A certain group of Americans are benefiting from a round of Social Security checks, according to an SSA press release. Even better news for some is that it’s the first of at least two checks expected to be paid out under the Social Security Fairness Act. The Act was signed into law on January 5, 2025, and saw the elimination of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), both of which used to reduce Social Security benefits for retirees.
Why are Social Security checks going out?
Last year, over 2.8 million Americans’ retirement incomes were being affected by the WEP and GPO, which forced the Social Security Administration (SSA) to reduce retirees’ benefits if they were receiving additional retirement income from other sources.
- The WEP reduced Social Security benefits for retirees who worked in jobs that didn’t require Social Security taxes to be paid, which were typically public sector roles. The reduction in some cases added up to half the retiree’s pension amount, a significant cut.
- The GPO saw survivor or spousal benefits being reduced if a person’s pension fell under the non-covered criteria. The GPO didn’t affect as many people, but it cut those spousal and survivor benefits by two-thirds of the government pension amount.
Who will be receiving payments?
Social Security checks have been paid out to retirees previously employed in the public sector who were previously affected by either the WEP or GPO. The majority of these are retired public school teachers, firefighters, police officers, and postal workers who were not required to contribute to the Social Security fund when they were employed.
The new Social Security Fairness Act requires that the SSA adjust past and future benefits for previously affected pensioners. This means that many will be receiving retroactive payments, which will come as a welcome surprise to most. An SSA spokesperson explained:
“To date, we have processed approximately 30,000 of these new initial claims and, depending on their age and other factors of entitlement, some of these new beneficiaries are receiving retroactive payments. We continue to work on the process.”
Why is the payment disbursement process taking so long?
Retirees expecting a payout are getting frustrated with the delays in the process. Two months after the Act was signed into law, people are still waiting for their funds. The Social Security Administration explained that there are three reasons for the delays:
- Budget constraints
- Staffing shortages and a hiring freeze
- Complex cases that need manual updating
Some payments have already been issued, which has appeased those retirees at least, but this number is a drop in the ocean compared to how many payments still need to be processed. Millions of elderly Americans are still entitled to checks and the SSA says it’s doing its best to work through the backlog with limited resources.
The Social Security Administration says it wasn’t given a budget to calculate these changes for millions of people:
“SSA’s ability to implement the law in a timely manner and without negatively affecting day-to-day customer service relies on funding,” the agency said. “The Act did not provide money to implement the law… Helping people with this new and unfunded workload is made more difficult by SSA’s ongoing staffing shortages, including operating under a hiring freeze since November 2024.”
The original estimate was that beneficiaries would have to wait a year or more
The SSA has reported that it was originally expected that it would take at least a year to process all the payments due as a result of the new Act. Thankfully, this has been revised and now, the SSA says that beneficiaries due for retroactive payments will see a one-time payment deposited directly into their accounts by the end of March at the latest.
Most beneficiaries will begin receiving their new increased monthly benefit amount in April, covering March. Anyone whose monthly benefit has been adjusted or who gets a retroactive payment will receive a letter of notice from the SSA explaining the change or payment. You can find out more about the signing of the Social Security Fairness Act into law here.
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