Social Security raising monthly payments for 3.2M people; see if you qualify

Some recipients of Social Security will soon get retroactive benefits and then increased monthly benefits as provisions of a new law kick in.

The Social Security Fairness Act, signed in early January by former President Joe Biden, will enhance benefits for people who were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.

Those provisions limited Social Security benefits for recipients if they got retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government, the Social Security Administration said. The new law eliminated those restrictions as of January 2024.

The government estimates benefits for 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security were affected.

Initial retroactive payments will start going out in February, with increases in monthly benefits to follow in April. The agency said the Trump administration is committed to implemented changes quickly.

“The agency’s original estimate of taking a year or more now will only apply to complex cases that cannot be processed by automation,” Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, said in a news release. “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, the agency said.

Recipients whose monthly benefits will be adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will get 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,” the agency said in a statement.

Higher benefits may be available to recipients. They will be calculated on an individual basis and will vary depending on factors such as the type of Social Security benefit received and the amount of the person’s pension.