The Social Security Administration, through Commissioner Martin O’Malley, revealed the current average wait periods. The length of time it takes to make an SSDI determination can have an impact on applicants.
In general, the waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance is five months. This waiting period occurs before the SSA can begin sending your disability benefits. In reality, they will normally pay your first SSDI check or direct transfer the sixth full month following the day they determine your impairment began.
SSDI’s average wait time for an initial decision
As of September 2024, the waiting period for an initial disability ruling is 236 days. Keep in mind that the SSA’s goal is to resolve it in 5 months, which is around 150-153 days.
As you can see, there’s a significant delay. Sometimes the lowest-income recipients are unable to tolerate the delay. As a result, they must rely on other forms of federal or state funding, such as SNAP payments.
Unfortunately, the initial Disability judgment wait time has increased as compared to the prior fiscal year. Wait times have grown by 15 days since the same period previous fiscal year.
Other wait times that may impact SSDI applicants and recipients
If you call Social Security’s national 800 line, you may have to wait up to 24 minutes. The good news is that this figure has come down. So it’s 20 minutes faster than the same period last fiscal year.
An SSDI applicant may have to wait up to 233 days for a decision on disability review. This is fairly similar to the one for the initial decision. The increase in wait time is significantly worse, lasting 26 days longer.
SSDI applicants may also experience lengthy hearing decisions. In total, it may take 322 days. Even though it appears to be a very long wait time, it has lessened. It is 132 days faster than in the previous fiscal year.