April has brought a lot of joy to retirees, as more than 3 million Social Security beneficiaries will be enjoying an increase in their monthly payments. Due to the Social Security Fairness Act signed by ex-President Biden in January, certain groups of workers are going to benefit the most, like teachers, firefighters, and police officers.
The law eliminated prior rules curtailing Social Security payments to retirees with any pensions from jobs not covered by Social Security. This means that a good many retirees will see not only an increase in their benefits but also some one-time, retroactive payments.
Eligibility
The primary beneficiaries of the new law are retirees who have worked virtually all of the time in jobs not covered by Social Security but who also accrued Social Security credits in part-time jobs. These include:
- Teachers- Those who worked summer jobs and paid into Social Security.
- Firefighters and Police Officers- Many in these careers receive pensions but also had other jobs which were covered by Social Security.
- Federal Employees- Workers under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).
Individuals with Overseas Pensions- Pensions paid into by someone on another country’s social security, while working in the U.S. Social Security benefits for these individuals were under WEP and GPO during the earlier consideration. The new law has withdrawn these deductions, thereby granting every one of these graduates the ability to draw fully on all the benefits they’ve earned.
Increase in Benefits
This increase is therefore separate from the 2025 Cost-of-Living-Increase(COLA”), which raised benefits as of January by 2.5%. These adjustments will considerably increase monthly payments for some retirees by hundreds of dollars and more than $1,000.
In addition, a one-time check entitled retroactive payment will be sent at the end of March. The retroactive payment compensates retirees for those months when they should have been receiving higher benefits before the law was initiated.
The highest payments will be issued in April to cover March benefits. The Social Security Administration(SSA) will notify anyone affected about the aforementioned changes in benefits.
The WEP and GPO were originally designed to prevent double-dipping: receiving both a pension and full Social Security benefits. However, these rules often led to unexpected benefit cuts, frustrating many retirees.
Retirement expert Mark Miller explains:
“The WEP and GPO made sense to policy wonks and actuaries, but the large benefit cuts took affected workers by surprise. That’s why there have been repeated attempts to get rid of them, and the Congress finally did it.”
With this reform, Social Security has become fairer for millions of retirees who worked in non-covered jobs but also contributed to the system.
FAQS:
Who are the prospective SSA beneficiaries with upgraded benefit packages?
Retired workers having non-social security employment, along with work where Social Security taxes were paid by the employee.
Beginning when would the increased payments be applicable?
The new benefits take effect retroactively from April 2025, with March being the month of retroactive payment.
What will be the increase in benefits?
The increases vary but might be from a few hundred to $1,000 or even more on a monthly basis.
Does this change change the January 2025 COLA increase?
This is different and should not be confused with an increase from 2.5% COLA that took effect in January 2025.