The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, two rules that had reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for people who also collect a government pension from work that didn’t pay into Social Security. The repeal restores full benefits to roughly 2.8 million retirees, spouses, and survivors, and it applies retroactively to benefits payable from January 2024 onward.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update As of July 7, 2025, the Social Security Administration had issued more than 3.1 million payments totaling over $17 billion in retroactive amounts.
Who Gets a Bigger Check
The law affects public employees whose government job didn’t withhold Social Security taxes and instead paid into a separate state or local retirement system. Teachers and school employees are one of the largest groups, along with police officers, firefighters, and other first responders.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update If you worked long enough under Social Security to qualify for a benefit, or you’re eligible for a spousal or survivor benefit on someone else’s record, and a non-covered government pension used to shrink that benefit, you’re in the group this law was written for.
The Congressional Budget Office projected the following average monthly increases:
- About 2.1 million workers previously affected by the WEP gain an average of $360 per month.
- About 380,000 spouses previously affected by the GPO gain an average of $700 per month.
- About 390,000 surviving spouses gain an average of about $1,190 per month.
Those are averages. Individual results vary widely depending on your earnings history and pension amount. Someone whose survivor benefit was completely wiped out by the GPO gains far more than someone who lost a smaller slice to a partial WEP reduction.
What the WEP and GPO Used to Do
The Windfall Elimination Provision applied a less generous formula to Social Security benefits for workers who also received a pension from non-covered government work. For someone who turned 62 in 2024, the WEP could cut up to $587 per month from their Social Security payment, and workers with fewer than 20 years of substantial Social Security earnings faced the deepest reductions.2Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision Everyone previously hit by the WEP is now having their benefit recalculated with the standard formula that applies to any other worker.
The Government Pension Offset reduced Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of the beneficiary’s non-covered government pension. For most people it caught, that reduction erased the Social Security benefit entirely. In 2022, nearly 70 percent of people affected by the GPO had their entire spousal or survivor benefit zeroed out.3Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Government Pension Offset With the offset gone, these beneficiaries can now collect their full pension alongside their full spousal or survivor benefit.
Retroactive Pay and When Adjustments Show Up
December 2023 was the last month the WEP and GPO reductions applied. Every affected beneficiary is owed the difference between what they received and what they should have received starting with the January 2024 benefit.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update
SSA began adjusting monthly payments on February 25, 2025. Most affected beneficiaries first saw the higher monthly amount in their April 2025 payment, which covered March 2025 benefits. Each person also received a one-time lump-sum payment covering the retroactive increase back to January 2024. SSA reports that the bulk of this work was completed roughly five months ahead of its original schedule, though more complex cases still require manual processing and are being handled on a rolling basis.
Do You Need to File Anything?
If you’re already receiving Social Security benefits that were being reduced by the WEP or GPO, you don’t need to apply for anything. The adjustment is automatic. SSA asks only that you confirm your mailing address and direct deposit information are current through your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update
If you never applied for retirement, spousal, or survivor benefits because the WEP or GPO would have reduced them to nothing, you probably need to file now. This is where people most often miss out. Retroactivity for most retirement and survivor benefit applications is capped at six months before the month you file, so waiting means forfeiting benefits you’d otherwise collect.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update
Retirement and spousal benefit applications can be filed online at ssa.gov/apply. Survivor benefit applications cannot be filed online; call SSA at 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. All other Social Security rules still apply, including reductions for claiming before full retirement age and the retirement earnings test.
The Tradeoff
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the WEP and GPO would substantially increase federal spending over the next decade and draw more from the Social Security trust funds. Supporters argued the old rules unfairly penalized people who spent part of their careers in public service. Critics said the repeal accelerates trust fund depletion without offsetting revenue. For the roughly 3 million people directly affected, the practical result is a larger monthly check, and for many survivors, a benefit restored from zero.