Retired public sector employees eligible for additional benefits due to the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) will finally see their monthly payments increase. If you received Social Security benefits after December 2023 and were impacted by the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and/or the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reductions, you are going to see more money starting in April.
The lump sum retroactive payments started going out the last week of February. Most people should receive their payment by the end of March. The money will arrive the same way you receive your monthly benefits, either deposited into the bank account the Social Security Administration (SSA) has on file or a check by mail to your last known address. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in your benefit amount from January 2024 through March 2025, back to the month when WEP and GPO no longer applied.
The SSA has asked beneficiaries to wait until after receiving their April payment before contacting it to ask about monthly benefit amounts since the new amount will not be reflected until April (for the March payment).
When are the bigger checks arriving?
Here is the payment schedule for April; find the day of the month you were born on the left side of the table. Then, look under each month for the specific payment date.
The payment schedule is different for two groups of beneficiaries:
- If you received Social Security before May 1997, your SS benefits are paid on March 3
- if you receive both Social Security & SSI, SS benefits are paid on March 3 and SSI on March 1.
Lump sum retroactive payments
Retired public sector employees began receiving their back payments to reflect the retroactive application of the Social Security Fairness Act during the last week in February. As of March 4, the average retroactive payment received by 1,127,723 recipients was $6,710, with a total of $7.5 billion having been distributed.
These back payments cover what beneficiaries should have received in 2024 and the increase to monthly benefits for January and February in 2025.
Monthly increases for eligible beneficiaries will begin with their March payment (which arrives in April).
The SSA wants beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will be processed incrementally throughout March.
Complex cases will take longer
The SSFA required the SSA to adjust benefits for over 3 million people. Due to the retroactive application of the law to benefits received after December 2023, the SSA must adjust both past benefits as well as future benefits. SSA is helping most eligible beneficiaries now; as of March 14, 2025, the SSA has processed 75% or 2.2 million adjustments. The SSA expects that it could take up to a year to process manually the more complex cases.
Where to get help
If your lump sum hasn't arrived, you can call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing and use TTY equipment, you can call the TTY number at 1-800-325-0778. Tell the representative you want to talk about your benefits and the Social Security Fairness Act or make an appointment to see someone at your local office.
The SSA is available by phone in most U.S. time zones Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wait times to speak to a representative are typically shorter in the morning, toward the end of the week, and toward the end of the month, according to the SSA website.
