The number of federal employees’ retirement claims processed last month rose sharply which helped to reduce the OPM retirement backlog from last month’s spike.
The Office of Personnel Management processed 10,025 retirement claims in February, 55% higher than in January. This helped to reduce the backlog by 6%, going from 20,822 at the end of January to 19,591 at the end of February.
The processing time in February was also cut dramatically which undoubtedly helped increase the number of retirement claims that were processed. It took OPM 47 days on average to process claims in February, 29% better than the time in January (66 days).
OPM enlists help from other federal agencies to help handle processing the surge of retirement applications submitted during the peak season “surge period” which runs from January to March. OPM Director Kiran Ahuja sent a memo in November asking agencies for help with, among other things, screening applications for errors, providing estimates on the number of retirement applications they expected to submit, and for HR staff to consider helping with processing at the retirement operations center in Boyers, PA.
As high as the OPM retirement backlog still is, it’s better than it was last year at this time when it was 23,500. The table below shows how the backlog has fared in the month of February since 2018.
| Claims Received | Claims Processed | Inventory | |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2018 | 13,290 | 9,532 | 24,225 |
| February 2019 | 10,792 | 10,543 | 23,370 |
| February 2020 | 9,273 | 9,627 | 23,629 |
| February 2021 | 7,495 | 8,003 | 26,460 |
| February 2022 | 12,241 | 8,124 | 30,577 |
| February 2023 | 9,562 | 10,920 | 23,500 |
| February 2024 | 8,794 | 10,025 | 19,591 |
| Average | 10,207 | 9,539 | 24,479 |
OPM Retirement Backlog Processing Status – February 2024
| Month | Claims Received | Claims Processed | Inventory (Steady state goal is 13,000) | Monthly Average Processing Time in Days | FYTD Average Processing Time in Days |
| January 2023 | 12,404 | 9,142 | 24,858 | 93 | 90 |
| February 2023 | 9,562 | 10,920 | 23,500 | 65 | 84 |
| March 2023 | 8,354 | 8,929 | 22,925 | 69 | 81 |
| April 2023 | 8,298 | 10,839 | 20,384 | 70 | 79 |
| May 2023 | 6,096 | 8,355 | 18,125 | 71 | 78 |
| June 2023 | 4,854 | 6,609 | 16,370 | 74 | 78 |
| July 2023 | 7,261 | 6,584 | 17,047 | 85 | 78 |
| August 2023 | 7,383 | 6,467 | 17,963 | 74 | 78 |
| September 2023 | 6,768 | 8,879 | 15,852 | 70 | 77 |
| October 2023 | 6,924 | 6,098 | 16,678 | 73 | 73 |
| November 2023 | 5,207 | 6,059 | 15,826 | 66 | 69 |
| December 2023 | 5,662 | 7,196 | 14,292 | 68 | 69 |
| January 2024 | 12,997 | 6,467 | 20,822 | 66 | 68 |
| February 2024 | 8,794 | 10,025 | 19,591 | 47 | 62 |
Disability determinations are included in the pending number after approval. Average
Processing Time in Days represents the number of days starting when OPM receives the
retirement application through final adjudication.
*Initial retirement cases produced in less than 60 days, on average took 29 days to
complete; whereas cases that were produced in more than 60 days, on average, took 135
days to complete.
