The SSA said payments have gone to some 1,128,000 of the 3.2 million people who have been affected by one or both of the reductions. Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com
The SSA has said it has sent payments to more than a third of those eligible for retroactive payments under the law repealing the government pension offset and windfall elimination provision, a total payout of $7.5 billion with an average of $6,710 per person.
The back payment is due to a late-2024 law repealing those two Social Security reductions that had applied to those under the federal CSRS retirement system as well as to retirees of state and local governments whose retirement systems also had excluded Social Security. The GPO reduced, and in many cases eliminated, their spousal or survivor Social Security benefits, while the WEP reduced the personally earned Social Security benefits of such persons based on other earnings for which they did pay into Social Security (unless those earnings exceeded an annual threshold for at least 30 years).
The SSA said payments have gone to some 1,128,000 of the 3.2 million people who have been affected by one or both of the reductions. The agency credits use of automation to speed up what it initially warned could be a lengthy process, although it cautions that certain cases that must be processed manually will take more time to resolve.
It also asks beneficiaries to “wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally throughout March.”
The back payments reflect that the repeal of each was retroactive to the end of 2023, making adjustments effective with Social Security benefits beginning with those received in February 2024 (because payments reflect the previous month). Along with the retroactive payments, the agency is recalculating payments to reflect increase moving forward, which will be reflected in April payments (reflecting March) for those already receiving the retroactive payments.
In the latest update to page it has posted on the repeal, the agency added that it has received 68,000 new applications since enactment of the law—likely largely reflecting applications for spousal or survivor benefits from those who had not applied because the GPO would have eliminated them—and that it has processed 72 percent of those.
It also said that in some instances, “we may need to request the amount received for your pension from work not covered by Social Security to verify we are paying you correctly for these months. You do not need to contact us to report changes if this applies to you. If we need updated pension information, we will send a request for information to you.”
Meanwhile, SSA has said it will lay off some 7,000 of its 57,000 employees “with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,” which will include offers of buyouts and early retirement.
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