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 |
