About Social Security's Appeals Council

Brief History and Current Information about the Appeals Council

The Appeals Council is located in Falls Church, Virginia. As the last administrative decisional level, the Appeals Council renders the Agency's final decision.

Created in January 1940 as a three-member body, the Appeals Council was established to oversee the hearings and appeals process, promote national consistency in hearing decisions made by referees (now Administrative Law Judges) and ensure that the Social Security Board's (now the Commissioner's) records were adequate for judicial review. The Appeals Council has grown over time due to the growth in the increasingly complex programs it reviews and the increased number of requests for review that it receives.

Currently, the Appeals Council is made up of approximately 33 Administrative Appeals Judges, 26 Appeals Officers, and several hundred support personnel. The Appeals Council is physically located in Falls Church, Virginia with a satellite office at SSA Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. Cases originate in the more than 141 hearing offices throughout the country. The Appeals Council looks at each case in which a request for review is filed (over 96,000 last year). The Appeals Council may grant, deny, or dismiss a request for review. If the Appeals Council grants the request for review, it will either decide the case or return ("remand") it to an Administrative Law Judge for a new decision.

The Appeals Council handled over 100,000 cases last year. The Council also performs quality review, policy interpretations, and court-related functions. The Appeals Council is the core component of the Office of Appellate Operations, one of the parts of SSA's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. The Office of Appellate Operations provides professional and clerical support for the Appeals Council, and also maintains and controls files in cases decided adversely to claimants by Administrative Law Judges and the Appeals Council, in case a further administrative or court appeal is filed. When a claimant brings a civil action against the Commissioner seeking judicial review of SSA's final decision, staff in the Office of Appellate Operations prepare the record of the claim for filing with the Court. This includes all the documents and evidence SSA relied upon in making the decision or determination.

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