Retirement Backlog Grows in July

The backlog of retirement claims at the Office of Personnel Management reversed course and actually grew in July over the previous month.

The backlog of retirement claims at the Office of Personnel Management reversed course and actually grew in July over the previous month.

According to OPM’s latest figures, 9,101 claims were received in July and the agency was only able to process 7,782 of them which pushed the backlog up to 13,620 from 12,391 in June, a 9.92% increase. According to OPM’s figures, it had anticipated receiving 8,000 claims in July, so the incoming applications were obviously higher than expected, but it also had expected to receive 8,000 new claims in June and only 6,627 were submitted which allowed some reduction of the backlog in the previous month.

On the bright side, OPM is currently ahead of its projected inventory of claims. It anticipated having a backlog of 14,442 claims as of the end of July, so only having 13,620 keeps it ahead of schedule.

The complete table of figures is included below.

Projected Claims Received Projected Claims Processed Projected Inventory Claims Received Claims Processed Inventory % Processed in 60 days or less
Oct-13 8,400 11,500 19,142 7,484 11,027 14,176 n/a
Nov-13 8,400 11,500 16,042 5,672 5,714 14,134 n/a
Dec-13 8,400 11,500 12,942 4,952 6,449 12,637 n/a
Jan-14 19,000 8,700 23,242 17,383 8,724 21,296 n/a
Feb-14 9,800 9,400 23,642 12,025 9,767 23,554 n/a
Mar-14 6,400 10,400 19,642 6,831 11,812 18,573 n/a
Apr-14 6,500 9,300 16,842 8,047 10,002 16,618 n/a
May-14 6,800 9,000 14,642 8,431 10,498 14,551 76.6%
Jun-14 8,000 8,100 14,542 6,627 8,787 12,391 77.3%
Jul-14 8,000 8,100 14,442 9,101 7,872 13,620 77.9%
Aug-14 7,400 8,000 13,842 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Sep-14 7,300 8,000 13,142 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Oct-14 7,800 8,500 12,442 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Nov-14 7,600 7,800 12,242 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Dec-14 5,600 6,500 11,342 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Jan-15 19,000 8,700 21,642 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Feb-15 9,700 9,800 21,542 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Mar-15 6,400 11,000 16,942 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Apr-15 6,700 9,600 14,042 n/a n/a n/a n/a
May-15 7,100 9,100 12,042 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Jun-15 7,500 8,000 11,542 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Jul-15 8,000 8,100 11,442 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Aug-15 7,400 7,600 11,242 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Sep-15 7,300 7,500 11,042 n/a 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.