Despite more incoming claims than the month before, the OPM retirement backlog dropped by 9.4% at the close of October 2021.
The Office of Personnel Management received 8,006 last month and processed 10,711. That was 46% more claims processed than in September (7,344). That led to lowering the retirement backlog to 26,105 total claims; still a large number to be sure, but it reverses the trend of the last several months which saw the backlog grow to its highest levels since 2013.
The end of the year is the most popular time for federal employees to retire. Consequently, January is the month in which OPM sees the greatest numbers of incoming retirement claims, frequently pushing the backlog up substantially. It behooves OPM and prospective retirees, therefore, for the agency to reduce the total retirement backlog as much as possible in the months leading up to the end of the year.
With this in mind, this is where the OPM retirement backlog has stood at the end of October for the last 5 years:
| October 2021 | 26,105 |
| October 2020 | 19,605 |
| October 2019 | 17,882 |
| October 2018 | 19,729 |
| October 2017 | 18,860 |
As can be seen, 2021 is poised to be a year in which the backlog could grow to unprecedented levels depending on how much headway OPM makes on it in the next two months and how many federal employees end up retiring at the end of the year.
OPM Retirement Processing Status – October 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-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 |
| Jun-21 | 7,264 | 6,884 | 24,999 | 78 | 75 |
| Jul-21 | 8,922 | 6,920 | 27,001 | 91 | 76 |
| Aug-21 | 8,976 | 7,412 | 28,565 | 93 | 78 |
| Sep-21 | 7,589 | 7,344 | 28,810 | 94 | 79 |
| *Oct-21 | 8,006 | 10,711 | 26,105 | 95 | 95 |
retirement application through final adjudication.
*Initial retirement cases produced in less than 60 days, on average took 43 days to complete; whereas cases that were produced in more than 60 days, on average, took 112 days to complete.
