OPM’s Retirement Backlog Edges Slightly Higher in August

OPM’s retirement backlog crept slightly higher in August and is higher than it was a year ago.

FedSmith.com author Ian SmithBy Categories Federal Employee Retirement Leave a comment

The backlog of outstanding retirement applications at the Office of Personnel Management climbed just a tad higher last month.

OPM received 7,136 claims in August and processed 7,102 which brought the total backlog up to 17,125, an increase of 0.2% over July’s total inventory (July’s backlog jumped much higher to bring it over 17,000).

OPM noted that it processed 70% of the claims in August in 60 days or less and took an average of 47 days to process those claims.

The recent general trend of the backlog has been up for the month of August. Last year, it was 16,334, in 2015 it stood at 16,350 and in 2014 it was 13,842. Despite losing ground in late summer during that time period, the general trend has reversed for the remainder of each year, retreating each month until January provides a significant setback with the end of year retirement wave.

The latest data from OPM are included below.

Month Claims Received Claims Processed Inventory (Steady state is 13,000) Avg. # of Days to Process Case in 60 days or less Avg. # of Days to Process Case in more than 60 days
Oct-15 8,374 10,438 12,642 38 86
Nov-15 6,019 6,099 12,562 37 98
Dec-15 4,753 5,916 11,399 40 104
Jan-16 15,423 7,061 19,761 38 94
Feb-16 11,293 8,362 22,692 36 96
Mar-16 5,741 9,222 19,211 44 118
Apr-16 7,241 11,935 14,517 50 92
May-16 7,210 7,692 14,035 37 103
Jun-16 5,929 6,435 13,529 37 115
Jul-16 9,238 7,205 15,562 38 110
Aug-16 6,818 6,046 16,334 42 112
Sep-16 6,946 8,134 15,146 45 100
Oct-16 7,326 5,795 16,677 49 91
Nov-16 5,065 5,723 16,019 48 94
Dec-16 5,483 6,405 15,097 52 95
Jan-17 15,317 7,327 23,087 53 89
Feb-17 9,114 8,285 23,916 38 104
Mar-17 7,216 10,602 20,530 38 105
Apr-17 6,581 8,179 18,932 51 80
May-17 5,548 8,340 16,140 48 89
Jun-17 6,141 7,751 14,530 47 99
Jul-17 10,070 7,509 17,091 45 98
Aug-17 7,136 7,102 17,125 47 105

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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.

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