OPM Anticipating Surge of New Retirement Applications in January

The Office of Personnel Management ended 2013 with an outstanding backlog of 12,637 retirement applications. Although this figure is high, it is 52% lower than last December, but the agency is predicting a sharp increase in the number of new applications in January.

The Office of Personnel Management ended 2013 with an outstanding backlog of 12,637 retirement applications. Although this figure is high,  it is 52% lower than last December.

4,952 new claims were received in December and 6,449 were processed which helped to move the backlog somewhat lower last month.

OPM is roughly in line with its projected inventory of applications as of the end of December, however, it expects to see a surge of new ones in January due to a high number of federal employees retiring at the end of the calendar year. According to the agency’s figures, the backlog is expected to jump from just under 13,000 to 21,442 at the end of January, a 66% increase.

FedSmith.com users have been disenchanted in the past with how OPM has handled their retirement applications, so it will be interesting to see if the backlog does indeed jump as much as OPM is anticipating and what sort of impact it has for retirees.

Have you recently retired? How well has OPM handled the application process for your situation? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below.

Month Projected Claims Received Projected Claims Processed Projected
Inventory (inventory plus claims less processed)
Actual Claims Received Actual Claims Processed Inventory (inventory plus claims less processed)
Jul-12 8,400 11,500 50,978 8,660 12,304 44,679
Aug-12 8,000 11,500 47,478 8,973 11,865 41,787
Sep-12 7,000 11,500 42,978 11,952 12,563 41,176
Oct-12 7,000 11,500 38,478 8,138 12,228 37,086
Nov-12 7,000 11,500 33,978 6,584 11,966 31,704
Dec-12 7,000 11,500 29,478 5,152 10,454 26,402
Jan-13 21,000 11,500 38,978 22,187 12,527 36,062
Feb-13 5,600 11,500 33,078 20,374 15,333 41,103
Mar-13 5,000 11,500 26,578 10,183 14,683 36,603
Apr-13 8,000 11,500 23,078 7,059 13,582 30,080
May-13 8,000 11,500 26,210 7,084 10,954 26,210
Jun-13 8,000 9,500 25,542 8,015 8,683 25,542
Jul-13 8,400 9,500 24,442 7,783 7,724 25,601
Aug-13 8,400 9,500 23,342 8,104 10,955 22,750
Sep-13 8,400 9,500 22,242 5,800 10,831 17,719
Oct-13 8,400 11,500 19,142 7,484 11,027 14,176
Nov-13 8,400 11,500 16,042 5,672 5,714 14,134
Dec-13 8,400 11,500 12,942 4,952 6,449 12,637
Jan-14 20,000 11,500 21,442 N/A N/A N/A
Feb-14 8,400 11,500 18,342 N/A N/A N/A
Mar-14 8,400 11,500 15,242 N/A N/A N/A
Apr-14 8,400 9,500 14,142 N/A N/A N/A
May-14 8,400 9,500 13,042 N/A N/A N/A

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.