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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Candy
Thank you President Trump. I was totally shocked in a good way when I went into my account and saw a huge deposit. This will help me more than you’ll ever know.
Justina
President Biden signed this into law.
Donald T.
But I’m sure Trump will try to take credit for it.
Justina
Thanks to President Biden for signing this into law.
John S.
This Social Security Fairness Act was enacted under BIDEN, not tRUMP. Give credit where credit is due!
Dot H.
What a wonderful surprise today when I checked my bank account and found it much larger than I expected it to be! At first I thought it was a mistake but after investigating the SSA I realized what it was! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Mary S.
Is this wind fall going to impact our federal and state tax rate for the 2025 filing
LINDA R.
Of course it will. The feds are going to tax us on it.
Stanley B.
Thank You! My payment is a big help!
Irene L.
This was useful and very helpful information !
Melinda C.
Why did I get 600 dollars on the 1st. of March when I
get my check on the 3rd of the month.
Debra b.
Will my husband get a payment from s.s
Dennis
I’ve paid into SS for nearly 50+ years and I likely will be getting a substantial increase because I’m also a federal retiree and receive a federal pension and impacted by the WEP provision which has taken 60% of my entitled SS annuity. After graduation from college I worked full time for 10 years where I paid into SS. I worked 31 years for the federal government and during all those years I had second jobs that I paid into SS. Those jobs helped me to finance a college education for my children. After retirement I was fully employed for 22 years in jobs which I paid into SS. Finally, I will receive what I’ve paid for in the manner of one years back pay and a raise in my monthly SS check. It’ll help a lot. After the increase in Medicare this year I ended up with an additional $8.00 per month which I can use to purchase one dozen eggs. Meanwhile the insurance and taxes on my home went up $300.00 per month. As for SS going broke 6 months earlier, it would already have been broke had many of us received the SS we deserved. Congress hasn’t fixed SS future yet and they won’t until the last day in a manner in which the budget is addressed each year. Meanwhile, I hope to receive the backpay and monthly increase quickly before my second foot slips into the grave.
richard h.
Excellent comment here….I totally agree….it appears that those affected will get some of the owed amount, but not all ?…I retired almost 12 years ago, and am not sure if I will be made whole since that time…..I should get what I earned…THAT topic has never been clarified, yet….you correctly state that SS running out of $$$ 6 months early is a non factor….IF the 3 million affected workers had never had to endure the 60% loss, we ALL would be in the same boat, not just 3 million for the past years…..regardless, this is an excellent move by the Dems/Reps and I thank them for their support in overturning the WEP & GPO after all this time…..
Marcus L.
What about the Railroad workers who was robbed of their pension and social security! They paid into their Railroad pension and social security! It was a gross injustice done to us!
Deb B.
Did I read this correctl? Did it say that people who didn’t pay into social security would be receiving this money? Why? That wouldn’t make any sense.
Randy f.
Exactly. Total BS. No wonder SS is scheduled to go broke in a decade or two. This is the STUPIDEST, most unfair and unjust crap I have seen in awhile.
LINDA R.
This is what I paid into SS before I went to work under a state pension plan. It’s not free money or being taken from someone else. It’s just what I paid into SS. If you never paid into it you don’t get anything. Get your facts straight.
Justina
We all worked at least 40 quarters and qualified for ss benefits.
Patty J.
Widows & widowers benefits. Their spouses PAID into Social Security. Some passed away without collecting anything of what they paid their working life time. That is income that was not available for living, medical, ect. expenses when working.
Laura F.
No, it’s the people who have earned the 40 quarters by paying into Social Security for that amount of time.
Dan
The people that are recieving this money are people that paid into social security enough to earn 40 quarter to qualify as well as paying into a pension, but were penalized for having a pension even though they paid in thier 40 quarters…i.e….the old adage of “you get what ya pay for” did not apply to those penilized….the SS fainess act corrected that….now they do get what they paid for…
Susan F.
“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.” This is from the article. This is a Biden bill. I do not know why Trump agreed with it.
Terry
I don’t believe we were asked to donate to SSA.
Maybe that is the reason “they” have entitled us.
If we had a choice then I would agree with you.
LINDA R.
We paid into SS before or in addition to paying into our state/federal pension system. We were not getting our full SS pension that we paid into before. If you never paid into SS you get nothing. This is money we paid but never got.
Bob c.
No Deb. I If I was entitled to get $600/mo. from having paid into SS from various jobs, but then I worked as a public school teacher for 30 years and collect a state pension (where I didn’t pay into SS), in some states (not all) the WEP is applied and I can only collect approx. $200/mo. because I have a non-SS based pension. That is what the fairness thing is about. Some folks are just starting to collect what they have long deserved!
Rita
It’s my understanding they have to had paid into Social Security (other jobs besides their Federal Job) in order to receive it.
My Husband had jobs before, at times during and after he worked the Federal Job so has all his Social Security Quarters in to qualify. So he would be eligible.
But his best friend, had some Quarters in (before he started working for the Federal Job) but paid none in during the time he worked at the Federal Job and never worked afterwards. So he does NOT have enough Quarters to qualify and therefore, he will not be receiving it. He does not receive Social Security now because he did not have enough Quarters to qualify. Hope this helps. Blessings!
Donna
It is for people like me. I worked in the private sector and paid into SS for 18 years prior to becoming a government employee. Under the Windfall Provision I lost 60% of my social security. The new law rectifys this for me and others in the same situation!
Susan F.
Absolutely. You read it correctly. This was a Biden program, and I don’t understand why Trump agreed with it.
Justina
Nope. We all paid at least 40 quarters, but our benefits were cut or eliminated.
Bill M.
No. That is not true. Those who worked a civil servant job where they did not pay OASDI, but were in the military before then and paid OASDI, and also worked later and paid OASDI for more than 10 quarters equal to ten years or more can collect both their civil service annuity and collect Social Security Benefits. However for every $3.00 of their civil service annuity, $2.00 was deducted from their social security benefit due to the unfair GPO and WEP penalty. Therefore they did not receive their full social security earnings because of the law signed by Donald Regan. This did not happen to me, but that law was unfair to my fellow Americans who paid into the OASDI even if they worked more the one job with one they did not pay OASDI and they did pay OASDI in the other. The other problem is federal income taxes on social security. Originally, Social Security Benefits were not taxed between 1938 and 1983. Again, Ronald Regan signed a bill that taxed our social security benefits up to 85% dependent on your entire retirement income.
Katygirl
THEY NEED TO LOWER THE MONTHLY PREMIUM FOR MEDICARE, ITS OUT OF CONTROL. HIGHWAY ROBBERY. SHOULD BE FREE.
KN
Aren’t there options that are free for you? I chose one with no monthly cost and minimal copay for med visits. I am very happy with it. What I DO wish is that we had a national health coverage so all citizens could be covered. Family rates for insurance are truly ridiculous.
LINDA R.
Sounds like you’re getting Medicaid, not Medicare. Medicare premiums are deducted from your SS check and are now $185. monthly. Not everyone gets Medicaid.
Zita
Why does govt calculate SS different than fed retirement? Re SS, they avg ALL 30-40 yrs then divide by 30-40 to calculate mo pmt. USPS,, Feds take 3-5 highest yrs pay, divide by 3-5 to calculate mo pmt. TAKING HIGHEST 3-5 yrs pay results in a SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER RETIREMENT MO INCOME… TOTALLY NOT FAIR! WORSE, SS pays people who don’t work almost as much as people who worked 30-40 yrs… why in the hell work? They also get paid Medicaid, medicare, helping hands, other perks for poor… more than 1/2 my SS pays Medicare, Pvt dental & eye insurance, drugs… LEAVES nothing to pay utilities. I was RN & NURSE practitioner.. but pay 30 yrs ago is 1/3 min wage now but I gotta avg that in while Feds don’t!
Diggs f.
We agree!! It’s as if they want us all to not be able to afford healthcare and die off!! Sick!! We have servere medical conditions in our family and even with supplemental benefits, can’t afford the co-pays for hospitals and meds!!! It’s embarrassing when your hospital tells you that, on SS, you’re still 250% below poverty level!!! Please President Trump, FIX THIS!!!