The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) retirement backlog dropped to 55,681 total claims in March 2026, a decline of 9,556 cases, or nearly 15%, from February’s all-time record of 65,237. It’s the first month since September 2025 that the backlog has declined.
The drop came because OPM processed nearly 7,500 more cases than it received last month: 22,237 claims processed versus 14,759 new claims received.
A Sharp Contrast with Last Year
The improvement is real, but the context matters: the OPM retirement backlog is still more than three times higher than what it was a year ago. In March 2025, the backlog stood at 16,794. The current figure is the highest ever recorded for any March in OPM’s monthly data going back to 2012.
The year-over-year numbers illustrate the significant differences in March 2026.
| Year | New Claims | Claims Processed | Inventory |
| March 2022 | 10,042 | 9,117 | 36,349 |
| March 2023 | 8,354 | 8,929 | 22,925 |
| March 2024 | 7,943 | 10,711 | 16,823 |
| March 2025 | 7,803 | 11,559 | 16,794 |
| March 2026 | 14,759 | 22,237 | 55,681 |
New claims received in March 2026 (14,759) were nearly double the historical March average of about 7,870.
Incoming retirement claims have been at elevated levels since last year when federal workforce reduction programs began driving a surge in retirement applications. According to OPM, 271,825 federal employees have left the federal workforce since January 20, 2025.
OPM’s processing volume in March (22,237 claims) is also far above historical norms for the month; the prior five-year average was roughly 9,800 cases processed. That increased throughput is largely a function of digital processing, which continues to comprise a growing share of the retirement case workload.
Halfway Through FY 2026
March closes out the first half of the federal government’s 2026 fiscal year (FY). The table below shows how the retirement processing figures stack up in that time.
Current Fiscal Year to Date (October 2025–March 2026)
| Month | New Claims | Claims Processed | Inventory |
| October 2025 | 20,344 | 8,751 | 34,587 |
| November 2025 | 23,393 | 8,707 | 48,396 |
| December 2025 | 13,174 | 9,428 | 50,566 |
| January 2026 | 18,923 | 15,571 | 54,018 |
| February 2026 | 31,240 | 18,149 | 65,237 |
| March 2026 | 14,759 | 22,237 | 55,681 |
| FY 2026 Total | 121,833 | 82,843 | — |
OPM received 121,833 new retirement claims in the first six months of FY 2026. In the same six-month period of FY 2025, the total was 52,241. That’s a 133% increase — more than double the intake from a year earlier.
Processing has ramped up too (82,843 cases in FY 2026 YTD vs. 49,941 in FY 2025), but it hasn’t kept pace with the surge in new filings. The result is a backlog that started FY 2026 at 34,587 and is now at 55,681, even after the March improvement.
Digital Processing Is Making a Difference
The share of digital retirement claims is gradually increasing each month as OPM continues its transition to the Online Retirement Application (ORA) launched last summer. This is important because digital cases have been processed much faster than paper ones, and the data so far indicate that the pace of digital processing is helping reduce the retirement claims backlog.
In March, OPM processed digital claims in an average of 39 days. Paper claims took 79 days, more than twice as long.
| Month | Digital Claims Received | Total Claims Received | Digital % | Digital Inventory | Total Inventory | Digital Avg Days | Total Avg Days |
| January 2026 | 9,394 | 18,923 | 50% | 19,618 | 54,018 | 48 | 77 |
| February 2026 | 15,494 | 31,240 | 50% | 27,582 | 65,237 | 34 | 71 |
| March 2026 | 8,830 | 14,759 | 60% | 24,688 | 55,681 | 39 | 60 |
The fiscal year-to-date average for digital claims is 41 days, compared to 69 days overall. As long as paper claims remain in the mix, they’ll keep pulling the overall average up. But the digital share has been growing; it was 50% of new claims in both January and February and hit 60% in March. That trend, if it continues, should put downward pressure on processing times.
OPM has acknowledged it is still receiving many paper claims during this period of transition, as agencies and payroll offices update legacy processes.
OPM Retirement Processing Statistics as of March 2026
| Month | Digital Claims Received | Total Claims Received | Digital Claims Processed | Total Claims Processed | Digital Processing Time in Days | Total Average Processing Time in Days | FYTD Digital Processing Time in Days | FYTD Average Processing Time in Days | Digital Inventory | Total Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct-25 | 6,176 | 20,344 | 1,686 | 8,751 | 45 | 79 | 45 | 79 | 10,252 | 34,587 |
| Nov-25 | 7,833 | 23,393 | 4,363 | 8,707 | 38 | 66 | 40 | 73 | 13,835 | 48,396 |
| Dec-25 | 6,055 | 13,174 | 3,506 | 9,428 | 40 | 67 | 40 | 71 | 15,295 | 50,566 |
| Jan-26 | 9,394 | 18,923 | 6,465 | 15,571 | 48 | 77 | 43 | 73 | 19,618 | 54,018 |
| Feb-26 | 15,494 | 31,240 | 7,054 | 18,149 | 34 | 71 | 41 | 72 | 27,582 | 65,237 |
| Mar-26 | 8,830 | 14,759 | 10,817 | 22,237 | 39 | 60 | 40 | 69 | 24,688 | 55,681 |
Retirement Services (RS) is working towards a fully digital retirement application process; RS is working with agencies and payroll offices to update legacy processes.
During this period of transition, RS is still receiving many new retirement claims on paper.
- In March RS Received 14,759 new retirement claims; of these 8,830 were digital and 5,929 were paper.
- The processing of digital cases is faster. With systematic checks of data, annuitants experience less delays due to missing information or incomplete packages.
- In March digital cases were processed in 39 days, and paper claims were processed in 79 days.
