Next month, beneficiaries of the Social Security Administration (SSA) can expect to receive some major changes. The SSA is currently undergoing some significant changes this year, some of which are expected and happen each year, and others that are much more novel. In addition, next month will bring double payments for certain beneficiaries due to scheduling conflicts regarding Supplementary Security Income. With 2025 nearly reaching the halfway mark, it remains uncertain what the future has in store for the SSA.
Major internal shifts within the SSA
Recently, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, cut down the SSA workforce from 57,000 employees to 50,000. This has caused current employees to work overtime, with inflated wait times and 12-hour shifts for current employees. While some have praised the cuts and view them as a long-term change, others are more concerned about what the effects mean.
“For too long, SSA has operated on autopilot,” said Acting SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek in a March 3 press release defending the cuts. “It is time to change just that.”
However, others have noted that the significant cuts, which only save 0.06% of the federal budget, are bound to cause delays in the SSA distributing payments to beneficiaries.
“I truly believe there’s going to be some interruption of benefits for some period of time, and I believe that will probably happen in the very near future,” said Former SSA Commissioner Marin O’Malley, according to Long Island Press.
These internal changes within the SSA could mean that next month, continued delays at SSA offices will occur, which could lead to longer wait times for you if you need to speak with the SSA directly. At an extreme, it could also mean that there is the possibility that payments will be delayed, a phenomenon which has never occurred for the entire 80 years of the SSA’s existence.
Updated COLA for beneficiaries
While the new cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) index went into effect in January, the COLA increase has meant that beneficiaries for the past four months have had increased payments compared to last year. Social Security’s official information on COLA for 2025 discloses that the COLA increase for this year was 2.5%. This was one of the lowest COLA adjustments ever seen since pre-Covid-19.
For the first time this year, Social Security recipients received an updated and redesigned COLA notice, which has made it simpler for consumers to locate the information they most need. The streamlined COLA notice is now just one page long, contains precise dates and dollar amounts of the individual’s new benefit amount and any deductions, and is written in simple, personalized language.
Double round of payments for SSI beneficiaries coming next month
The Social Security Administration (SSA) will be releasing a double round of payments for certain SSA beneficiaries this month. The SSA administration usually follows a tight schedule when it comes to releasing payments for beneficiaries to plan their monthly expenses and without concern for when the payments will hit their bank accounts. However, sometimes these prescheduled dates slightly deviate, meaning that beneficiaries end up with double payments in one month.
Beneficiaries are reminded that this extra payment for May is not a “bonus” payment but is actually their June payment which is being paid out on May 30 as June 1st falls on a Sunday. Payments by the SSA are always moved forward if the usual payment date falls on a weekend or a public holiday. If you do not receive an SSI payment in June, it is not because your payment has been forgotten, but it is because that extra May payment is accounting for your June payment.
