Retirement Social Security

Forgot About This Social Security Boost? You May Still Qualify

Some retirees are missing out on Social Security benefits because they got bad advice.

By Christy Rakoczy Bieber , Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated Sept. 13, 2026

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Social Security benefits are an important source of income, and many people factor them into their retirement plans. Unfortunately, some retirees were told they did not qualify for benefits because of two laws that have now been repealed.

The changes to the law have resulted in billions of dollars in payments being made, including retroactive payments. However, lawmakers have warned that some seniors are missing out on this income because of the past advice they received.

You need to know if you are one of them, so you don't lose funds that should be coming into your home every month.

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These two Social Security laws were repealed

Social Security rules sometimes change over time, and some big changes happened recently. The Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law in January of 2025, and it ended two other laws that had been on the books. Specifically, the Social Security Fairness Act repealed:

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
The Government Pension Offset (GPO)

The WEP and GPO together reduced or eliminated Social Security retirement, spousal, and survivor benefits available to people who earned a pension from a job in which they were not required to pay Social Security tax on their earnings. Pensions earned from these jobs are called non-covered pensions.

The basic idea of the WEP and GPO was to prevent windfalls resulting from the way the Social Security benefit formula works for those with non-covered employment. Essentially, you shouldn't get to keep both the full pension from a job where you didn't pay Social Security tax and get a full Social Security benefit either on your spouse's work history or on your own work history from another position.

However, both laws were repealed. Now, those who have non-covered pensions and are entitled to Social Security benefits are able to collect the money the government owes them.

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Who is eligible for Social Security thanks to the repeal of the WEP and GPO?

In total, more than 2.8 million people are now potentially eligible for benefits they were denied under the WEP and GPO. Public service workers and their spouses are the primary parties impacted.

This includes police officers, teachers, firefighters, and others whose jobs serve the public. The reason these workers are most affected is that public service workers in these fields often worked at jobs that provided a pension but didn't require workers to pay Social Security tax.

Millions of payments have been sent out

The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the laws restricting benefits retroactively. Because the rule change was applied to past benefits, many people received back pay to cover the benefits they should have received dating back to January 2024. That's the first month when the WEP and GPO stopped applying.

The Social Security Administration started processing retroactive payments in February of 2025, and by July 7 of that same year, $17 billion had already been sent out in over 3.1 million payments.

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How much more money should retirees get?

Not every retiree is going to collect more money. The only ones who collect extra Social Security benefits under the Social Security Fairness Act are retirees whose Social Security benefits were restricted because they earned a non-covered pension.

The Social Security Administration explained that many factors determine exactly how much more each retiree collects. However, the SSA said that some seniors should get over $1,000 in extra benefits per month thanks to the Social Security Fairness Act.

Lawmakers warn that some retirees are missing out

Many retirees already received the payments authorized by the Social Security Fairness Act because the SSA had their information on file. But some people are still getting no benefits because they never applied for retirement or spousal benefits in the first place due to the previous restrictions.

Multiple lawmakers sent a letter to the Social Security Administrator about this issue, requesting that the SSA review the agency's policies to grant the maximum benefits that were due.

The Senators stated in the correspondence, "Over the past few weeks, several constituents have contacted our offices regarding the retroactivity of their spousal benefits under the Social Security Fairness Act. The law provides for retroactivity to the year the bill was introduced, first being applied to the January 2024 payment."

The letter went on to request that the SSA "grant maximum retroactivity payments to all spouses who were protected on prior applications and wrongly advised by employees of SSA not to apply for spousal benefits when they first inquired."

In other words, those spouses who were told not to apply because they would collect no money because of the GPO now need to be proactive in getting the money they deserve.

You should take action if you're missing benefits

Anyone who did not apply in the past should do so now if they were prevented from getting benefits because of their non-covered pension.

Apply at ssa.gov, or call 1-800-772-1213 Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time.

Bottom line

Failing to claim all the Social Security benefits you are eligible for could be one of your biggest financial mistakes, as these benefits are a reliable source of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted income.

If there's a chance you are owed retirement, spousal, or survivor benefits, you should reach out to the Social Security Administration to find out your rights so you don't leave money on the table.

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