A bipartisan group of 66 House members is urging the SSA to protect field offices from closure, in the wake of the agency’s recently released Vision 2025 long-range planning document.
“We find it hard to understand why it includes no mention of the role of the 1250 field offices located around the United States. Currently these offices serve 43 million visitors each year and handle almost 60 million telephone inquiries, and we are concerned by the fact that your vision includes virtually no mention of them,” a letter to the agency says.
“We are glad to see SSA explore further uses of the Internet to assist individuals and reduce office wait times, but we do not believe the Internet is a substitute for the face-to-face service and expertise provided by trained field office personnel. Computers cannot always provide people with the options they need to understand and consider before deciding when, and for what benefit, they should be applying,” it says.
It asks SSA to put in writing its positions on issues including the role of field offices over the 10 years, whether the number should be increased, decreased or stay about the same, and the public demand for online versus in-person services.
