OPM’s retirement backlog showed little change last month but is slowly being reduced.
The Office of Personnel Management received 7,684 new retirement claims during May 2021 and processed 8,451. That resulted in a 3% reduction in the total backlog over the previous month, bringing it down to 24,619. That is the highest that the backlog has been at the end of May since 2013.
So far in 2021, OPM has averaged processing 8,635 retirement claims per month against an average of 9,621 received. For comparison, here is how the average claims have fared over the last five years for the same time period (January – May):
| Year | Average Claims Received | Average Claims Processed |
| 2021 | 9,621 | 8,635 |
| 2020 | 9,272 | 9,018 |
| 2019 | 9,794 | 9,953 |
| 2018 | 10,332 | 9,630 |
| 2017 | 8,755 | 8,546 |
| 2016 | 9,381 | 8,854 |
What has your experience been with the retirement application process? Feel free to share in the comments below.
OPM Retirement Processing Status – May 2021
| 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-19 | 7,044 | 6,538 | 17,882 | 59 | 59 |
| Nov-19 | 7,822 | 7,314 | 18,390 | 62 | 61 |
| Dec-19 | 5,205 | 6,687 | 16,908 | 66 | 62 |
| Jan-20 | 17,134 | 10,059 | 23,983 | 58 | 61 |
| Feb-20 | 9,273 | 9,627 | 23,629 | 54 | 59 |
| Mar-20 | 6,566 | 8,931 | 21,264 | 61 | 60 |
| Apr-20 | 6,740 | 8,115 | 19,889 | 68 | 61 |
| May-20 | 6,648 | 8,360 | 18,177 | 83 | 64 |
| Jun-20 | 6,555 | 7,300 | 17,432 | 81 | 65 |
| Jul-20 | 6,819 | 6,620 | 17,631 | 95 | 68 |
| Aug-20 | 6,775 | 5,836 | 18,570 | 73 | 68 |
| Sep-20 | 6,244 | 6,540 | 18,274 | 73 | 69 |
| Oct-20 | 8,323 | 6,992 | 19,605 | 77 | 77 |
| Nov-20 | 5,876 | 5,459 | 20,022 | 74 | 76 |
| Dec-20 | 5,135 | 5,470 | 19,687 | 74 | 75 |
| Jan-21 | 13,850 | 6,569 | 26,968 | 85 | 78 |
| Feb-21 | 7,495 | 8,003 | 26,460 | 77 | 78 |
| Mar-21 | 9,664 | 8,756 | 27,368 | 69 | 76 |
| Apr-21 | 9,414 | 11,396 | 25,386 | 71 | 75 |
| *May-21 | 7,684 | 8,451 | 24,619 | 70 | 74 |
retirement application through final adjudication.
*Initial retirement cases produced in less than 60 days, on average took 39 days to complete; whereas cases that were produced in more than 60 days, on average, took 110 days to complete.
