As the Social Security Administration (SSA) processes June payments, workers are warning that there could be delays in the system that might affect payments for many Americans. These possible delays are due to changes brought by the Social Security Fairness Act, which was recently passed.
The Social Security Fairness Act, passed on January 5, 2025, is an important new law aimed at fixing past issues with unfairly withheld payments. The SSA is now working through thousands of claims manually to ensure they are handled correctly. This process is causing some delays.
What is the Social Security Fairness Act?
The Social Security Fairness Act brought about major changes by eliminating two key provisions that had impacted the benefits of many Americans for years. These provisions were:
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Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): A rule that reduced Social Security benefits for people who worked both in jobs that were covered by Social Security and in jobs with pensions not covered by Social Security.
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Government Pension Offset (GPO): A rule that reduced the spousal benefits of individuals who worked in government jobs by as much as two-thirds, sometimes eliminating them entirely.
These rules were in place for nearly 40 years, but their elimination is a major win for public employees and many others who are now eligible for higher payments. The changes are expected to benefit around 3.2 million public workers, with some getting their first Social Security payments ever under this new law.
How the Social Security Fairness Act Increased Payments
The elimination of WEP and GPO means that millions of people, especially public workers, will receive higher Social Security benefits.
Before the Act, if you worked in a job that wasn’t covered by Social Security but also had a job covered by Social Security, your benefits were reduced. The same applied to spouses of certain government workers who also lost part of their benefits.
For example, 2.3 million claims under the new law have already been processed automatically. However, there are still thousands more cases left that need to be reviewed manually by the SSA, which is causing delays.
The Social Security Claims Processing Delays
Because of the high volume of claims and the complexity of processing them, the SSA workers are having to manually review around 900,000 cases. These cases are more complicated and require a detailed review, which is why the SSA has warned that there might be delays in the regular Social Security payments.
The original deadline to finish processing the 3.2 million claims was set for November 2025. However, Frank Bisignano, the new Social Security Commissioner, is pushing for everything to be completed by July 1, 2025, although the heavy volume of claims makes this challenging.
Social Security Payment Dates for June 2025
Now that we know there are some delays in the system, it’s important to check when June payments will be made to those receiving Social Security. Here’s a breakdown of the payment schedule for retired beneficiaries who started receiving Social Security after May 1997:
- June 11, 2025: Beneficiaries with birthdays between the 1st and 10th of the month.
- June 18, 2025: Beneficiaries with birthdays between the 11th and 20th of the month.
- June 25, 2025: Beneficiaries with birthdays between the 21st and 31st of the month.
In addition, there is a fourth group that includes those who:
- Received payments before May 1997,
- Live abroad and receive Social Security,
- Or receive Social Security along with Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
This group will receive payments on the 3rd day of each month.
Maximum and Average Social Security Benefits
As of 2025, the maximum Social Security benefit is set at $5,108. However, most Americans don’t receive the maximum amount. The average monthly payment for recipients, as of May 2025, is closer to $2,000.