WEP and GPO Are Repealed: What Changed

1What were WEP and GPO?

Both rules applied to people who earned a pension from a job where they did not pay Social Security tax, called non-covered work, and who also qualified for Social Security from other work or through a spouse.

The Windfall Elimination Provision

WEP changed the formula for a person's own retirement or disability benefit. The normal formula replaces 90 percent of the first part of a worker's average earnings; WEP cut that to as little as 40 percent. People with 30 or more years of substantial covered earnings were exempt, those with 21 to 29 years had a smaller cut, and the reduction could not be more than half of the non-covered pension. In 2024 the largest possible reduction was $587 a month.

The Government Pension Offset

GPO applied to spousal and survivor benefits. It reduced them by two-thirds of the person's government pension from non-covered work. Because government pensions are often larger than spousal benefits, GPO frequently eliminated the spousal or survivor benefit entirely.

2What the Social Security Fairness Act changed

The law, signed on January 5, 2025, repealed both provisions. It applies to benefits payable for months after December 2023, so the first corrected month was January 2024, about a year before the law was signed. Benefits for people who had been affected are now calculated without either reduction. Social Security reported that nearly 3.2 million people were due an adjustment.

For people already receiving benefits, Social Security made two changes: a higher monthly payment going forward, and a one-time lump sum covering the difference back to January 2024. It began paying retroactive amounts in late February 2025. By March 4, 2025 it had paid more than 1.1 million people over $7.5 billion, an average of about $6,710 each, and it later reported finishing ahead of its original schedule.

3Who benefited

• Teachers and other school employees in states or districts that do not take part in Social Security.
• Police officers, firefighters and other state and local workers in non-covered systems.
• Federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System, which predates federal workers' coverage under Social Security.
• Spouses, widows and widowers of covered workers who have their own non-covered government pension.
• People with a pension from a foreign government or from other non-covered work.

4If you never applied

Many spouses, widows and widowers never applied because GPO would have reduced their benefit to zero. Some workers delayed claiming because of WEP. The repeal does not pay these people automatically: you must file an application. Apply at ssa.gov/apply or by calling 1-800-772-1213. Social Security's earlier guidance said survivors had to apply by phone, so check its current instructions before you start.

Filing soon matters. Back pay for a new application depends on the date you file, your age and the type of benefit. A retirement or survivor claimant over full retirement age can generally be paid for up to six months before the month of application, not all the way back to January 2024. Our guides to spousal benefits and survivor benefits explain how those amounts are figured.

5How to check that your benefit was corrected

Social Security mailed a notice to each person whose benefit it adjusted, showing the new monthly amount and the back pay. You can also sign in to your my Social Security account to see your current payment and download a benefit verification letter. Compare the payment with your notice and your bank deposits.

If you believe WEP or GPO reduced your benefit and nothing has changed, call 1-800-772-1213 and ask Social Security to review your record. If you receive a decision you disagree with, you can ask for reconsideration, usually within 60 days of the notice; our guide to appealing a benefit decision explains the steps.

6Taxes and other benefits

Up to 85 percent of Social Security benefits can be taxable, depending on your other income, and the lump-sum back pay is reported on the Form SSA-1099 for the year you received it. If part of it was for an earlier year, IRS Publication 915 lets you figure the taxable amount using a lump-sum election, which can lower the tax. See our guide to taxes on Social Security.

A higher benefit also counts as income for programs that test income, such as SSI, SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare Savings Programs. Report the increase to each program. For SSI, retroactive Social Security payments are not counted as resources for nine months after the month you receive them; our SSI guide explains the limits.

7What the repeal does not change

Other Social Security rules still apply. The reduction for claiming before full retirement age, the earnings test for people who work while collecting, and the tax on benefits for people with other income are not affected. A person with a non-covered pension still receives Social Security based only on covered earnings, and still needs 40 credits, about 10 years of covered work, to qualify on their own record. The repeal removed the extra reduction, not the requirement to qualify. Our Social Security guide covers the rest of the rules, and our guide to your earnings record explains how to check your covered work.

8Common mistakes

• Assuming a spouse or survivor will be paid without applying.
• Waiting to apply, which can shorten the back pay.
• Paying a company or caller to claim the increase. The adjustment is free, and scammers have used the repeal as a pretext; see our guide to benefit scams.
• Forgetting to report the higher benefit to SSI, SNAP or Medicaid.

10What this does not tell you

This article summarizes the law and Social Security's published guidance. Whether your own benefit was reduced, and by how much, can only be answered by Social Security from your record.

Pension income from non-covered work can still be taxable and can affect other benefits, which follow their own rules.