Police Officers among 3.2M to Get Social Security Bump, Back Pay

An estimated 3.2 million Americans who had their Social Security benefits restricted or eliminated altogether have some extra money coming their way. On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration announced it is set to increase benefits and issue back pay for those impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).

Those provisions reduced or eliminated benefits for workers who received a pension for work that was not covered by Social Security. The provisions impacted teachers, firefighters, police officers, and more.

After the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law earlier this year by then President Joe Biden, the provisions were eliminated. Along with ending the provisions, it was announced that those who were impacted would see their monthly benefits increase and receive back pay dating back to January 2024.

At the time, the SSA said it could take up to a year for the department to adjust monthly payments and issue the retroactive payments. However, on Tuesday the SSA said it has begun streamlining the process. The SSA now expects the back pay to be in bank accounts by the end of March and the monthly increase to be reflected in the April payment.

“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,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “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.”

While the actual amounts will vary by person, an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office projected that removing the Windfall Elimination Provision would increase monthly Social Security payments by an average of $360 by December 2025. Removing the Government Pension Offset is expected to increase monthly benefits by an average of $700.

“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their life to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity — that’s the entire purpose of the Social Security system,” Biden said when he signed the bill. “This is a big deal.”

Those who are set to see an increase will be notified via letter, but may see the back pay in their bank account before the letter arrives, the SSA said.

The agency is asking beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment as the payments will be issued incrementally throughout the month of March. Beneficiaries are also asked to wait until they’ve received their April payment before contacting the agency about the amount of their new monthly payments.

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