As the federal government shutdown drags on, some services of the Social Security Administration (SSA) have been suspended, causing growing inconvenience for beneficiaries. The SSA reported that as of October 15, approximately 6,200 employees, or about 12% of its workforce, have been furloughed, leading to reduced in-person services at regional offices nationwide.

However, Social Security pensions and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are classified as "mandatory spending" and are unaffected, with payments continuing on schedule, according to the SSA. October payments for Social Security and SSI beneficiaries have been disbursed as planned: beneficiaries with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th received payments on October 8, those from the 11th to the 20th on October 15, and those from the 21st to the 31st are scheduled to receive payments on October 22. Additionally, November SSI benefits, originally due on November 1 (a Saturday), will be paid early on October 31.

While some Social Security services continue to operate normally during the shutdown, in-person counter services are limited. The SSA stated that it can process requests such as benefit applications, address and bank account changes, death notifications, status updates for permanent residency or citizenship, reissuance of lost or undelivered payments, changes to representative payees, income change reports for SSI recipients, and new or replacement Social Security card requests.

However, services such as issuing proof of Social Security or SSI receipt, correcting income records, and reissuing Medicare cards have been suspended. Additional services facing disruptions include representative payee accounting, administrative tasks related to pre-release procedures for incarcerated individuals, responding to third-party inquiries, handling Freedom of Information Act requests, public outreach and education activities, and addressing overpayment disputes.

The announcement of the 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits has also been delayed. Originally scheduled for October 15, the announcement has been postponed to October 24 due to delays in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) inflation-linked report caused by the shutdown. The Senior Citizens League projects a 2.7% COLA increase for next year, while AARP estimates a range of 2.6% to 2.9%. However, according to UCLA Anderson Forecast, with California’s inflation rate expected to reach 3.5% this year and next, the perceived impact of the COLA increase is likely to be minimal.