BALTIMORE, MD — Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano met on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, with members of the Social Security Advisory Board to outline what the agency called major customer service gains and a broader push for operational changes under President Donald J. Trump.
Bisignano met with SSAB Chair Amy Shuart and board members Bob Joondeph, Jagadeesh Gokhale and Nancy Altman, describing a strategy centered on technology upgrades, workforce investment and process changes that he said are improving performance across SSA programs.
“The American people are experiencing a Social Security Administration that has been transformed through digital innovation and strategic process engineering to deliver best-in-class service,” Bisignano said. He credited the administration with accelerating service delivery and said he expects a close working relationship with the board.
Shuart said the board has repeatedly urged the agency to strengthen service and welcomed continued briefings on performance. “I appreciate Commissioner Bisignano’s detailed update to the Board on the Social Security Administration’s customer service metrics and the significant progress made under his leadership,” she said.
In the update, the agency listed a series of performance indicators it said reflect measurable improvement:
SSA said the public now has 24/7 access to personal my Social Security accounts, after the agency reported the website had previously been unavailable 29 hours per week. The agency also said it answered 65% more calls in fiscal year 2025 than in fiscal year 2024, and that average answer times on the national 800 number have fallen into “single digits.”
Technology changes, SSA said, now allow 90% of calls to be resolved through self-service options or scheduled callbacks, while an upgraded phone system supporting field offices nationwide enables 30% of calls to be handled instantly through technology.
At field offices, the agency said the average wait time for walk-in visitors fell nearly 30% from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025, and those with appointments wait an average of six minutes to be helped.
SSA also cited progress on disability claims, saying the pending inventory of initial disability claims has dropped 33% from what it described as an all-time high of 1.26 million pending claims in June 2024.
On payments tied to the Social Security Fairness Act, the agency said it completed sending more than 3.1 million payments totaling more than $17 billion to eligible beneficiaries, five months ahead of schedule.
Bisignano also told the board the agency is prioritizing payment accuracy as part of efforts to address waste, fraud and abuse and to prevent improper payments to ineligible recipients.
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