Social Security says eligible recipients should wait until April to check status of any retroactive payments.
Some Social Security recipients will see their monthly payment amount increase in April as a recently enacted law is implemented.
Americans who receive a public-sector pension in retirement were previously restricted from obtaining full Social Security benefits because of provisions known as the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which curbed benefits to certain public employees.
Under the Social Security Fairness Act, which then-President Joe Biden signed into law in January, beneficiaries affected by WEP and GPO will see their monthly benefit amounts increased as well as a one-time payment that's retroactive to January 2024, the first month WEP and GPO were lifted under the law. Lump-sum payments started going out in the last week of February.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) said on its website that beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 for the March benefit, as Social Security benefits are paid a month behind.