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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Karen E.
Thank you President Trump and SSA!
Justina
This was signed into law by President Biden in December.
JfDunn
I am retired CSRS and was affected. So glad that I will finally receive my fair SSA pension amount. Thank you POTUS. Thank you God.
Lisa A.
Will this include those who have worked for local dept. of Job & Family Services? They were local & State agencies. No ssi takes were taken out, during PERS retirement. Due to this those who have worked for these agencies show no SSI taxable income, which lowered out SSI/SSDI monthly checks?
T.Y.
Hi, Lisa. Thanks for reading our blog and for your question. People who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security may receive an increase. Please visit our Social Security Fairness Act webpage to learn when you can expect retroactive benefits and an increase in your monthly benefit amount if you qualify. We hope this helps.
Kelly
So, once again beneficiaries suffer more, struggle more, already hard paying debts off cause it’s limited!! Biden downed percentage of each yr of it from going up.bet none of his cabin got cut!
Now beneficiaries can’t get the doge 5,000 cause we didn’t work???
Umm we’re struggling too!!!
We need bills paid!! Cause of this inflation!! How is this even fair??
We’re doing best we can out here stretching our checks and still can’t make it!!! Seriously!!!!
Vanessa S.
I can not get into my Account nor my sons account.
T.Y.
Hi, Vanessa. Thanks for reading our blog. We are sorry that you are having difficulty accessing your online account. We offer different ways to reset your password. You can call our “Help Desk” at 1-800-772-1213. After you hear “How can I help you today?” please say “Help Desk” for help to access my Social Security account. The help desk is available to callers between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. We hope this informtion is helpful.
Sandra W.
My huusband passed in 2021. Since the Fairness Act and
Windfall Act no longer apply to me, can I apply for my husband’s Soc. Security? Is this a survivor’s benefit?
Thank you
Hon. J.
As a retired US Administrative Law Judge who worked in SSA for 27+ years, I forsee many problems resulting in both overpayments and underpayments requiring appeals to Administrative Law Judges. This opinion is based upon my years of experience hearing and deciding such cases!
Jeff J.
I just wanted to know if I qualify for survivor benefits my dad served in the military during Korean War and passed away of cancer
T.Y.
Hello, Jeff. We are sorry to hear about your loss. When a person dies, their minor children may be eligible for survivors benefits if they are under age 18 and unmarried. If you are over 18 and have a disability that began before age 22, you may be eligible as well. Our Survivors Benefits publication provides more information about a child’s eligibility for survivors benefits when a parent dies. You can also visit our survivors benefits page for more information. We hope this information helps.
Ronda J.
What happened to everyone getting stimulus checks and now all talk is about couples and people filing taxes. People on SSI there’s no talk about us receiving anything.
Kelly
We’re supposed to just keep suffering….😡😔
Janie F.
Thank you for the update. Appreciate the timely consideration from our Social Security Admin.