A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday showed that the Social Security Administration (SSA) made improper disability payments worth USD 1.3 billion. The payments were made to people who were supposed to be unemployed and could not work. However, they were believed to be working while receiving Social Security pay.

According to GAO estimates, the overpayments were given from December 2010 to January 2013 to 36,000 beneficiaries. The number of individuals who received the cash benefits comprised less than 1% of SSA beneficiaries. The amount also represented less than 1% of disability payments for that period. However, the GAO said it represented the vulnerabilities of the procedures enforced by the SSA in monitoring the system.

The report posed another challenge to the federal agency which is currently in the midst of a financial crisis. Projections made by the trustees of the SSA said the program's coffers would run out of money in 2016 unless Congress would take action.