Social Security Administration

Every day, thousands of people contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) to file claims for disability or retirement benefits, check to see that their records are up to date, obtain a Social Security card, or ask questions about the agency's programs. To reach its goal of providing world-class service to the public, SSA is working to improve its toll-free 800-number service. Since the 800 number became widely available in 1989, however, SSA has struggled to keep pace with caller demand. Moreover, once callers reach SSA, they are limited to simple transactions, such as ordering Social Security card application forms or making appointments to file benefit claims. SSA has initiatives underway to improve caller access to its 800 number and to expand the range of available transactions. This report reviews (1) how well SSA's 800 number provides service to the public and (2) the steps that SSA needs to take to ensure that upgrades to the 800 number are cost-effective.

GAO noted that: (1) although SSA's 800 number has consistently provided accurate and courteous service to the public, callers have had difficulty getting through; (2) to address this problem, in early 1996 SSA increased the number of representatives answering calls and implemented a new nationwide automated menu; (3) these efforts brought SSA closer to its goal of having 85 percent of callers get through to the 800 number within 5 minutes of their first attempt; (4) not all callers who got through actually spoke to a representative, however, or successfully used one of the automated service options; (5) moreover, SSA came close to accomplishing its goal largely by diverting SSA staff from work responsibilities unrelated to the 800 number; (6) SSA's plans include further increasing the percentage of callers who get through to the 800 number within 5 minutes and expanding the limited range of transactions that callers may complete using the 800-number service; (7) as 800-number and other workloads continue to grow, expanding services while maintaining access levels will challenge SSA; (8) SSA's plans do not sufficiently reflect lessons learned from the private and public sectors on cost-effectively improving 800-number service; (9) for example, SSA could save a significant amount of money by automating more of its routine transactions and by finding ways to verify callers' identities using automated features; (10) for those transactions deemed complex enough to require personal assistance, private-sector leaders in 800-number service save money and enhance service by locating their call agents at a few large centers; (11) in contrast, SSA maintains a large number of teleservice centers and has not developed a specific plan and timetable for reducing the number of these centers; (12) because SSA continues to offer customer service through its field offices, it needs to carefully consider how changes, such as expanding the range of transactions that callers may conduct or complete using the 800 number, fit into and affect SSA's overall service delivery strategy; (13) for example, SSA needs to compare the cost of conducting additional transactions using the 800 number with other service delivery methods to identify the most cost-effective approach; (14) SSA also needs to collect data for more fully assessing how quickly and completely the 800 number serves customers; and (15) by adopting the kind of 800-number initiatives used by some private- and public-sector organizations, SSA could provide effective service while controlling costs.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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