In the United States, the Social Security Fairness Act is now in full effect, with the Social Security Administration declaring that through March 4, it has provided up to $7.5 billion in retroactive payments to millions of Social Security beneficiaries.
The Social Security Fairness Act can also provide a boost in monthly payments for former and present public employees who previously had their benefits reduced due to having noncovered pensions. Qualifying beneficiaries can receive their higher monthly payment in April 2025 for their March benefit.
Social Security Back Payments 2025
On 5 March 2025, the Social Security Administration (SSA) shared its important progress to swiftly execute the Social Security Fairness Act. The Social Security Administration confirmed that through March 4, 2025 it has delivered more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments to around 1,127,723 qualifying beneficiaries.
The retroactive payments are the result of the cancellation of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) as well as Government Pension Offset (GPO). For qualifying individuals, the average retroactive payment so far is $6,710.
The SSA announced that it is continuing to pay the retroactive payments to qualifying Social Security beneficiaries, whose monthly payments are going to increase from April 2025, reflecting their March’s benefit. SSA can deliver all the retroactive payments by the end of the month of March.
What is the basic reason for retroactive benefits and the increase of monthly benefit payments?
The Social Security Administration announced the official start of paying the retroactive benefits and the increase of monthly benefit payments for those individuals whose benefits have been affected with the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) as well as Government Pension Offset (GPO).
These provisions reduced and eliminated the Social Security benefits for more than 3.2 million individuals who received a pension based on their work that was not covered by Social Security and because they did not pay Social Security taxes from their salary.
However, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) was approved in 1977, adjusted in 1983 and decreased the Social Security benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who have received government pensions of their own.
How much are monthly benefit payments are going to increase?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that the elimination of the WEP can increase the benefit amount by $360 an average for more than 2.1 million Social Security beneficiaries. This will further increase to $460 on average for over 1.8 million individuals by December 2033.
However, CBO expects that the elimination of the GPO will increase monthly benefits payments by $700 for qualifying spouses and $1,190 for qualifying surviving spouses in December of this year. But by December 2033, the payment amounts can be reached at $860 and $1,520, respectively.
Collectively, only around 4% of all Social Security claimants are affected by the WEP and GPO, but the impact on those households could be heartfelt. The Social Security Fairness Act applies to all payable benefits after December 2023. It means that social security back payments will be issued to qualifying individuals.
Who is eligible for social security back payments 2025?
Individuals who can receive benefits from the new law (Social Security Fairness Act) include teachers, federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, firefighters, police officers of various states and those individuals whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.
Many beneficiaries can get a retroactive payment due to the WEP and GPO offset no longer apply as of January 2024. Individuals whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who can receive a retroactive payment, will be able to receive a mailed notice from Social Security that can explain the benefit change as well as retroactive payment.
When and how can you get your Social Security back payments 2025?
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), most individuals can expect to receive their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March 2025. The Social Security back payments 2025 will be directly deposited into qualifying individuals’ bank accounts on record with Social Security.
Many of these individuals can also get higher monthly benefits, which can be reflected in the benefit payment that they are going to receive in April. Based on the various factors like the type of Social Security received benefit and the received amount of the individual’s pension, the changes in payment amount can vary from person to person.