US Social Security Update: US Windfall Elimination Provision Repealed

28 February, 2025

Before the end of his presidency, President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (the “Act”), repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision (“WEP”) and the Government Pension Offset (“GPO”) on 5 January 2025. This came after the U.S. Senate and House voted 76-20 and 327-75, respectively, to pass the legislation showing strong bipartisan support.

This repeal means affected retirees, spouses, and survivors no longer have reductions to US Social Security (“SS”) benefits due to the application of WEP or GPO.

Background

The US GPO and WEP both reduced SS benefits where an individual was entitled to a public pension from a job that did not pay taxes into the US system. The SS benefits were reduced to prevent what was perceived as a “windfall” benefit from having dual pensions and could result in a reduction to a person’s SS by hundreds of dollars per month.

The level of US SS reduction applied by the WEP depended on how many years a person had contributed to US SS. Only 30 or more qualifying years of US SS benefits meant that WEP did not apply.

Whilst the impact of the GPO and WEP repeal has often focused on affected US state and federal employees, the repeal is also excellent news for British expatriates who have worked in both the US and the UK and are entitled to both US SS and a UK State Pension.

When will it change US SS payments?

The Act requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to adjust benefits for over 3 million people. Since the law’s effective date is retroactive, applying “with respect to monthly insurance benefits payable…after December 2023”, SSA must adjust people’s past benefits as well as future benefits.

A recent update from SSA has confirmed that starting the week of February 24, 2025, SSA is beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the WEP and GPO.

If a person is due retroactive benefits, they will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account SSA has on file, by the end of March. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in their benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.

Most of those affected will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit). However, SSA expects that some complex cases could take up to one year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive benefits.

Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from SSA explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment.

The SSA urges individuals to wait until April to inquire about the status of any retroactive payment. They also ask that individuals wait until after receiving an April payment before contacting SSA to ask about monthly benefit amounts because new amounts will not be reflected until April for the March payment.

More information

Updates are being provided by the SSA on this website:
www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html