Social Security claimants expecting more excellent benefits due to a measure passed earlier this month may have to wait longer than planned.
Under the new bill, the Social Security Fairness Act, senators decided to abolish two tax provisions that decreased payments for many Americans who earned government pensions, such as police officers, teachers, and firefighters. Former President Biden, who signed off on the law, stated that more than 2 million Americans would “receive a lump sum payment of thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall in the advantages they ought to have received in 2024.”
“They’re going to start receiving these payments this year,” Biden added. However, in a recent update, the Social Security Administration (SSA) tried to dampen expectations on the timing of future benefits. The agency noted money as one of its problems in implementing the law “timely manner and without negatively affecting day-to-day customer service.” The government stated that the latest law “did not provide money” for implementation and that the measure compels the agency “to adjust benefits for over 3 million people.”
“Because the law’s effective date is retroactive, SSA must adjust people’s past and future benefits,” the agency stated. The office also said that its national phone number plays a message on the act, which has “helped tens of thousands of people avoid holding for a representative,” but added that “more than 7,000 people each day still choose to wait to speak with 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,” the Social Security Administration informed us. “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.”
The SSA stated that the “hiring freeze is likely to continue” and that all customers “will face delays and increased wait times as SSA prioritizes this new workload.” As a result of the new law, the agency said that the newly updated tax laws, known as the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, will no longer apply to retroactive payments in December 2023. “This means those rules no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later.” They also stated that impacted recipients may experience variable decreases in monthly payouts.
