--- title: Why Millions of Social Security Beneficiaries Will Receive Bigger Payments Starting in April description: Starting in April, millions will receive larger Social Security payments due to changes in benefit calculations for public sector workers. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 348 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes published: '2025-03-24T18:02:19.000Z' modified: '2025-09-05T16:25:02.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - News word_count: 714 canonical: https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A figurine carrying an oversized social security card](https://img.money.com/2025/02/News-Social-Security-Bigger-Check-Backpay.jpg) The Social Security Administration is set to begin sending larger monthly payments in April to the millions of people affected by a recent change in how benefits have historically been calculated for some public sector workers. The agency [announced](https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/) in February that it has begun to issue retroactive payments to 3.2 million Americans slated to receive additional benefits under a new law. Lump-sum back payments were issued first, and higher monthly benefits kick in with March benefit payments, which are distributed in April. Eligible recipients don't need to do anything to receive their higher benefits. These changes came about as a result of the Social Security Fairness Act, which the lame-duck Congress [passed](https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-passes/) in December. The new law eliminates two other pieces of Social Security law, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Those statutes limited the amount of Social Security benefits that could be collected by people who get certain kinds of public pensions, such as teachers, police officers, firefighters and other government employees. In a polarized Washington, the law garnered a rare degree of broad bipartisan support: The House of Representatives voted 327 to 75 to pass it, and the Senate voted 76 to 20 in favor. Then-President Joe Biden signed it into law Jan. 5. ## Increase your income today with a Reverse Mortgage ### If you're 62 or older, work with a licensed Finance of America (NMLS# 2285) representative in your state today. [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/f9aaa98cdbb4?ap_referrer=%2Fsocial-security-fairness-act-payments%2F) ## Why did Congress change WEP and GPO? Most of the country's workforce contributes to Social Security through payroll taxes. Private-sector workers typically become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits after paying into the system for at least 10 years. Since public-sector workers are covered by different pension systems, they aren't required to pay those taxes and generally don't qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. Some public-sector workers do, though, if they worked a second job or took a retirement gig in the private sector. The WEP and GPO were conceived to prevent this group of workers from "double-dipping" and collecting both Social Security and public pension benefits. But proponents of the Social Security Fairness Act [argued](https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-status/) that public-sector retirees are rightfully owed these benefits because they have paid into Social Security. ## Who benefits from the Social Security Fairness Act? The SSA noted that most local and state public-sector workers *do* pay into Social Security and are unaffected by the new law. Still, an estimated 3.2 million retirees, spouses and surviving spouses of eligible retirees will benefit, according to its website. ## How much will Social Security payments increase? The roughly 2.1 million beneficiaries affected by the WEP will see an additional $360, on average, in their monthly benefit payments, the Congressional Budget Office ([CBO](https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-09/hr82.pdf)) said, based on December 2025 benefit estimates. The GPO repeal, which affects spouses and surviving spouses, would increase average monthly payments by $700 for 380,000 spouses and by $1,190 for another 390,000 surviving spouses. ## What should I do? You might not need to do anything. Acting commissioner Lee Dudek said in a February news release that the agency’s “aggressive schedule” called for retroactive payments to start going out that month. The Social Security Fairness Act stipulated that the WEP and GPO would no longer be in effect as of January 2024, so eligible beneficiaries are owed backpay from that date. The agency said these payments started going out the week of Feb. 24 and that everyone owed a retroactive payment should receive it by the end of March. The larger monthly payments will go into effect starting with March Social Security payments (which are set to be paid out in April). In both cases, the SSA will deposit the money into the bank accounts the agency has on record for beneficiaries. If you’re one of the eligible beneficiaries for the WEP and/or the GPO rollback, you’ll receive a notice in the mail from the SSA detailing the amount of retroactive payments and/or monthly payment increases. The SSA has an [FAQ](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html) that addresses these and other related questions. If you're not sure if the agency has the correct mailing address or bank account information on file, you can check your Social Security [account](http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount) online, or call them at 800-772-1213. ## With a Reverse Mortgage, you can invest in your future starting today ### Work with a licensed Finance of America (NMLS# 2285) representative today. [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/t879fd448b2c?ap_referrer=%2Fsocial-security-fairness-act-payments%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/39553/medium_d01d803f-1110-4310-8997-bada342c27e4.webp) Get the most out of your Reverse Mortgage with Finance of America (NMLS# 2285) [Learn More](https://money.com/pr/ed1a928f8683?ap_referrer=%2Fsocial-security-fairness-act-payments%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Social Security", "item": "https://money.com/social-security/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why Millions of Social Security Beneficiaries Will Receive Bigger Payments Starting in April" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/", "name": "Why Millions of Social Security Beneficiaries Will Receive Bigger Payments Starting in April", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2025-03-24T18:02:19.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-fairness-act-payments/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2025-09-05T16:25:02.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Why Millions of Social Security Beneficiaries Will Receive Bigger Payments Starting in April", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2025/02/News-Social-Security-Bigger-Check-Backpay.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Social-Security-Bigger-Check-Backpay" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!)\r\n\r\nKatherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others.\r\n\r\nKatherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 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