Support Efforts for Repeal of WEP legislation H.R.82 and S.597

For those who are following this topic, the SSA posted an update on their website yesterday - here's the link, but the text of the change is shown below:

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html?tl=2

And the text:

Starting the week of February 24, 2025, SSA is beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the WEP and GPO

If a beneficiary is due retroactive benefits as a result of the Act, they will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account SSA has on file, by the end of March. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in their benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.

Social Security benefits are paid one month behind. Most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit).

Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment.

NOTE: A beneficiary may receive two mailed notices, the first when WEP or GPO is removed from their record, and a second when their monthly benefit amount is adjusted for their new monthly payment amount. They may receive the retroactive payment before receiving the mailed notice.

We have been able to expedite payments due to the use of automation. For the many complex cases that cannot be processed automatically, additional time is required to manually update the records and pay both retroactive benefits and the new benefits amount.

We urge beneficiaries to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally throughout March.

Beneficiaries should also wait until after receiving their April payment before contacting SSA to ask about their monthly benefit amount because the new amount will not be reflected until April for their March payment.


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So the bottom line is SSA now seems to be working much quicker to pay back retro payment of WEP and the new increased benefits - which could now mess up my own tax planning in trying to maximise the UK tax efficiency of my SIPP withdrawals! I could now do without SSA potentially being too damn efficient! 

Thanks for the update. I am not going to comment on the “SSA potential being too damn efficient” as my application is still waiting for an agent in Baltimore to review it. I had applied for it start on my 70th birthday which was 2 weeks ago. Once the FBU in London  had pushed it back to the SSA in the USA a couple of months back I thought I might be hearing from someone soon.  The difference I think is that new applications must be dealt with by an actual person.

My wife just received an email from SSA saying that they are going to correct her WEP reductions, plus give her back payments, and what she needs to do is log onto her SSA account and verify her address and direct deposit information.

​​​​​​​Looking good.

Just had my email also.  There is one slightly confusing question though: it asks

"If you had any change in your pension amount between January 2022 and December 2023, please provide us with the date of the change and the old and new pension amounts. You do not need to report any changes that occurred after December 2023."

By pension, I assume they mean "a pension not covered by social security" - which in my case is UK state pension.  I didn't start receiving UK pension until Oct 2023, so one answer would be "zero before Oct 2023 and [my UK pension amount] thereafter".  Not sure that that's what they're asking though.

Any idea what that question might be about?

Just had my email also.  There is one slightly confusing question though: it asks

"If you had any change in your pension amount between January 2022 and December 2023, please provide us with the date of the change and the old and new pension amounts. You do not need to report any changes that occurred after December 2023."

By pension, I assume they mean "a pension not covered by social security" - which in my case is UK state pension.  I didn't start receiving UK pension until Oct 2023, so one answer would be "zero before Oct 2023 and [my UK pension amount] thereafter".  Not sure that that's what they're asking though.

Any idea what that question might be about?

I’m not sure which pension it refers to. If they have a secure messaging system I can provide the benefit letter from DWP for her OAP  for Jan 2022 and Jan 2023 as that is the only pension my wife has.

I’m not sure which pension it refers to. If they have a secure messaging system I can provide the benefit letter from DWP for her OAP  for Jan 2022 and Jan 2023 as that is the only pension my wife has.

Sadly, I don't see a secure messaging system when I log in.  They can message you, but I don't believe you can reply.  Happy to be wrong.

Sadly, I don't see a secure messaging system when I log in.  They can message you, but I don't believe you can reply.  Happy to be wrong.

In that case I guess all we can do is log in and look at the address they have on file. My wife knows that the bank details are correct because she gets a deposit from them every month.  Other than inflation adjusted increases she has had no change to her OAP so no need to inform them of that either. I’m not sure why they would need that info either, I thought that once WEP was applied it was a one off deal unless new foreign pensions appeared requiring another adjustment via the SSA-308 form

In that case I guess all we can do is log in and look at the address they have on file. My wife knows that the bank details are correct because she gets a deposit from them every month.  Other than inflation adjusted increases she has had no change to her OAP so no need to inform them of that either. I’m not sure why they would need that info either, I thought that once WEP was applied it was a one off deal unless new foreign pensions appeared requiring another adjustment via the SSA-308 form

I think you're right - seems like a bit of an ask for the more complex cases. In my case, WEP is at the maximum because I only had 10 years of contributions into SS. I use the (clunky) SS calculator (AnyPia32.exe)  to verify my benefits - and WEP does not change irrespective of the amount I enter for non covered pensions (£1 per month or £25,000 per month), WEP stays the same.

 

Thinking about it, their question regarding pension changes in 2022 and 2023 that they might not know about is an indication of how slow they are in processing forms SSA-150 and SSA-308.  So there may be outstanding changes to pensions that they haven't processed yet, and which, prior to 2024 would still result in WEP (because the WEP/GPO still applies before 2024).

They are up to date with me, because I only have UK state pension, and that started in 2023.  They know about it and WEP'd me as a result - although it took them almost a year to apply it (and hence overpaid me in the interim).

So all I need to do is check my details, which I know are correct because I receive my bank deposit every month and haven't moved house since the last letter they sent me.

Thought I'd add my experience re: these messages people are receiving. (I'm presuming that when people say they received an "email" they mean a message in their MySS account?), and what I surmise is the situation regarding WEP re-balancing. I'll try to leave as much of my situation out of it as possible (re: all the "incorrect WEP" crap that has been happening), but there are one or two updates that may be relevant.

So, short story is that I have not received a message (yet), HOWEVER I did notice something interesting that others might want to look into. (Numbers below are made up, just to make things as obvious as possible).

My Payments page showed (fake amount) $600 for the coming month, i.e., the "WEP'ed amount". Out of interest I thought I'd go into the page for getting a "payment confirmation" letter. I had done a similar thing on 21st February, and that letter showed my SSA retirement payment as $600 (i.e., the "WEP'ed amount".)

Interestingly, the same letter, requested today, showed my SSA retirement benefit amount as (made-up amount) $1,000 - in other words, the non-WEP'ed amount. 

Hopefully, this indicates that the wheels are turning fairly efficiently, as others have indicated.

Although I haven't received "the message" yet, requesting confirmation of bank details and address, it struck me that on the MySS page, you are able to go into your Profile to edit bank details and address. I didn't try it, because I haven't been asked to confirm mine yet, but just a thought - maybe that's a way to confirm that your details are correct? (Also, maybe send a message to FBU London ...)

Thought I'd add my experience re: these messages people are receiving. (I'm presuming that when people say they received an "email" they mean a message in their MySS account?), and what I surmise is the situation regarding WEP re-balancing. I'll try to leave as much of my situation out of it as possible (re: all the "incorrect WEP" crap that has been happening), but there are one or two updates that may be relevant.

So, short story is that I have not received a message (yet), HOWEVER I did notice something interesting that others might want to look into. (Numbers below are made up, just to make things as obvious as possible).

My Payments page showed (fake amount) $600 for the coming month, i.e., the "WEP'ed amount". Out of interest I thought I'd go into the page for getting a "payment confirmation" letter. I had done a similar thing on 21st February, and that letter showed my SSA retirement payment as $600 (i.e., the "WEP'ed amount".)

Interestingly, the same letter, requested today, showed my SSA retirement benefit amount as (made-up amount) $1,000 - in other words, the non-WEP'ed amount. 

Hopefully, this indicates that the wheels are turning fairly efficiently, as others have indicated.

Although I haven't received "the message" yet, requesting confirmation of bank details and address, it struck me that on the MySS page, you are able to go into your Profile to edit bank details and address. I didn't try it, because I haven't been asked to confirm mine yet, but just a thought - maybe that's a way to confirm that your details are correct? (Also, maybe send a message to FBU London ...)

I just noticed after logging out that the page it returned me to had a link to FAQ information about WEP and GPO (I think this may be the same page that Smitch linked to). There is some new, relevant information. Under a section titled, "NEW! What should people do now that the Social Security Fairness Act is law?" it says the following (bold added by me):

"If you are entitled to retired or disabled workers’ benefits, and your benefits are currently being reduced by WEP; OR if you are entitled to spouse’s or surviving spouse’s benefits, and your benefits are currently being reduced or eliminated by GPO:

If you know that SSA has your mailing address and/or direct deposit information on file, no other actions are needed from you at this time.
If you want to verify that the mailing address and/or direct deposit information that SSA has on file is accurate and up to date:
Check your personal my Social Security account. Visit www.ssa.gov/my account to sign in or create an account.
If you are unable to create an account, please call 1-800-772-1213 to verify the information we have on file.
Ensuring that SSA has the correct information allows you to get any retroactive benefits and your new benefit amount quicker."

- I think that maybe when they ask you to "verify" your details, they just mean you should check that your details are correct, not send them anything.

Hyperlink for the FAQ information page below.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html

Thought I'd add my experience re: these messages people are receiving. (I'm presuming that when people say they received an "email" they mean a message in their MySS account?), and what I surmise is the situation regarding WEP re-balancing. I'll try to leave as much of my situation out of it as possible (re: all the "incorrect WEP" crap that has been happening), but there are one or two updates that may be relevant.

So, short story is that I have not received a message (yet), HOWEVER I did notice something interesting that others might want to look into. (Numbers below are made up, just to make things as obvious as possible).

My Payments page showed (fake amount) $600 for the coming month, i.e., the "WEP'ed amount". Out of interest I thought I'd go into the page for getting a "payment confirmation" letter. I had done a similar thing on 21st February, and that letter showed my SSA retirement payment as $600 (i.e., the "WEP'ed amount".)

Interestingly, the same letter, requested today, showed my SSA retirement benefit amount as (made-up amount) $1,000 - in other words, the non-WEP'ed amount. 

Hopefully, this indicates that the wheels are turning fairly efficiently, as others have indicated.

Although I haven't received "the message" yet, requesting confirmation of bank details and address, it struck me that on the MySS page, you are able to go into your Profile to edit bank details and address. I didn't try it, because I haven't been asked to confirm mine yet, but just a thought - maybe that's a way to confirm that your details are correct? (Also, maybe send a message to FBU London ...)

I received an email - as in, a proper email to my email account.  May depend on how you have your preferences set in your SS account.

I received an email - as in, a proper email to my email account.  May depend on how you have your preferences set in your SS account.

Thanks for the clarification, I'll check my Profile preferences next time I log in. I'd rather receive email alerts than have to log in and check regularly, especially as the latter just uses up the one-time confirmation codes.

Thanks for the clarification, I'll check my Profile preferences next time I log in. I'd rather receive email alerts than have to log in and check regularly, especially as the latter just uses up the one-time confirmation codes.

Just FYI - I log in frequently but use ID.me and an authenticator app - with push notification and simple YES in the authenticator app - no codes involved and straight back to the SS Account. Hope that helps...

Just FYI - I log in frequently but use ID.me and an authenticator app - with push notification and simple YES in the authenticator app - no codes involved and straight back to the SS Account. Hope that helps...

Thanks, I'll try again, but from memory when I tried it last time, I came across a barrier of some sort. Can't remember what that was, but if I hit it again, I'll post here in case someone knows a workaround.