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This is an archival or historical document and may not reflect current policies or procedures.

Social Security Administration (SSA) Annual Data for
Average Processing Time Until Hearing Held

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(Updated )

This dataset contains data for fiscal year(s) 1989 - 2009 and is currently available in the following format(s):

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

Background

The SSA's administrative appeals operation, under the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO), is one of the largest administrative judicial systems in the world. Administrative law judges conduct hearings for applicants denied at initial or reconsideration levels of adjudication, and issue decisions.

In a separate dataset we provide more current data for average wait time until a hearing is held. The more recent data is provided by month and office, beginning in September 2010. Average wait time is shown in number of months. This allows individuals and their representatives to estimate the amount of time they may have to wait for a hearing to be held. You will find the most recent monthly report for Average Wait Time Until Hearing Held at Hearings and Appeals. Archived reports, previously called NETSTATS Reports, for FY 2010 on are available at Archived Public Data Files.

The dataset found here provides historical data for average wait time (in days) from the hearing request date until a hearing was held. This dataset includes data for fiscal years (FY) 1989 - 2009 at the national level. Data prior to 1989 is not available. We offer this longitudinal data under our open data program so that members of the public, Congress, advocates, and other interested parties have access to the entire data asset we have for average wait time to a hearing being held.

Notes

  • A Federal Fiscal Year (FY) is the 12-month period that starts the Saturday after the last Friday of September and ends the last Friday of September. Most years our fiscal year workload reports contain 52 weeks since we include only full weeks, rather than cut off in the middle of a week. Every few years the reporting period is 53 weeks when we apply the end of week cutoff.
  • Single asterisk (*): Number of days from the hearing request date until the hearing held date.

Data Dictionary

Fiscal Year (FY): The 12-month period that starts the Saturday after the last Friday of September and ends the last Friday of September.

Average Processing Time in Days: The average number of days from the hearing request date to the hearing held date for completed cases where a hearing was held.