In This Issue:

New Teleservice Center to Help Agency Handle Boomer Wave

Social Security and the Recovery Act — An Ongoing Relationship

Got Some Air Space to Fill?

In Office, by Phone, Online and Now on Video

New Way to Verify Employee Social Security Numbers

Hola to a New Web Page!

New Teleservice Center to Help Agency Handle Boomer Wave

Commissioner Michael Astrue has announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade. 

“Social Security is facing an unprecedented wave of people needing our services as baby boomers retire,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Response times have been improving significantly, and the new Jackson TSC will help us provide even more timely service to the 60 million Americans who call our toll-free number each year.”

All TSCs take calls from throughout the United States and provide service via Social Security’s national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Live service is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Automated service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Social Security and the Recovery Act — An Ongoing Relationship

If you work with Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients, you already know about one important provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: the one-time recovery payments of $250, which have gone to more than 50 million people.  But Social Security’s involvement in the Recovery Act goes beyond those payments.

The Act provides $500 million in funding to address increased disability and retirement workloads, as well as $500 million to construct and partially equip our national data support center. The information housed there is essential to provide service to the millions of individuals who count on Social Security each day.

Learn more about Social Security and the Recovery Act at www.socialsecurity.gov/recovery.

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Got Some Air Space to Fill?

Did you know that Social Security produces public service announcements that are free for you to use? The agency has both radio spots and television spots that any website, radio or television station is free to use. We have important messages to deliver that are designed to help people of all ages, whether we’re letting them know about our convenient online services or filling them in on important information they need to know about their benefits.

Listen to our most recent radio public service announcements at www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/psa-audio.html.

Take a look at our most recent television public service announcements, featuring Patty Duke, at www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/psa-video.html.

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In Office, by Phone, Online and Now on Video

There are a number of ways people can do business with Social Security.  Today clients can visit a local office, call by phone and even complete many business transactions online. For the future, we’re testing a way for people to do business with us by video.

The new real-time video service is being tested, for example, in Minot, N.D., where it’s already a huge success. Social Security representatives are able to conduct interviews face to face even when they’re miles away. This makes it possible for representatives to verify needed documents using high-resolution video screens even when they don’t actually have it in hand.

Video service delivery was honored as a finalist in Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards competition.

Video service delivery is only available in the test area at this time. But another way Social Security brings the office closer to clients is with our online services — available everywhere. See a list of online services available at www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices.

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New Way to Verify Employee Social Security Numbers

The process for employers to verify Social Security numbers is changing. Employers can now verify employee Social Security numbers by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a new automated telephone service.

Beginning fall 2009, employers, as well as third parties acting on behalf of employers, will only be able to verify employee numbers online or over the automated telephone service. Social Security’s telephone agents will no longer verify numbers for employers.

To use the system, you must be registered.  Employers can register today at www.socialsecurity.gov/employer. Select the “Business Services Online” link.  More information is available on the website. For registration questions, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/employer or call Social Security’s employer reporting service center at 1-800-772-6270.

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Hola to a New Web Page!

Did you know that Social Security has an updated home page in Spanish? The page has been improved to mirror the success of the redesigned English home page at www.socialsecurity.gov. The new Spanish-language page has many of the features you’ve come to love — only in Spanish!

Many of the links to important news and information are available on this new page, making it easy for those who speak Spanish as their primary language to stay in the know.

See the new Spanish-language website for yourself; visit www.socialsecurity.gov/espanol.

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