Social Security Fairness Act
The WEP and GPO Repeal
The headline
The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset no longer apply to any month from January 2024 onward. December 2023 was the last month they were in force. If you have a pension from work that did not pay into Social Security, your Social Security is no longer reduced because of it.
What the two rules did
They were different rules that hit the same people, which is why they are almost always mentioned together.
The Windfall Elimination Provision
WEP reduced your own Social Security retirement benefit if you also received a pension from work where you did not pay Social Security tax. It did this by altering the first factor in the benefit formula — the 90% that normally applies to the lowest tier of your average earnings could fall as low as 40%. A teacher who spent fifteen years in a Social Security job before moving into teaching would see the benefit from those fifteen years cut substantially.
The Government Pension Offset
GPO was blunter. It reduced any spousal or survivor Social Security benefit by two-thirds of your non-covered government pension. Because two-thirds of a modest pension often exceeded the entire spousal benefit, GPO frequently eliminated it outright. Widows and widowers of Social Security-covered workers routinely received nothing at all because they had taught school.
Who was affected
Anyone with a pension from employment outside Social Security. In practice that meant public employees in states that never brought their workers into the system:
- Teachers in Texas, California, Ohio, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Colorado, Illinois, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, Rhode Island and Alaska, among others
- Many state and municipal employees in those same states
- A large number of police officers and firefighters nationwide
- Some federal employees under the older CSRS system
Of the eight systems covered on this site, members of TRS Texas, CalSTRS, STRS Ohio and MSERS Massachusetts were affected. PSERS Pennsylvania, Florida FRS and FERS members participate in Social Security, so neither rule applied to them.
Where implementation stands
Substantially complete, but SSA has not formally declared it finished. The most recent official figures remain SSA’s July 2025 update: 3.1 million payments totalling $17 billion, which the agency said was five months ahead of schedule, with remaining cases still processing. Those same figures were still being cited in an SSA press release in May 2026, and the agency’s dedicated page has not been updated with a completion announcement.
For most people this is academic — they were adjusted during 2025 and received a lump sum covering the retroactive period back to January 2024. If you were already receiving a reduced benefit, you almost certainly do not need to do anything.
The group that still needs to act
If you never applied, apply now
A large number of people never filed a Social Security claim at all, because WEP or GPO would have reduced the benefit to nothing and applying looked pointless. Those people are not in SSA’s adjustment pipeline, because there is no claim to adjust.
Standard retroactivity rules apply to a new claim, and they generally cap back payments at six months. That means someone filing today may not be paid back to January 2024 — they may get six months and nothing more. Government Executive reported in March 2026 on retirees who received exactly that, and on a group of senators asking SSA to revisit the policy.
Nothing has changed that policy so far. Your filing date drives when your benefit starts, so every month of delay is money you will not recover.
The people most likely to be in this position are surviving spouses who were told years ago that GPO would wipe out their widow’s benefit, and retired teachers with a decade or two of Social Security-covered work earlier in life. If that describes you or someone in your family, checking costs nothing.
Ignore any calculator still showing a reduction
A great deal of material written before 2025 is still online, including WEP and GPO calculators that continue to apply the old formulas. Those tools now produce wrong answers. So does any retirement projection built before the repeal that reduced your Social Security because of a public pension.
| Before January 2024 | From January 2024 |
|---|---|
| WEP could cut the first formula factor from 90% to as low as 40% | The standard 90% factor applies to everyone |
| GPO cut spousal and survivor benefits by two-thirds of the non-covered pension | Spousal and survivor benefits are paid in full |
| Many public retirees received no spousal benefit at all | Those benefits are payable |
Frequently asked questions
Is the WEP and GPO repeal permanent?+
Yes. The Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law on January 5, 2025, and repealed both provisions with effect from January 2024. It is not a temporary measure or a pilot, and it would take new legislation to reinstate either rule.
Do I need to apply to get my WEP or GPO money back?+
If you were already receiving a reduced Social Security benefit, no — SSA adjusted those cases during 2025 and paid retroactive amounts automatically. If you never filed a claim because the offset would have eliminated your benefit, you do need to apply, and you should do it now.
Will I get back pay all the way to January 2024?+
If you were already receiving a benefit, generally yes. If you are filing a new claim, standard retroactivity rules apply and typically cap back payments at six months. Some retirees in that position have received only six months rather than the full period since January 2024.
Does this mean teachers now earn Social Security for teaching?+
No. The repeal removed reductions to benefits earned elsewhere. It did not bring non-covered employment into Social Security. A Texas or Ohio teacher still earns no Social Security credit for their teaching years.
How do I know if WEP or GPO affected me?+
If you receive a pension from a job where you did not pay Social Security tax, and you also qualify for Social Security from other work or through a spouse, then one of the two almost certainly applied before 2024. Your Social Security statement or an SSA representative can confirm it.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of the following. Where a plan does not publish a number we needed, the page says so rather than guessing.
- SSA — Social Security Fairness Act — official status page; last updated July 2025
- SSA press release, May 7 2026 — still citing the 3.1 million / $17 billion figures
- Government Executive, March 2026 — retirees receiving only six months of back pay
Keep reading
TRS Texas
Around 96% of members earn no Social Security for their teaching work.
STRS Ohio
Another non-covered system where the repeal changed the picture.
MSERS Massachusetts
Non-covered pensions under Chapter 32, and what the repeal means.
Social Security calculator
Estimate what you are now entitled to with 2026 bend points.
Plan data on this page was last checked against the system’s own published material on September 19, 2026. Retirement systems change their rules; if you spot something out of date, tell us.