The Office of Personnel Management has released its latest monthly retirement processing status report. The figures show that OPM was able to reduce the outstanding backlog by 17%.
A total of 4,077 new claims were received in December, but because OPM processed 6,447 it brought the total outstanding backlog of claims down from 14,039 to 11,669. That brings the total backlog to roughly in line with where OPM had expected it to be to close out 2014 (the inventory was projected to be at 11,342 by month end). The 6,447 claims that were processed in December were also right in line with OPM’s expectations for how many would be processed (6,500).
Will the backlog grow in January? Almost certainly according to the latest figures. OPM is expecting to receive 19,000 new claims at the end of the month, and it received 17,383 new claims in January 2014, so this is probably a fairly accurate prediction.
The most recent complete statistics are included below.
| Month | 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 | 6,795 | 7,318 | 13,097 | 78.5% |
| Sep-14 | 7,300 | 8,000 | 13,142 | 6,350 | 6,680 | 12,767 | 78.8% |
| Oct-14 | 7,800 | 8,500 | 12,442 | 10,155 | 8,785 | 14,137 | 83.2% |
| Nov-14 | 7,600 | 7,800 | 12,242 | 5,746 | 5,844 | 14,039 | 83.4% |
| Dec-14 | 5,600 | 6,500 | 11,342 | 4,077 | 6,447 | 11,669 | 83.7% |
| Jan-15 | 19,000 | 8,700 | 21,642 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Feb-15 | 9,700 | 9,800 | 21,542 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Mar-15 | 6,400 | 11,000 | 16,942 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Apr-15 | 6,700 | 9,600 | 14,042 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| May-15 | 7,100 | 9,100 | 12,042 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Jun-15 | 7,500 | 8,000 | 11,542 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Jul-15 | 8,000 | 8,100 | 11,442 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Aug-15 | 7,400 | 7,600 | 11,242 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
| Sep-15 | 7,300 | 7,500 | 11,042 | not available | not available | not available | not available |
