(NEXSTAR) — Just like some will get an extra paycheck in May, some Social Security recipients will get two checks this month.
It’s all because of a quirk in the Social Security Administration’s payment schedule. A few times a year, two Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks will go out in a month instead of the usual one. May happens to be the first of three double-payment months of 2024.
The first SSI check went out on May 1, according to the agency’s calendar. The final check will go out on May 31.
This doesn’t mean recipients are flush with extra funds. Because of May’s double payment, there will be no payment in June — but why?
It’s because Social Security’s SSI payments are always sent out on the first day of the month. If that first day lands on a weekend or holiday, that month’s payment goes out the prior business day.
Since June 1 is a Saturday, SSI recipients will get their payment on the last day of May. Their next regular payment will come on July 1.
In just a couple of months, it’ll happen again. September 1 falls on a Sunday this year, so the month’s SSI payments will be dispersed on Friday, August 30. November will be a double-payment month as well, with December 1 landing on a Sunday.
SSI payments will be even more out of order in 2025. The first day of January, February, and March all fall on holidays or the weekend. According to the agency’s payment calendar, January’s benefits will be dispersed on December 31, February’s will come a month later, and March’s will come on February 28. There will be no payments in March.
Regardless of when the SSI payments are sent out, recipients will receive their full benefits throughout the year.
Though it’s only May, some predict Social Security checks could see an increase in 2025.
Last month, the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League adjusted its long-term forecast for the 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment to 2.6% in light of March’s inflation data. That’s up from 1.7% in the month prior. Even if that prediction is true, the group warns it may not be enough.
“If the COLA increases by 2.6%, that will be an approximately $45 increase. What can you buy for that? Not much,” TSCL director Shannon Benton said in the March report.
The Social Security Administration has not yet said whether payments will increase next year.
The long-term future of Social Security seems uncertain, though. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released Monday shows the go-broke dates for both have been pushed back as an improving economy has contributed to changed projected depletion dates.
Still, officials warn that policy changes are needed lest the programs become unable to pay full benefits to retiring Americans.
Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley called the report “a measure of good news,” but told The Associated Press that “Congress still needs to act in order to avoid what is now forecast to be, in absence of their action, a 17% cut to people’s Social Security benefits.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
