Social Security Announces Expedited Retroactive Payments and Higher Monthly Benefits for Millions – Actions Support the Social Security Fairness Act
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: February 25, 2025
Today, the Social Security Administration announced it is immediately beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).
These provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
The Social Security Fairness Act ends WEP and GPO.
“Social Security’s aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President Trump’s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “The agency’s original estimate of taking a year or more now will only apply to complex cases that cannot be processed by automation. The American people deserve to get their due benefits as quickly as possible.”
People who will benefit from the new law include some teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states; federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.
Many beneficiaries will be due a retroactive payment because the WEP and GPO offset no longer apply as of January 2024. Most people will receive their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with Social Security.
Many of these people will also receive higher monthly benefits, which will first be reflected in the benefit payment they receive in April. Depending on factors such as the type of Social Security benefit received and the amount of the person’s pension, the change in payment amount will vary from person to person.
Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment. Most people will receive their retroactive payment two to three weeks before they receive their notice in the mail, because the President understands how important it is to pay people what they are due right away. Social Security is expediting payments using automation and will continue to handle many complex cases that must be done manually, on an individual case-by-case basis. Those complex cases will take additional time to update the beneficiary record and pay the correct benefits.
Social Security urges beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally into March. Since the new monthly payment amount will begin with the April payment, beneficiaries should wait until after receiving their April payment, before contacting Social Security with questions about their monthly benefit amount.
Visit the agency’s Social Security Fairness Act webpage to learn more and stay up to date on its progress. Visitors can subscribe to be alerted when the webpage is updated.
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Yolanda T.
I think SS Admin should start tracking fraud. How many “dead people” are still collecting benefits? How many illegals are collecting benefits by only working five years? The rest of us have to die with our boots on and work through injuries or illness. Fraud needs to be investigated so those who deserve SS get full benefits and not handouts.
Lovis F.
Does dependants of social security recipients. Benefits change
John F.
Here’s a novel idea. How about increasing the payments to the average retirees who worked hard all their lives & payed into the system. We are the ones struggling to make ends meet.
Rebecca c.
I agree John we r struggling n it seems they don’t care
Mary K.
You hit the nail right on the head John!!! 👍 My rent alone eats up half of my SS so when that & my other expenses are paid I have to live the rest of the month on around $ 120. Dollars!!! It’s tough getting by!!! 😢
Alice B.
I’m wondering when they’re going to take a look at the spousal support it hasn’t been changed or looked at since the 1980s I would set to less and what people that just live together or are with the new rule of same-sex marriage and all that it hasn’t changed at all for the rest of us. I’m also wondering why spousals don’t get looked at if they get paid the same is what the spousal is for SSI. I also worked at in-home care provider and and did all the schooling and everything for that the certifications that doesn’t count as far as always this is only for federal employees not the general people that work long and hard and have and for the state have state contract
Norm G.
Thank you for the update. I have received good customer service from SSA. This web page is helpful.
I know this is a difficult time for SSA employees and wish you all the best. I think of the SSA employees, their families, their communities all across our nation that may(hopefully not) affected by DOGE
Ginger
I think we shouldn’t be paying for Medicare… give us a raise then take 3 times more for your Medicare and prescriptions are so outrageous then they want us to pay a yearly $ 2000.00 in copays
JoAnn
Thank you for working hard to expedite these payments. Greatly appreciated.
Manny C.
This law was unconstitutional It only affected a handful of states When the government passes a law it should not depend on which state you live in You can thank President Reagan and the Republican party that. Thank all of you who were responsible for re pealing this act
Angel K.
I hope they look into others drawing ss for disability. I am a 41 year old stage 4 terminal breast cancer patient still raising a 16 year old daughter and a 14 yr old son by myself and barely recieve anything and I am fully disabled. Instead I have to work still even on days that I can barely move due to the nueropathy in my feet and legs caused by the chemo that I get every 3 weeks and the lymphodema on my left side where they removed 2 lymph nodes when removing both my breast cause there was cancer cells in them. I have fought cancer 4 times and beat it all four times and I’m proud of how strong I am to make sure I stay on this earth longer till my last 2 children are able to be on their own but everytime it comes back it’s harder and worse to fight it but I do it while working. I really hope he looks into our situations as well. Stress cause cancer to return which is why I’m fully disabled and not supposed to work at these hard times but a mom does what she has too for her kids.
Anna A.
Is there any adjustment to survivor’s benefits?
T.Y.
Hi, Anna. Thanks for reading our blog and for your question. The Social Security Fairness Act ends the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset (GPO), and it’s possible you may now be due spouse benefits on your spouse’s work record. In the past, your spouse benefits could have been reduced, or even eliminated, by GPO if your spouse also received a non-covered pension for work where they didn’t pay into Social Security. For more information on how to proceed, please read the answer to the question, What should people do now that the Social Security Fairness Act is law? on our Social Security Fairness Act webpage. You may be due up to 50% of your spouse’s benefit amount as a spouse. If your benefits as a spouse are higher than your own retirement benefit, you may be able to get a combination of benefits equaling the higher spouse amount. To learn more, check out our blog and our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.