Social Security Fairness Act: WEP, GPO, and Benefit Increases

The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, two rules that had reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for people who also receive a pension from government work that didn’t pay into Social Security. The change is retroactive to January 2024, so more than 2.8 million affected workers, spouses, and survivors are entitled to full, unreduced benefits going back to that month.¹ December 2023 was the last month either provision applied.²

Who the Law Actually Affects

The repeal matters if you receive a pension from a government job that did not withhold Social Security taxes. That covers certain teachers, police officers, and firefighters in states that opted out of Social Security coverage for those employees. Seven states account for roughly 81 percent of workers in non-covered public positions: California, Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas.³ About one-quarter of state and local government employees nationally work in positions not covered by Social Security.

Federal workers under the older Civil Service Retirement System are the other major group. CSRS employees never paid Social Security taxes through their federal job, so any Social Security credits they earned from other work were run through the Windfall Elimination Provision.² Some people whose work was covered by a foreign country’s social security system also benefit.¹

One boundary worth stating clearly. Most teachers, firefighters, and police officers in the United States pay Social Security taxes through their public jobs and were never subject to WEP or GPO in the first place. If your government paycheck showed Social Security withholding, this law changes nothing about your benefit.

What the Windfall Elimination Provision Did

The Windfall Elimination Provision reduced your own Social Security retirement benefit if you also received a pension from non-covered work. Social Security’s regular formula replaces 90 percent of the first bracket of your average indexed monthly earnings. Under WEP, that 90 percent rate could drop as low as 40 percent, cutting monthly benefits by several hundred dollars for the rest of the retiree’s life.⁴ A guarantee capped the reduction at no more than half of the non-covered pension amount.⁵ Workers with 30 or more years of substantial earnings under Social Security were already exempt, and those with 21 to 29 years received a smaller reduction on a sliding scale.⁶

With WEP gone, Social Security now calculates your retirement benefit using the standard formula that applies to everyone else. About 2.1 million people were affected by the provision when it was repealed.

What the Government Pension Offset Did

The Government Pension Offset reduced the spousal or survivor benefit you could claim on a husband’s or wife’s Social Security record. If you also received a government pension from non-covered employment, the offset cut your Social Security spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of your pension amount.⁷

The arithmetic was heavy. A $2,100 monthly state pension reduced the spousal Social Security benefit by $1,400. For many people the offset zeroed out the Social Security benefit entirely, even after a spouse had paid into the system for decades. More than 700,000 people were affected, and widows and widowers felt it most because a survivor benefit is often the main source of income after a spouse’s death. Removing the offset restores the full spousal or survivor amount those Social Security records were producing.

How Much Benefits Went Up

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that ending WEP would raise monthly benefits by about $360 on average for the 2.1 million retirees affected. Ending GPO produced larger increases: roughly $700 per month on average for affected spouses and about $1,190 per month for affected surviving spouses.

These are averages. Individual amounts vary widely depending on your pension size, your years of covered earnings, and the specific benefit you claim. A survivor whose GPO had wiped out the benefit entirely could see the full amount restored. A retiree with a small WEP reduction saw a smaller bump. Social Security recalculated each person’s benefit individually.

Retroactive Payments and What to Do

Because the law was retroactive to January 2024 but not signed until January 2025, affected beneficiaries were owed more than a year of back payments. Social Security began sending retroactive lump sums in late February 2025, with most sent by the end of March 2025. Updated monthly amounts started appearing in April 2025 payments.⁸ The retroactive period does not go back further than January 2024. Reductions taken in earlier years stand, and there is no compensation for them.

Complex cases that could not be handled automatically were reviewed manually and took longer.⁸ What you need to do depends on your situation:

If you were already receiving benefits reduced by WEP or GPO, you didn’t need to do anything. Social Security recalculated your benefit automatically and sent any retroactive payment to the bank account on file.¹
If you never applied because WEP or GPO would have wiped out your benefit, you need to file an application now. The date you file may affect when benefits start and how much you receive.¹
If you are not sure whether you ever applied, check your my Social Security account at ssa.gov or call 1-800-772-1213. You may need to file a new application.

Every other Social Security rule still applies. Claiming before full retirement age still produces a permanent reduction, and the retirement earnings test still applies if you are still working. The repeal changed WEP and GPO only.

Cost and Trust Fund Impact

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the repeal will increase federal spending by $196 billion over ten years and move up the projected depletion of the Social Security trust fund by roughly six months. The combined Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance trust fund is currently projected to be depleted in 2034, at which point incoming payroll taxes would cover about 81 percent of scheduled benefits.⁹ The Act passed with broad bipartisan support as H.R. 82.¹⁰

1
Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update
2
Social Security Administration. Social Security Benefits for Federal Workers
3
Congressional Research Service. Data on State and Local Public Sector Employment Not Covered Under Social Security
4
Social Security Administration. Social Security Beneficiaries Affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision in 2006 – Section: History of the Windfall Elimination Provision
5
Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision
6
Social Security Administration. The Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision: Issues and Replacement Alternatives – Section: Background
7
Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Government Pension Offset
8
Social Security Administration. Social Security Announces Expedited Retroactive Payments
9
Social Security Administration. Trustees Report Summary
10
Congress.gov. H.R. 82 – Social Security Fairness Act of 2023