The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced that it will begin distributing retroactive payments to retirees affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Many of these payments will be processed incrementally throughout March, with most beneficiaries expected to see the changes reflected in their payments by the end of the month. The payments are backdated to January 2024.
The SSA is expediting the timeline for these payments through the use of automation. However, retirees with complex cases will have to wait longer, as these require additional time for agency staff to manually update the records and reflect the new benefit amounts. Despite the expedited process, the SSA has urged retirees to wait until at least April before inquiring about the status of their payments.
SSA Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek said in a press statement, “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. 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.”
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) quickly expressed support for SSA’s plans.
Retroactive Social Security payments initiated
“SSA’s announcement that they will begin paying benefits to those impacted by WEP and GPO this week is music to our ears,” said John Hatton, NARFE’s staff vice president of policy and programs. “This is much quicker than previously forecasted, and will have an immediate, positive impact on those who have waited decades for this relief.”
The higher payments come as a result of bipartisan legislation that repealed both WEP and GPO.
These two longstanding provisions of Social Security reduced or eliminated benefit payments for certain public sector employees and retirees, including federal annuitants in the Civil Service Retirement System, as well as their surviving spouses. Many teachers, firefighters, and police officers were also affected. WEP reduces benefits for annuitants who have worked in both a public sector position not covered by Social Security and a job covered by Social Security.
GPO reduces Social Security benefits for surviving spouses who also worked in the public sector, often resulting in a full elimination of the benefit. In total, WEP and GPO impacted Social Security payments for roughly 3 million public sector employees, retirees, spouses, and surviving spouses. Former President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law on January 5, 2024, which aimed to eliminate these two provisions.
Individuals who are impacted by WEP and GPO can find more details about the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act through SSA’s communications.
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