Frank Bisignano, chief govt officer of the Inside Income Service (IRS), throughout a Home Methods and Means Subcommittee on Social Safety listening to in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
Tierney L. Cross | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Social Safety Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano informed Congress on Wednesday that the company has improved one legacy ache level for people who contact it — lengthy cellphone wait occasions for its toll-free helpline.
SSA has introduced the common “velocity of reply,” or the time it takes for an agent to reply an incoming name, to the “lowest degree in a decade,” Bisignano mentioned in written testimony to the Home Methods and Means Social Safety and Work & Welfare subcommittee listening to.
In Could, the common velocity of reply was below 5 minutes, in line with Bisignano’s testimony, an 89% discount from an all-time excessive of 42 minutes in fiscal yr 2024.
“We now reply 90% of calls to our 800 quantity, and have decreased common wait time to 5 minutes, a 75% enchancment,” Bisignano mentioned on Wednesday.
The Social Safety Administration may have greater than 800 million buyer interactions this yr on account of its record-breaking efficiency, in line with Bisignano.
The company presently serves greater than 300 million Individuals, Bisignano mentioned. It presently points Social Safety advantages to round 71 million people and gives different companies, akin to issuing Social Safety playing cards.
Lawmaker issues over wait occasions persist
Bisignano’s testimony comes multiple yr after he was sworn in to steer the Social Safety Administration in Could 2025. In October, Bisignano was tapped to additionally function CEO of the IRS.
President Donald Trump selected Bisignano, who was beforehand president and CEO of world funds supplier Fiserv, to carry a enterprise strategy to main SSA. His appointment adopted modifications by the Trump administration by means of the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE, to curb “waste, fraud and abuse” within the federal authorities.
Previous to Bisignano’s management, SSA mentioned in February 2025 that it deliberate to scale back its staffing by 7,000 to a complete of fifty,000 workers. The company in the end misplaced greater than 8,000 staff between January 2025 and April 2026, in line with a new report by the Middle on Price range and Coverage Priorities, a nonpartisan analysis and coverage institute, that cited knowledge from the Workplace of Personnel Administration.
These workers losses generated issues amongst some lawmakers and advocates that the company’s companies at each its subject workplaces and its 800 quantity could also be compromised.
In December, the Social Safety Administration Workplace of the Inspector Basic issued a report on the company’s 800 quantity in response to an audit request from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who had expressed issues about its efficiency.
The SSA OIG report said the company’s reported 800 quantity metrics had been “correct,” and that its general cellphone service efficiency improved in fiscal yr 2025. The company served 68 million callers, both immediately by a employee or by means of automation, representing a 65% enhance from the earlier fiscal yr, in line with the report. SSA improved these metrics by means of a brand new telecommunications platform and workers realignments, the report said.
Some lawmakers pressed Bisignano throughout the listening to on wait occasions.
Constituents have skilled lengthy wait occasions, and the standard of service they obtain has diverse relying on after they name, as a result of company’s workers shuffling, mentioned Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc.
Responding to Moore, Bisignano mentioned the Social Safety Administration has elevated workers out there to deal with calls at sure hours and is concentrated on “having the correct amount of workers in the fitting locations.”
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., requested whether or not the information enhancements embrace callers who choose the choice to obtain a callback and, subsequently, could also be counted as experiencing zero-minute wait occasions. OIG knowledge exhibits common wait occasions of practically two hours for many who elect the callback choice, she mentioned.
“The reply is sure, and that’s an trade normal,” Bisignano mentioned of counting callback requests as zero-minute waits. He disputed the OIG report outcomes and mentioned the common wait time for a callback is below half-hour.
The company has not stopped sharing knowledge on its service efficiency, he mentioned: “We’ve got extra metrics than ever earlier than on the internet.”
