If an administrative law judge has denied your Social Security disability claim, the next step is a Social Security judge appeal to the Appeals Council, filed on Form HA-520 within 60 days of the judge’s decision. The council doesn’t rehear your case. It checks whether the judge applied the law correctly and whether the record actually supports the ruling. Roughly 80 percent of review requests are denied, so the quality of what you file matters.1SSA Office of the Inspector General. The Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council Workloads
The 60-Day Deadline
You have 60 days after receiving the judge’s decision to request Appeals Council review.2Social Security Administration. Information About Requesting Review of an Administrative Law Judge’s Hearing Decision The SSA assumes you got the notice five days after the date printed on it, which means you’re effectively working with 65 days from the notice date.3Social Security Administration. GN 03101.010 – Time Limit for Filing Administrative Appeals
Missing the window isn’t automatically fatal, but you’ll need to show good cause in writing. The SSA accepts reasons like serious illness that kept you from contacting the agency, a death in your immediate family, destruction of your records by fire or accident, or misleading information from an SSA employee. Language barriers and mental health limitations qualify if they genuinely prevented timely filing. The agency decides whether your explanation is enough.4Social Security Administration. Good Cause for Extending the Time Limit to File an Appeal
Grounds the Appeals Council Will Accept
Federal regulations at 20 CFR 404.970 (disability insurance) and 20 CFR 416.1470 (SSI) list five reasons the council will take up a case. The council can also open a review on its own.5Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.970 – Cases the Appeals Council Will Review
- Abuse of discretion: the judge ruled outside the bounds of reasonable professional judgment or ignored agency procedures.
- Error of law: the judge misapplied federal regulations, for example by using the wrong legal standard to evaluate medical evidence or vocational factors.
- Lack of substantial evidence: the record can’t reasonably support what the judge concluded. Substantial evidence is more than a scintilla but does not require the majority of the evidence to point one way.
- Broad policy or procedural issue: the case raises a question affecting the public interest beyond your claim.
- New and material evidence that relates to the period on or before the decision date and creates a reasonable chance the outcome would change.
Most successful requests turn on error of law or lack of substantial evidence.6Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 416.1470 – Cases the Appeals Council Will Review Frame your appeal around specific errors: the judge dismissed a treating physician’s opinion without adequate reasoning, applied the wrong medical-vocational rule, or failed to address symptoms you testified about.
Filing Form HA-520
You request review by filing Form HA-520, “Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order.”7Social Security Administration. Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order The form asks for your full legal name, Social Security number, and the date on the judge’s decision notice. The critical section is where you explain why the judge got it wrong. General disagreement isn’t enough. Point to concrete errors and tie each one to a regulation or a specific piece of the record.
A separate written brief that walks through those errors carries more weight than the form alone. This is where good representation shows up in the outcome.
The SSA’s preferred filing method is the online AC iAppeal tool on the agency website.8Social Security Administration. Form HA-520 – Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order By mail, send your documents to the Office of Appellate Operations at 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235-6401. The office previously handled mail out of Falls Church, Virginia; that changed in late 2023.9Social Security Administration. New Mailing Address for the Appeals Council You can also file in person at a local field office. You’ll get an acknowledgment letter once the agency processes the request.
Submitting New Evidence
You can send new evidence with your review request, but the standard is strict. The evidence must be new (not already in the record), material (relevant to whether you’re disabled), and it must relate to the period on or before the date of the judge’s decision. There also must be a reasonable chance it would change the outcome.5Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.970 – Cases the Appeals Council Will Review
A new MRI documenting a condition that existed during the relevant period can qualify. A medical report about something that developed six months after the decision does not. If your evidence falls outside the window, the council will reject it and tell you that you can file a new application for the later period.
What the Appeals Council Can Do
The council has three options once it takes up your file.
- Deny review. The judge’s decision becomes the SSA’s final ruling, and your remaining option is federal court. About 80 percent of requests end here.1SSA Office of the Inspector General. The Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council Workloads
- Remand. The council sends the case back for a new hearing or further development. Remands typically happen when the judge failed to properly weigh medical opinions, didn’t address key symptoms, or skipped required steps. This accounts for roughly 10 to 15 percent of dispositions.
- Issue its own decision. The council can grant or deny benefits directly. This is uncommon and generally happens only when the record is complete enough that no new testimony is needed.
You’ll get a written notice explaining the council’s reasoning and your remaining options either way.
How Long It Takes
Appeals Council reviews are slow. Most take six to twelve months, and some run longer. Cases aren’t handled strictly in the order received; complexity and policy questions can shift the timing.10Social Security Administration. Appeals Council Requests for Review Average Processing Time If the council remands, the clock essentially restarts because you go back through the hearing stage. There’s no way to expedite, but filing a complete package with a clear brief upfront avoids delays from follow-up requests.
If the Appeals Council Denies You
Once the council denies review or issues an unfavorable decision, the judge’s ruling stands as the SSA’s final word. Your next option is a civil action in a U.S. district court, filed within 60 days of receiving the council’s notice, in the federal district where you live or have your principal place of business.11Social Security Administration. Federal Court Review Process
The filing fee is $350.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1914 – District Court Filing and Miscellaneous Fees If you can’t afford it, you can ask the court to let you proceed in forma pauperis by showing you lack the means to pay. Federal court review is narrower than Appeals Council review: the judge examines the administrative record to decide whether the SSA’s decision was supported by substantial evidence and used the correct legal standards. The court doesn’t hear new testimony or take new medical evidence. When it finds errors, it usually remands to the SSA rather than awarding benefits outright.
Getting a Representative
You can have an attorney or a qualified non-attorney representative handle your Appeals Council case. Most work on contingency, so they’re paid only if you win. Under the SSA’s fee agreement process, the fee is capped at the lesser of 25 percent of your past-due benefits or $9,200, and the SSA withholds it directly from your back pay.13Social Security Administration. Fee Agreements You don’t pay out of pocket.
One limit worth knowing before you hire: a non-attorney representative cannot represent you in federal district court. If the Appeals Council denies you and you want to sue, you’d need an attorney or would have to represent yourself.