Justification for the Non-Substantive Change for 0960-0763

Justification for the Non-Substantive Changes for

Application Status

OMB No. 0960-0763

Background

When Social Security claimants submit a claim with SSA online or in a field office an SSA claims specialist informs them they can check the status of their application or claim by calling SSA to use our Automated Telephone System, speak with a representative, or they can use their my Social Security account to check the status. For the Automated Telephone System, Application Status provides users with the capability to check the status of their pending Social Security claims via the National 800 Number (N8NN) Automated Telephone Service.

As N8NN performance is an Agency priority, we are working to reduce call volumes, wait times and handle times, along with increasing self-service capabilities and success rates. In addition, we are enhancing the system to give more information to respondents when they call using the N8NN and our Automated Telephone System and provide better service.

We plan to release the following enhancement to the system as soon as possible. Therefore, we are requesting OMB approval by July 11, 2025. This will give us the time we need to ensure we can update the system by the end of July.

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes

SSA is making the following revisions to the Automated Telephone System for Application Status:

• Change #1: We are providing callers with more details about their claims.

Justification #1: Currently, callers who use the Application Status obtain a very generic status information (i.e., a decision has been made and you will receive a letter in the mail, or a decision has not been made yet). This change will allow them to obtain the latest status, which may include hearings information, the office handling the claim, and more decision information.

Note: The current authentication for our Automated Telephone System is our Knowledge Based Authentication under OMB No. 0960-0596. However, we are working to upgrade the authentication for the N8NN to accommodate these enhancements. We will submit the upgrade authentication for the N8NN system to OMB separately.

We understand that the OMB approval for 0960-0763 (Application Status) is coming up for renewal in April 2026; however, we are asking for approval for these enhancements by COB July 11, 2025 as we believe implementing them sooner will be more beneficial to the public.

We will implement this enhancement to the system upon OMB approval. This enhancement will not affect the burden on the public for this information collection.