Thanks to a tremendous influx of new claims, the size of OPM’s retirement backlog nearly doubled last month.
17,383 new claims were received in January, nearly four times as much as in December. Of those, the agency processed 8,724.
Of particular note, however, is the size of the outstanding backlog of claims: at the end of December, it stood at 12,637 but after last month, it rose to 21,296. OPM has generally been processing more claims than it receives each month, but this will no doubt be at least a temporary setback in reducing the backlog.
Has the backlog of claims had any impact on your ability to receive your annuity payments? If you recently retired, feel free to share your experience with the process 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 | 17,383 | 8,724 | 21,296 |
| Feb-14 | 8,400 | 11,500 | 18,342 | not available | not available | not available |
| Mar-14 | 8,400 | 11,500 | 15,242 | not available | not available | not available |
| Apr-14 | 8,400 | 9,500 | 14,142 | not available | not available | not available |
| May-14 | 8,400 | 9,500 | 13,042 | not available | not available | not available |
