Slight Reduction Made in Retirement Backlog in September

OPM made slight progress in reducing the backlog of outstanding retirement claims in September.

The Office of Personnel Management was able to make a slight reduction in the backlog of outstanding retirement claims last month.

The total backlog went from 17,125 to 16,828, a 1.7% reduction. Although OPM received quite a few new claims (8,810), the progress was due to the fact that it was able to process 9,107 claims, 65% of which OPM said were done in 60 days or less.

The current backlog is 11% higher than it was a year ago, something which has been the general trend throughout the year. The backlog started 2017 off 17% higher than it did in 2016 and has never been able to make up the lost ground even though the average number of claims received between last year and this year for the same time period has been nearly identical. On average, OPM has processed more claims so far this year than it did during the same time period last year (8,245 vs. 8,010) but still is struggling to keep the backlog in line with last year’s levels.

The table below illustrates the difference in the average numbers of claims from last year to this year for the same time periods.

 Average Claims
Received Processed
January to September, 2016 8,426 8,010
January to September, 2017 8,437 8,245

The latest complete figures provided by 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
Sep-17 8,810 9,107 16,828 45 93

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.