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The Appeals Council is made up of approximately 34 Administrative Appeals Judges and 27 Appeals Officers, who must review and sign each final action. The Council receives about 96,000 requests for review each year and has a current pending workload of 53,163 requests for review (September 2007). The Council must give each of these cases proper consideration. As you can see, it is a daunting challenge to process so many cases in a timely manner.

Although we processed 87,129 requests for review last year (Fiscal Year 2007), this still leaves us with many months worth of work. We have reduced the average processing times from a high of 505 days at the close of Fiscal Year 2000 to 227 days at the close of Fiscal Year 2007. The Appeals Council is currently working to improve its processing of cases through new and innovative plans. These comprehensive plans are aimed at improving our level of service to the public.