How Long After a Disability Hearing Will I Get an ALJ Decision?

You’ve waited months—in some cases, years—to have your hearing for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, so it can be disappointing to learn that the waiting doesn’t stop after the hearing has ended. While a lucky few may learn the outcome of their case from the judge at their hearing (in what’s called a “bench decision”), the vast majority of disability claimants will have to wait until they receive a letter in the mail to find out whether they were approved or denied.

The exact length of time it takes to get your decision out depends on a number of factors, including how complicated your medical history is and what the workload looks like for the judge handling your case. Because waiting to hear back can be as stressful as attending the hearing, it’s important to understand what’s taking so long to get your decision out and how you can deal with the waiting game.

Average Social Security Hearing Decision Timeline

Broadly speaking, you can expect to wait about 6-8 weeks to get a decision following your disability hearing. This timeframe takes into account how long it takes for the administrative law judge (ALJ) to review your case after the hearing and draft a decision outline, which is then assigned to a staff attorney who writes the final decision that is signed by the ALJ.

The Social Security Administration doesn’t publish official statistics on how long it takes judges to issue a decision (“disposition,” in Social Security lingo). On average, each ALJ issues around 1.5 dispositions per day, but depending on the specific office, this number can be between 1 and 3 per ALJ each day. If you’re curious, you can find the average output for your hearing office here.

Factors Affecting Your Hearing Decision Wait Times

The six-to-eight week estimate is a good rule of thumb, but there are other factors that can lengthen the time it takes for you to get a decision (or shorten it as well).

Longer Wait Times

Not having all your evidence submitted by the date of the hearing is one of the most common reasons why an ALJ may need to put off making a disability determination. If, at your hearing, the judge says that they’re intending to “keep the record open” in order to receive outstanding medical records, for example, that means that they won’t decide your case until they’ve gotten a look at those records and entered them as exhibits into your case file. ALJs typically leave the record open for one to three weeks (sometimes longer), which adds on to your waiting time.

Judges can do other things to develop your claim after the hearing. You may be asked to attend a consultative examination if you haven’t already done so, or the ALJ may send written interrogatories (questions) to a vocational or medical expert who wasn’t present at the hearing. Some cases are simply more complicated than others, and the ALJ may need to spend extra time reviewing the evidence to understand what functional limitations you have or when your disability onset date should be. These factors can add weeks and sometimes months to your wait, especially if you need or request a supplemental hearing.

Shorter Wait Times

Cases that are very cut-and-dry will be easier to determine. If there’s not a lot of contradictory evidence or legal gray areas, you should receive your decision quickly, whether favorable or unfavorable. The most straightforward cases (where all the medical evidence has been submitted and no post-hearing development is required) can be resolved faster, meaning you could receive a decision in as little as three to six weeks.

Do SSDI or SSI Hearings Take Longer?

Once you’re at the hearing level, it usually means that Social Security has already found that you satisfy the preliminary financial requirements for the SSDI or SSI programs, so the focus should be on whether or not you meet the agency’s medical definition of disability, which is the same for both SSDI and SSI.

While applicants for SSI are double-checked to see if they still qualify for the program (which has income and asset caps) once they’re approved, that process doesn’t happen until after they’ve received a favorable decision, so there shouldn’t be any meaningful difference between SSDI and SSI in terms of getting the hearing decision faster.

When Do SSDI or SSI Benefits Start After a Favorable Decision?

If the judge issues a favorable decision, a copy will be sent to the Social Security field office or central processing unit responsible for calculating and issuing the disability payments. SSDI payments can get started right away once the benefit amount has been calculated, although the program is subject to a five-month waiting period (this typically affects the size of the past-due benefits rather than the start date for the ongoing payments, however).

SSI awards need do to go through a “pre-effectuation review conference” (PERC) before they can be disbursed. This is the point at which Social Security double-checks to make sure that you still meet the income and asset limits for SSI. You’ll usually get a notice of a scheduled PERC about one month after you’ve received your favorable decision.

What Should I Do While I Wait for My Decision?

Other than the usual advice for applicants at any stage of the disability determination process—keep getting medical treatment and respond promptly to any communications from Social Security—there’s nothing specific you need to do while you wait to hear back from the ALJ. You may be tempted to relive the hearing in your mind and fixate on what you could’ve done differently to improve your chances, but that’s not the healthiest approach. Keep in mind that if you do receive an unfavorable decision, you have another stage of appeal available.

Can My Lawyer Do Anything to Increase My Chances of Winning?

Hopefully you’re satisfied with how your lawyer represented you at the disability hearing. (Disability attorneys work on contingency, meaning they don’t get paid unless and until you win, so they’re also hoping for a favorable outcome.) If no post-hearing development is needed, your lawyer will probably hear about your decision around the same time you do.

But if the ALJ left the record open in order to obtain additional evidence, your attorney should be submitting request forms to your doctors and following up to make sure they get in before the deadline to close the record. They may be tracking down medical source statements from your treating providers or responding to admitted interrogatories from vocational or medical experts. In some cases, lawyers may submit post-hearing briefs that can highlight new medical evidence or address any issues that arose during the hearing. It’s a good idea to talk with your attorney after the hearing to discuss what happened and go over your next steps.