The Social Security Administration announced recently that it will begin to pay retroactive benefits and increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by previous actions.

According to a news release, the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset reduced or eliminated benefits for over 3.2 million people who received a non-covered pension. The Social Security Fairness Act ends both.

“Social Security’s aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President (Donald) Trump’s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security.

According to the news release, people who will benefit from the new law include teachers, firefighters, police officers, federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System and people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.

Eligible individuals are expected to receive their retroactive payment by the end of March. Higher monthly benefits are expected to be in effect by April. Beneficiaries are asked to wait until April before asking about the status of their retroactive pay.