(NEXSTAR) – The Social Security Administration (SSA) is rolling out a major change to the way it handles customer service.

Instead of relying on local field offices, the Administration is moving to a centralized, national network to handle appointments, benefits questions and other issues.

“We are utilizing technology to improve the customer experience and give our employees the tools they need to better serve the American people,” a spokesperson for the SSA told Nexstar. “The implementation of this internal-facing technology will occur on a rolling basis this year. Customers will not notice any changes aside from expanded appointment availability.”

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Multiple outlets are reporting that the transition will begin March 7, and, despite the SSA’s assurance of a seamless transition, there are those who have doubts.

Some have expressed concern that an SSA employee potentially thousands of miles away from the caller may have difficulty with state-specific questions that were previously handled by a local office.

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The centralized customer service approach follows a massive overhaul of the embattled SSA in 2025.

At least 7,000 SSA workers were laid off from the agency as part of downsizing efforts by Elon Musk’s DOGE and the Trump administration.

“This change is coming out of necessity, as the administration has seen a sizable reduction in their workforce over the last year,” Alex Beene, who teaches financial literacy at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.

The SSA maintains that the customer service change will not adversely affect beneficiaries, telling the Federal News Network that the Administration will “continue to provide the public with in-person service at our more than 1,200 field offices nationwide.”

Meanwhile, a November internal field office operating plan shared with The Associated Press outlined a proposed target of 50% fewer field office visitors in fiscal year 2026 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.

In January, Social Security Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano applauded the Administration’s streamlining efforts during a briefing, saying that Americans now have 24-hour access to the SSA website, which was previously down for 29 hours each week. He added that telephone wait times for the SSA 800 number had dropped to single digits and that new technology allowed “90 percent of calls” to be resolved via self-service or callbacks.

Roughly 71 million people are expected to collect Social Security benefits in 2026, according to the SSA.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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