The Social Security Administration has announced that it will be closing its five National Hearing Centers, effective May 18.
The hearing centers were opened in 2007 to slightly speed up the hearing process. At the time, hearings were held at field offices and claimants would have to appear in-person in front of an administrative law judge. However, some claimants would also appear before National Hearing Center judges by video teleconference at these offices.
Other than appearing by video with a judge outside the resident office, hearings were essentially identical, though hearing center judges typically do seem to have a slightly lower award rate than other judges.
The hearing centers are ultimately a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. As the virus spread throughout the country in early 2020, Social Security moved all hearings to telephone.
Now, claimants have the option of attending a hearing either by phone, video through Microsoft Teams, or the old standby of in-person hearings. As of 2026, around 90 percent of claimants are opting for remote hearings of some kind.
Despite skepticism from some attorneys and claimants about the move to remote hearings, they seem to be working well with few technical issues and little change in how cases are decided, and Social Security seems keen to encourage more phone and video hearings in the future.
SSA says that the remaining hearing center judges will be transferred to other field offices. The administration is also looking to hire more judges from its internal pool of staff attorneys.
