Some Social Security recipients won't receive benefit checks in September. Here's why.

Millions of welfare recipients will not receive a benefit check this month due to a calendar quirk. The issue affects people receiving welfare's Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program for disabled adults, as well as low-income retirees.

This quirk is not a new development, as the Social Security Administration sets its annual payment schedule well in advance. (You can find the 2024 schedule here and the 2025 payment dates here.) But for some beneficiaries who were unprepared for or unaware of the shift in payment dates, missing a payment this month could still come as a nasty surprise.

Normally, SSI recipients receive their checks on the first day of the month. However, because September 1 fell on a Sunday this year, SSI payments for this month were sent out on Friday, August 30. This means that the next SSI checks will be deposited on Tuesday, October 1, and no further deposits will be made in September.

About 7.5 million people receive SSI benefits, with the maximum monthly benefit set at $943 per person, according to Social Security. For comparison, the average Social Security retirement payment is $1,907 per month.

Retirees who receive regular Social Security retirement benefits will receive their checks this month as usual. The retirement system sends out its regular monthly checks based on the day of the month that includes your birthday.

For September, payments will be transferred on the following dates:

• September 11th: People born between the 1st and 10th of the month
• September 18: Those born between the 11th and 20th of the month
• September 25th: People born between 21 and 31.

Changes in the application of additional income from social insurance

Separately, the Social Security Administration announced last week that it is revising its process for applying for Supplemental Security Income.

The new system will launch in December, the agency said, with an online application that streamlines the process. A simplified initial application called iClaim will use questions in the language of the insurance plan and pre-populate the questions with answers when possible. The goal is to reduce the time and effort required to fill out the form and speed up claims processing.

“The people in our communities who need this critical safety net deserve the dignity of an application process that is less burdensome and more accessible than what we have now, and we are committed to making that vision a reality in the years to come,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley said in a statement.

The first rollout will be for first-time claimants ages 18 to 65 who have never been married and are applying for Social Security benefits and SSI simultaneously, the agency said. The second phase of the rollout, scheduled for late 2025, will include all SSI claimants, it added.