Review of VBA’s Processing of Adverse Actions for Service-Connected Disability Compensation

VA Office of Inspector General · Report 25-01011-154 · August 31, 2026 · Office of Audits and Evaluations

What the OIG found

The OIG checked whether VBA followed the law and its own procedures when it moved to reduce or end veterans’ service-connected disability compensation — actions the law says cannot take effect until the veteran has been properly notified. Reviewing calendar year 2024 cases, the team estimated claims processors made one or more errors in about 34 percent of proposed and final reduction decisions: cutting or proposing cuts without sufficient due-process notification, failing to update the rating decision codesheets that drive payment, applying the wrong effective dates, and in some cases never finalizing the action at all while the case sat closed. The OIG estimated these errors produced at least $16.9 million in improper payments in 2024, with at least $964,000 more going out every month until they are corrected, and it found cases still being closed prematurely in a 2025 sample. The OIG made four recommendations — standardized due-process notices, stronger review of final decisions, automated tracking of unfinished adverse actions, and correction of every error identified — and VBA’s principal deputy under secretary for benefits concurred.

Who it concerns

Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) — proposed and final decisions reducing or terminating service-connected disability compensation

Why it matters to a family

A disability check is often the floor a whole family stands on. This report shows how often VA’s own process for cutting that check broke the rules — including reducing benefits without the advance notice the law promises, which can drop a family’s income before anyone has had the chance to object.

The official report

The OIG’s report page · Full report (PDF)

Summary ours; the report is the OIG’s. Read it at vaoig.gov →