Social Security Offsets: The WEP and GPO Explained

Many seniors mistakenly believe their pension and Social Security operate independently. If you earned your pension in the private sector where you paid FICA payroll taxes, your Social Security benefits will not be reduced. In fact, the 2026 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increased benefits by 2.8%, pushing the average retired worker’s monthly check to roughly $2,026 and the maximum benefit at full retirement age to $4,152.

However, if you worked as a teacher, police officer, or municipal employee in a state that did not withhold Social Security taxes, you are dealing with “non-covered” employment. This triggers two specific provisions that can drastically reduce your Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits:

• Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): If you earned a pension from non-covered work but also worked enough years in the private sector to qualify for Social Security, the WEP reduces your primary Social Security benefit. The formula lowers the multiplier used to calculate your benefit, which can result in hundreds of dollars lost each month.
• Government Pension Offset (GPO): The GPO affects spousal and survivor benefits. If you receive a government pension from a job where you did not pay Social Security taxes, the SSA reduces your spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of the amount of your government pension. For example, if your municipal pension is $1,500 a month, two-thirds of that is $1,000. If your expected spousal Social Security benefit was $1,200, the GPO reduces it by $1,000, leaving you with just $200 a month from Social Security.