Millions of Social Security recipients impacted by the Social Security Fairness Act could have to wait up to a year for their benefits to increase, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has said.
In January, two provisions—the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)—that reduced Social Security benefits for millions of workers were repealed after bipartisan efforts in Congress.
Signing the act into law, former President Joe Biden said it would boost Social Security benefits by an average of $360 a month for more than 2.8 million recipients.
But the SSA said no extra funding was provided to address the changes, and as the benefits hike under the new law is retroactive to December 2023, this will leave millions waiting for boosted and owed payments worth thousands of dollars.
What To Know
On its website, the SSA said it was “finalizing its plan to implement the act while limiting negative effects on our regular workloads and services to the public.”
However, the implementation of the Act is being hampered by a hiring freeze and “ongoing staff shortages,” the SSA said, and added that it expected it “could take more than one year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive benefits.”
In November, the SSA imposed a hiring freeze after Congress declined to provide the additional funding in a continuing resolution approved in September.
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What is the Social Security Fairness Act?
The WEP reduced Social Security benefits for individuals who receive pensions from public sector jobs—such as those held by state and federal employees—that did not require Social Security payroll tax contributions. This reduction applied even if they contributed to Social Security through other employment and qualified for benefits. Some two million beneficiaries were affected by this provision.
The GPO reduced spousal or survivor benefits for retired federal, state, and local government workers who did not pay into Social Security funds through their payroll taxes. Approximately 800,000 retirees were impacted by this rule.
How Can I Find Out When I Will Receive My Adjusted Social Security Payment?
Information about individual benefits received by those previously impacted by the WEP and the GPO is not available, and the SSA has suggested that calls inquiring about payments are adding to the delay.
Callers to the SSA hear a message about the Social Security Fairness Act, intended to reduce long and frustrating wait times for those seeking information on the new law. However, more than 7,000 people per day still choose to wait for a live representative, leading to a backlog that is expected to grow in the coming weeks and months.
What People Are Saying
Former Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and one of the bill’s cosponsors, said upon the bill’s signing: “Social Security is a bedrock of our middle class. You pay into it for 40 quarters, you earned it, it should be there when you retire. All these workers are asking for is for what they earned.”
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare spokesperson Walter Gottlieb, in an email to Newsweek: “ The new law rights a wrong that for the last 50 years has either reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits of certain government retirees. This is the bipartisan solution that most Americans want, even though some on Capitol Hill have proposed to slash benefits by raising the retirement age, means testing, cutting COLAs, or privatizing Social Security.”
What Happens Next
The Social Security Administration (SSA) told Newsweek it “is determining the timelines for implementing this new law” and that it will “provide more information on our website as it becomes available.”