Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion; Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High

The agency placed the blame partly on a shortage of workers and funding.
Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion; Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High
A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Oct. 14, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Naveen Athrappully
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The backlog of payment actions at the Social Security Administration (SSA) is now at a “record-breaking” level, causing the agency to make more than a billion dollars in improper payments to beneficiaries, according to the SSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The SSA’s backlog of pending actions hit an “all-time high” of 5.2 million as of February, the OIG said in an Aug. 8 statement, citing an analysis published in June. Pending actions at the agency’s claims processing centers that remain unresolved for a long period of time have resulted in “larger improper payments, including growing underpayments or increasing overpayments to beneficiaries.”