Social Security Backlogs

Social Security News blog has updated statistics regarding the time it takes a Social Security Disability case to go from application to final decision. The National Average is 532 days.
In November 2007 it was 500 days.

The Peoria, Illinois Hearing office ranks 137th out of 147 Hearing Offices. The average case time is 761 days. That is very sad. The really bad part is that is that the Social Security Budget does not allow for much personnel increase at all. Which means the average is not going to go down dramatically in the near future.

The Peoria, Illinois office covers Peoria, Champaign, Springfield, Decatur, Pontiac and Bloomington, Illinois.

It is hard to tell your clients when they file that they will have to wait over 2 years for a hearing.

Questions about the long wait? Call Attorney Dirk May at 309-827-4371

 

Social Security Delays

The delays from filing for Social Security Disability to hearing are discouraging, disappointing and the prospects for improvement are dismal.

In Central Illinois, which covers Peoria, Bloomington, Pontiac, Springfield and Champaign, Illinois it takes 2.5 years to 3 years to get to hearing. That is devastating when you cannot work due to your disability.

There is no easy answer.

The Social Security Commissioner recently said that the problem is partially due to Administrative Law Judges who do not do their job and decide enough cases, and partially due to not having enough judges and support staff.

First of all, in my experience the judges in the Peoria region all work hard and hear many cases. The reality is that there are many more people applying for Social Security than there is staff that can keep up with the cases.   

The upcoming election is not going to change funding or staffing to the extent it will make any difference in the delays. Sorry, to be negative.

But that does not mean we should not be contacting federal officials- Congress persons and United States Senators, and reminding them of the about the terrible delays and encouraging them to do all that is possible to bring down the case backlogs.