The Social Security Fairness Act increased federal retirement benefits for 3.2 million seniors.
Many of them received their benefit adjustments in April, but about 900,000 are still waiting.
Eligible seniors who haven’t gotten their benefit increase yet can expect the adjustments by early November.
During his final days in office, President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act, which increased the federal retirement benefits of 3.2 million U.S. seniors. If you’re among them, you’ve probably eagerly awaited the adjustment to your checks, which may amount to as much as $1,100 more per month for some retirees.
As of April 25, the Social Security Administration has processed 2.3 million benefit adjustments. But that still leaves roughly 900,000 Americans waiting on their extra money. If you’re among them or you think you might be, here’s what you need to know.
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More than 80% of seniors affected by the Social Security Fairness Act have already received their benefit adjustment. The government was able to make all those changes so quickly because it automated the process of calculating most of them. However, some seniors’ cases are more complicated, and couldn’t be handled by the automated process. These folks haven’t started to receive their adjusted payments yet.
Real government employees will have to process each of these more complex benefit increases manually, which will take time. If you’re due for a bump thanks to the Social Security Fairness Act, but didn’t see an increase with your April payment, watch for notices from the Social Security Administration. It should inform you when it has adjusted your monthly benefit amount. This notice should also tell you how large your checks will be.
You may also be entitled to a one-time retroactive payment going back to January 2024, the law’s effective date. If you claimed benefits during this time, you’ll get a lump sum to make up the difference between what you received and what you were eligible for under the Social Security Fairness Act.
Right now, the Social Security Administration is releasing retroactive payments and adjusting monthly benefits on a rolling basis. It expects to have all affected beneficiaries’ records updated by early November.
Most seniors won’t see their benefits change under the Social Security Fairness Act. It only applies to people who previously had money withheld from their checks under the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO). These applied to retirees who received pensions from employers that didn’t pay into Social Security. Many teachers, police officers, and firefighters are among those affected, but many in these professions won’t qualify for a benefit increase.
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