The backlog of outstanding retirement applications at the Office of Personnel Management ticked up every so slightly last month.
The total backlog went from 18,024 at the end of May to 18,198 at the end of June, a .97% increase. The backlog is significantly higher (25%) than it was at the same time a year ago when it stood at 14,530.
OPM received 9,397 new claims in June and processed 9,223 which is what led to the small increase. On average, it took OPM 65 days to process each application in June, a 12% increase over May.
The Trump administration has proposed reorganization plans for federal agencies which could potentially move the responsibility for handling the retirement applications away from OPM. It’s unknown at this point if the proposals will even go through or if they did what it might mean for functions such as handling the retirement applications.
The latest data from OPM are included below.
| Month | Claims Received | Claims Processed | Inventory (Steady state goal is 13,000) | Monthly Average Processing Time in Days | FYTD Average Processing Time in Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct-16 | 7,326 | 5,795 | 16,677 | 67 | 67 |
| Nov-16 | 5,065 | 5,723 | 16,019 | 66 | 66 |
| Dec-16 | 5,483 | 6,405 | 15,097 | 74 | 69 |
| Jan-17 | 15,317 | 7,327 | 23,087 | 75 | 71 |
| Feb-17 | 9,114 | 8,285 | 23,916 | 56 | 67 |
| Mar-17 | 7,216 | 10,602 | 20,530 | 61 | 66 |
| Apr-17 | 6,581 | 8,179 | 18,932 | 72 | 67 |
| May-17 | 5,548 | 8,340 | 16,140 | 71 | 67 |
| Jun-17 | 6,141 | 7,751 | 14,530 | 68 | 67 |
| Jul-17 | 10,070 | 7,509 | 17,091 | 67 | 67 |
| Aug-17 | 7,136 | 7,102 | 17,125 | 65 | 67 |
| Sep-17 | 8,810 | 9,107 | 16,828 | 62 | 67 |
| Oct-17 | 8,850 | 6,818 | 18,860 | 64 | 64 |
| Nov-17 | 5,572 | 5,138 | 19,294 | 68 | 66 |
| Dec-17 | 5,568 | 10,347 | 14,515 | 60 | 63 |
| Jan-18 | 14,590 | 8,638 | 20,467 | 63 | 63 |
| Feb-18 | 13,290 | 9,532 | 24,225 | 46 | 59 |
| Mar-18 | 7,767 | 13,262 | 18,730 | 49 | 57 |
| Apr-18 | 8,390 | 9,631 | 17,489 | 58 | 57 |
| May-18 | 7,625 | 7,090 | 18,024 | 58 | 58 |
| Jun-18 | 9,397 | 9,223 | 18,198 | 65 | 59 |
