Billions of public sector retirees and their spouses will soon receive a boost in their Social Security benefits, following the enactment of the Social Security Fairness Act signed by former President Joe Biden in January.
The law, which eliminates the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), will impact over 3 million retirees and increase their monthly benefits starting this month.
For decades, the WEP and GPO reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for people who also received a government pension based on work not covered by Social Security. This often affected teachers, firefighters, police officers, and some federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System.
“There actually is logic in the WEP and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), but it really only made sense to policy experts and actuaries,” said Mark Miller, a retirement expert, in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
However, many retirees felt blindsided by the benefit cuts.
“For many workers impacted by these rules, the big benefit cuts came as a huge surprise, and understandably angered them because they seemed so unfair,” Miller added.
With the new law in place, eligible retirees will see their benefits recalculated and restored retroactively to January 2024.
Lump-sum back pay and benefit increases
Affected retirees will receive a lump sum payment to cover their increased benefits from January 2024 onward, delivered via direct deposit by the end of March. Their April payments will reflect the new benefit amounts.
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), the increase could range from a few hundred dollars to over $1,000 per month, depending on factors such as:
Social Security recipients who qualify will receive a mailed notice explaining their new monthly benefit amount and back payment details.
Not a cost-of-living adjustment
The new increase is separate from the 2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), which took effect in January, boosting the average monthly benefit by 2.5%—or about $50 on a typical $1,900 payment.
This reform only applies to retirees who were affected by WEP and GPO. According to SSA data, about 72% of state and local public employees already pay into Social Security and were never impacted by these provisions.