WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration says it is planning to reduce visits to its field offices in half next year, a move that advocates for the agency fear signals more office closures are coming.

Field offices have long been community-based branches that serve as the public face of the Social Security Administration and provide in-person help for people applying for retirement and disability benefits, getting Social Security cards and other services.

A November internal field office operating plan shared with The Associated Press outlines a proposed target of 50 percent fewer field office visitors in the 2026 fiscal year compared to fiscal year 2025, or no more than 15 million field office visits by members of the public.

Agency field offices saw more than 31.6 million field office visits from SSA recipients from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, according to the agency document.

Barton Mackey, a Social Security spokesperson, said “field offices are, and will always remain, our front-line, providing in-person services to the approximately 75 million Americans who receive monthly payments and more than 330 million Americans with Social Security numbers, which the Commissioner has reiterated countless times since his confirmation.”

“The Social Security Administration under President Trump’s leadership is serving more Americans than ever before at quicker speeds, and meeting customers where they want to be served,” Mackey said. “Through technology improvements and modernization, more Americans are choosing to easily and quickly manage their benefits online or over the phone.”

At least 7,000 SSA workers have been laid off from the agency this year as the Trump administration has proposed a number of plans to streamline services at the SSA.

In March, after outcry from lawmakers and the public, SSA leadership partially backtracked on a plan that would require all new and existing beneficiaries who are unable to use the agency’s online portal to travel to a Social Security field office to verify their identity.

Jessica LaPointe, a union leader for 30,000 Social Security workers through the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, said field offices are part of the quality-of-life agenda within
communities, especially for “people who don’t have the resources to purchase technology to navigate the online world and they should be able to walk into an office to get help.”

She said the SSA wants “to allow AI and the internet to replace a well-trained, well-vetted workforce.”

Several field offices in some rural areas have already closed this year because of a lack of staffing.

The Social Security website lists several office closures as well as offices that are only able to assist by phone until further notice.

The agency says the closures are not permanent, rather the offices are closed due to maintenance or facilities issues that the agency is working to resolve.

Chris Delaney, a Social Security claims specialist and president of AFGE Local 3343 in Hudson, N.Y., says he cannot imagine how SSA can have a goal of cutting foot traffic when his office is seeing an increase in foot traffic and a growing aging population reliant on SSA income.

The Hudson office sees about 30 to 60 visitors per day who have questions about their benefits.

“A lot of people can’t get past the ID verification on login.gov, and just because they have a cellphone doesn’t mean they’re capable of creating an online account,” Delaney said. “Having people in the office when they need it is important.”

The 2026 operating plan calls for all requested appointments to be scheduled within 30 days, instead of the current rate of 78.3 percent of all appointments scheduled within 30 days.

Social Security is one of the nation’s largest and most popular social programs. A January poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that two-thirds of adults think the country is spending too little on Social Security.

The agency has faced several lawsuits over the Trump administration’s plans to overhaul the agency.

In October, Democracy Forward, a legal group challenging the Trump administration’s policies, filed a lawsuit to compel SSA to release public records about service disruptions and policy changes.

“After executing the largest staffing cuts in the 90-year history of Social Security, they’re trying to deal with a problem they created without any meaningful discussion,” LaPointe said.