Social Security boost for more than 3.2 million coming in April, administrator says

Millions of retired teachers, firefighters, police officers and others with public pensions will be reaping the benefits of the recently passed Social Security Fairness Act sooner than first projected, federal officials announced on Tuesday. 

The Social Security Administration (SSA) said it was immediately beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly payments starting in April to the more than 3.2 million people affected by a law signed in January by former President Biden, who said it would mean an average monthly increase of $360 for more than 2.5 million Social Security recipients.

Decades in the making, the Social Security Fairness Act expanded benefits for millions by eliminating two federal policies that barred employees with a public pension from collecting their full benefits under the federal retirement program. Those same policies also reduced benefits for such workers' surviving spouses and family members. 

How much will Social Security payments increase?

Depending on the type of benefit and pension, the change in payment amount will vary from person to person. "Some people's benefits will increase very little, while others may be eligible for over $1,000 more each month," the Social Security Administration stated.

As Social Security benefits are paid a month behind, most of the affected beneficiaries will start receiving their updated payments in April for their March benefit, the agency noted. 

The benefits hike under the law would be retroactive to December 2023. As a result, eligible recipients who previously only received partial benefits will get a full payment retroactive to a year ago. 

"Social Security's aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President Trump's priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible," Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement. 

SSA in late January cautioned that those impacted might have to wait up to a year or longer to reap the benefits of the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, which became law on January 5, 2025. At the time, the agency noted that the legislation had not provided additional financing or staff to help implement the law or deal with the increased workload.

"The agency's original estimate of taking a year or more now will only apply to complex cases that cannot be processed by automation," Dudek added.

Most eligible Social Security recipients will get their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with the Social Security Administration. 

The agency is asking beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment. 

To learn more about the expanded Social Security benefits, including who is eligible and when recipients will see an increase in their payments, visit the Social Security Fairness Act website.

The push to enhance Social Security payments for public pension recipients has been in the works for decades, with the Senate holding its first hearings into the policies in 2003. 

The Senior Citizens League said it was pleased that the timeline for implementing the new law had been moved up, given the high cost of living that affects so many of its members, according to Shannon Benton, executive director of the group.

Still, the advocacy group is concerned that the law's passage could speed up the depletion of the Social Security trust fund.

"Addressing the pending shortfall through comprehensive Social Security reform should happen sooner rather than later," Benton told CBS MoneyWatch. 

The new law had bipartisan support but faced last-minute objections from some Republicans due to its cost. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the law would add an estimated $195 billion to the federal deficit over a decade.