Social Security Fairness Act Boosts Pension Benefits for Millions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Millions of retired teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public pension recipients will benefit sooner than expected from the recently passed Social Security Fairness Act, federal officials announced Tuesday. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will begin paying retroactive benefits immediately and will increase monthly payments starting in April for over 3.2 million affected individuals.

The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in December, eliminated two long-standing federal policies that prevented employees with public pensions from collecting their full benefits under the federal retirement program. These restrictions also impacted the benefits available to surviving spouses and family members of affected workers.

The new law ensures that the benefits hike will be retroactive to December 2023, meaning eligible recipients who previously received partial payments will receive full compensation backdated to last year.

“Social Security’s aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President Trump‘s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement.

Dudek also noted that the agency’s streamlined processes would now only apply to complex cases that cannot be automated. Most eligible recipients can expect their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, with funds deposited into the bank accounts on record with the SSA.

The amount of increased payment will vary for individuals based on the type of benefits and pensions they receive, according to agency officials.

The SSA further advised beneficiaries to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payments. For more information about the expanded Social Security benefits, such as eligibility and payment schedules, individuals can visit the official SSA website.

Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York, specializing in business and consumer finance.