Appeals Council Remand Rate Rises in 2019, Still Well Below Past Levels

The remand rate, the rate at which the Appeals Council returns cases to Administrative Law Judges based on claimant appeals, climbed in fiscal year 2019 to 14.56%, with exactly 21,000 cases remanded. This left more than 123,000 cases where the ALJ’s decision became final and no action was taken by the Appeals Council. Even though the 2019 remand rate is higher than any other year since 2014, it still lags well behind previous years. In fiscal year 2010, 21.77% of cases were remanded for additional hearings. In terms of total cases remanded, 30,906 cases were remanded in 2012. This rate was calculated using requests for review filed by claimants. It does not include cases in which the Appeals Council reviewed a case on its own motion.