Despite Fewer Claims Received, OPM Retirement Backlog Grows 2.3%

The backlog of retirement applications at OPM grew in November despite far fewer new applications being received.

The Office of Personnel Management saw its retirement applications backlog grow by 2.3% in November despite receiving 37% fewer new applications than it did in October.

The total backlog went from 18,860 at the end of October to 19,294 to close out November. This happened despite only receiving 5,572 new applications during November, whereas 8,850 were received in October.

The reason lies in the number OPM processed – in November, it only processed 5,138, 25% less than it did in October.

The total backlog is now the highest it has been since February and is now 20% higher than it was a year ago. It has been on a slow but steady general upward trend since the summer, increasing 12% in October after a slight improvement in September.

The latest complete figures are included below.

Month Claims Received Claims Processed Inventory (Steady state is 13,000) Avg. # of Days to Process C ase in 60 days or less Avg. # of Days to Process Case in more than 60 days
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
Oct-17 8,850 6,818 18,860 44 93
Nov-17 5,572 5,138 19,294 46 97

 

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.