannot speak for the Social Security Administration.)

“Between 60 and 70 percent of our calls are about, ‘I need my benefits verification letter right now at this time’ during the shutdown,” says Tierra Carter, a teleservice worker in a Tampa, Fla., office who also represents a chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees. “A beneficiary cannot receive a benefits verification letter from the telephone receiver or through their local Social Security office. And this represents a burden for many of our beneficiaries.”

Romig notes that “Social Security recipients are much older than the average U.S. population, so not everyone has much ease with online tools.” And similarly, Social Security serves many people with disabilities. And these disabilities can include things that make it difficult to use a device, like cognitive disabilities, motor skills, or memory problems.

Additionally, critics of the SSA’s automated phone system, including a group of Democratic senators, have reported that it often has glitches, loops and does not resolve the caller’s problem.

Barri Sue Bryant, who has been with the agency for 20 years and represents the union in the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., area, says many of these calls “rip our hearts out.”

She said she received a call this week from an elderly man who doesn’t know how to use a computer and needed a letter verifying his benefits so he could finalize his mortgage.

“So he was going to lose his mortgage if he didn’t get it in time,” Bryant says. “And then we also had an 89-year-old young lady who needed it to get her rental assistance or she was going to lose it. So she could ultimately lose her housing because of this.”

In a statement to NPR, an agency spokesperson said beneficiaries will continue to receive their payments, but “due to insufficient funds, SSA is following the contingency plan for continued operations.”

Bryant and other Social Security employees say it’s frustrating not being able to provide the verification letter service during the shutdown.

“They don’t view benefit verification letters as essential, but they are to the public, you know. It really runs a big part of their lives,” Bryant said.

Christine Lizotte, a claims representative for the Auburn, Maine, agency, which also represents a New England union chapter, says that even when beneficiaries can create an account online, they often have problems.

“Some of them have gone through the site, created an account, but can’t remember their email address, can’t remember their password,” she says.

Lizotte said the timing of this closure is particularly concerning in Maine.

Open enrollment for fuel assistance, which for some people requires one of these SSA letters, has begun. She says it’s already cold in New England and many people are calling for letters and are now worried their aid won’t be cleared on time.

“If you don’t apply, by the time it gets cold — and I mean, it’s starting to get cold — you risk losing or having a fuel assistance voucher delayed, which means the first few months you might be cold,” she says.

“So it feels like a huge disservice that we’ve spent our entire careers here helping these people and now we’re being told, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, we can’t help you today.’ And it’s beyond frustrating. It goes against everything we are.”

“Almost at the breaking point”

Many workers are reporting an increase in these frantic, upset callers at a time when SSA workers themselves are struggling.

As a result of the shutdown, employees are no longer being paid and many have also taken on more work in recent months due to thousands of agency staff departures prompted by the Trump administration.

Alex Creese, a claims specialist at the Aurora, Colo., agency, says on behalf of his local AFGE union chapter that many employees are “living paycheck to paycheck” and worried about paying their bills as the shutdown continues. He said the stress caused by these heartbreaking calls from recipients was exacerbating an already difficult situation.

“Right now, with the shutdown, our hands are tied and we are already so exhausted that now we are even more exhausted,” he says. “So whether it’s those programs that we can’t offer or the programs that we can offer, everything is affected. And right now, we’re almost at a breaking point.”

Creese fears even more employees will leave the agency.

“We are currently running on steam,” he says. “If the shutdown continues, then…I could see all these talented people leaving. It’s just not a good situation right now.”