CJ Henry Law Firm, PLLC | Your Dependable Disability Advocate In Ocala, FL
Applying for Social Security Disability is a fraught, complex and time-consuming process. In the end, you’re facing a substantial likelihood of denial. You may already have heard that almost 70% of Social Security Disability applications are denied at the outset. If your claim is strong and you make it to the hearing level, your odds improve a little: you have a 46% chance of success. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have hope.
What does SSA Disability approval take? Success depends on the meticulous preparation of your case. Your medical records, witness statements and other evidence must be well-documented and thoroughly organized to prevail. Success also takes patience. According to the SSA website, initial processing of your application will take at least 200 to 230 days. If your claim works its way through the system, it could take at least two years to conclude.
Maybe you’ve already wrapped your brain around those realities. However, you may be newly discouraged by recent news that the Social Security Administration is preparing to cut jobs significantly as part of the Trump administration’s call to downsize the federal workforce. The shifting landscape of federal programs and how they’ll function going forward has many people understandably nervous about the future.
Concerning the SSA’s plans to cut jobs:
On February 28, 2025, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it will eliminate 7,000 jobs. This decision was in response to the Trump administration’s executive order calling for a downsizing of the entire federal workforce. Doing away with 7,000 jobs will slim the current SSA employee roster from 57,000 to 50,000.
In addition to these cuts, the SSA also communicated its intention to reduce its number of regional offices from ten to four. This reduction is happening at a time when, as a union spokesperson for Social Security employees told NPR,10,000 beneficiaries are being added to SSA’s rolls daily.
In its news release, the SSA shared “plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission-critical services.” Staffing at SSA is already at a 50-year historical low. However, SSA assured Americans that the reorganization would “prioritize customer service” and that SSA was “committed to ensur[ing] this plan has a positive effect on the delivery of Social Security services.”
The impending layoffs are also intended to address alleged fraud at the SSA. This, coupled with SSA’s other historical problems – slow response times to claims, outdated data management and system security and backlogs in record keeping – create a tense atmosphere for both SSA Disability recipients and applicants.
Much about the job eliminations at SSA is still unknown. The federal government has already been quick to course-correct and reverse some of its decisions regarding the federal work reduction. The outcome of this strategy is uncertain. It remains to be seen how many people will ultimately be laid off, if any employees will be called back or whether service levels and quality of service at SSA will improve or decline.
Currently, no one can predict the impact of workforce reduction at the Social Security Administration. Whether claims will be processed more quickly or slowly following the “reorganization” is unknown. What do we know? A successful SSDI claim is still a matter of thorough preparation and organization.
Given the complexity of the application and the extensive documentation required, your best course of action is to have an experienced Social Security Disability lawyer guide you through the process. While there are never any guarantees you’ll win your claim, having a skilled and knowledgeable representative greatly improves your chances.
Claudeth Henry can help with every step of your disability claim: preparing your application, gathering and organizing compelling evidence, preparing you to testify for your hearing and more. She has dealt with the SSA for years, knows the system, and has successfully adapted to its many administrative changes. You can trust her to stay up-to-date with the impact of layoffs and anticipate their effect on your application.
Filing an SSDI claim is a long, challenging journey. Give yourself the best chance of winning by teaming up with a respected disability advocate. Contact Claudeth Henry today for a free consultation and guidance for pursuing your SSDI claim.
