Can I collect Social Security and a pension at the same time?

Most pensions never affected Social Security. About 72% of state and local public employees work in jobs covered by Social Security and were never subject to the old offsets.

The rules that did cut benefits applied to pensions from non-covered work, such as some teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal workers under the older Civil Service Retirement System. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduced a worker's own benefit, and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced spouse and survivor benefits. Together they reduced or eliminated benefits for more than 2.8 million people.

The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, ended both. December 2023 is the last month WEP and GPO apply. SSA paid one-time retroactive amounts back to January 2024, more than 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion as of July 7, 2025, and raised monthly checks going forward.

Example: a retired teacher with a non-covered pension who also earned Social Security credits in another job now receives the full Social Security amount on that record. A widow with a non-covered government pension can now receive a survivor benefit that the GPO used to reduce or erase.

People who never applied because the offsets would have wiped out their benefit may need to file now. SSA's usual retroactivity limits still apply, generally six months for retirement claims, so the filing date sets when payments start.