Can I collect my own government pension and Social Security on my spouse’s record?

Yes, you can collect Social Security spousal benefits and a government pension without one affecting the other.

Until recently, that wasn’t the case. A Social Security rule called the Government Pension Offset (GPO) could reduce your spousal benefits if your pension is from a “non-covered” government job in which the FICA taxes that largely fund Social Security were not withheld from your paycheck. 

The GPO could also reduce survivor benefits you collected on the work record of a deceased spouse if you also have a non-covered pension from your own government career.

However, in December 2024, Congress passed the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed the GPO and a related rule, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). The law ends benefit reductions based on government pensions and retroactively covers 2024 benefits, meaning affected recipients will be repaid for that year’s withholding.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) says most people who were subject to the GPO or WEP should receive their lump-sum retroactive payments by the end of March 2025 and higher monthly benefits starting in April, although some complex cases could take longer to resolve. Updates on implementing the new law can be found on the Social Security Fairness Act page on the Social Security website.

How the GPO worked

The reach of the Government Pension Offset was relatively limited. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), 72 percent of state and local government employees are covered by Social Security and thus were not subject to the rule. The same goes for all federal employees hired since 1984, when the U.S. civil service was brought under the Social Security umbrella.

If the offset did apply, the Social Security benefit you received as a spouse, widow or widower was reduced by two-thirds of the amount of your government pension. For instance, if that pension paid you $1,200 a month, your spousal or survivor benefit was reduced by $800. If the benefit was $800 or less, the GPO would reduce it to zero.

The GPO affected about 746,000 people, the CRS reports. That's about 13 percent of people receiving Social Security benefits as a spouse, ex-spouse, widow or widower. Among those covered by the GPO, about 68 percent had their spousal or survivor benefits eliminated by the offset and 32 percent saw those payments reduced.

Keep in mind

• The Government Pension Offset affected only spousal and survivor benefits. If you were collecting Social Security retirement benefits and a non-covered government pension, you might have been subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision.
• Pensions from jobs where Social Security taxes were collected, be they in the public or the private sector, were never affected by the GPO or the WEP.