Essentially, it is a numbers game.
There are not enough judges to handle the caseload. The Appeals Council gets approximately 100,000 appeals per year. In 2008, they only processed 81,000 appeals. Because there are more appeals each year than they can handle, they just keep getting further and further behind. The current average processing-time is 261 days.
Currently, the Appeals Council has:
- 46 Administrative Appeals Judges,
- 51 Appeals Officers (attorneys who review the appeals), and
- several hundred support personnel.
In any given year, the Appeals Council denies approximately 75% of the appeals, remands 23% and reverses the other 2%. If your case is “remanded” this means it will be sent back to the hearing office for you to have another hearing.
Why are so many people denied by the Appeals Council?
- Essentially, there are more people that have the authority to deny you than there are people who can approve your appeal.
- The 51 Appeals Officers do not have authority to approve your appeal, they can only deny you.
- If a judge thinks your case should be approved or sent back for another hearing, a second judge must sign off on it. If the two judges don’t agree, your case will be denied.
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