The Social Security Administration said Friday that under its current budget, it could take more than a year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive benefits under the Social Security Fairness Act, and explained how many recipients would actually be covered under the new law.
“SSA's ability to implement the law in a timely manner and without negatively affecting day-to-day customer service relies on funding,” the agency said in question-and-answer guidance on its website page dedicated to updates on the new law.
“The Act did not provide money to implement the law,” SSA said, adding that the law requires SSA to adjust benefits for over 3 million people.
Since the law's effective date is retroactive, SSA must adjust people's past benefits as well as future benefits.
“Processing these changes is very complex and SSA's analysis shows that much of the work must be done manually, on an individual case-by-case basis,” SSA said.
The agency “is currently processing pending or new claims involving future benefits and developing procedures and automated solutions for computing retroactive benefits,” according to the website.
Former President Joe Biden signed the Act into law on Jan. 5. The Social Security Fairness Act repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions of Social Security.
While the new website on the Act "seems comprehensive and user friendly," Maria Freese, senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said Monday, "SSA understandably cannot answer quite yet the question of when beneficiaries formerly affected by WEP & GPO will get their money. Congress has given SSA a massive task in implementing the Social Security Fairness Act, which our organization endorsed, without providing extra funds to do so."
The "chronically underfunded SSA already was struggling to provide customer service with the lowest staffing levels in 50 years at the same time as some 10,000 Baby Boomers reach retirement age every day," Freese added. "Now, SSA must recalculate and pay the benefits of nearly 3 million people under the new law without impeding service for all beneficiaries."
Who Gets a Benefit Increase?
SSA also explained that not every teacher, firefighter, police officer or public worker will receive a benefit increase.
“Only people who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security may see benefit increases under this new law,” SSA said.
“Most state and local public employees — about 72% — work in Social Security-covered employment where they pay Social Security taxes and are not affected” by the Windfall Elimination Provision or Government Pension Offset, SSA said. “Those individuals will not receive a benefit increase due to the Act,” which eliminated those provisions.
Depending on factors such as the type of Social Security benefit received and the amount of the person's pension, “some people's benefits will increase very little while others may be eligible for over $1,000 more each month,” SSA explained.
While it “cannot yet provide an estimated timeframe for when we will adjust a person's past or future benefits,” SSA will continue to provide updates on its webpage.
Staffing Shortage
Callers to SSA’s national 800 number hear a message about the Act.
"This message has helped tens of thousands of people avoid holding for a representative," SSA said. "However, more than 7,000 people each day still choose to wait to speak to a representative about the Act. These calls, as well as visitors and appointments in local offices, will continue to increase over the coming weeks and months."
Helping people with this "new and unfunded workload" is made more difficult by SSA's ongoing staffing shortages, including operating under a hiring freeze since November 2024, SSA said.
The hiring freeze is likely to continue. "All SSA customers, including those not affected by the Act, will face delays and increased wait times as SSA prioritizes this new workload," according to the agency.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.