The Office of Personnel Management made a significant dent in the backlog of outstanding retirement claims to close out 2017.
OPM received 5,568 new claims in December but was able to process 10,347 thereby reducing the total backlog by almost 25%. That brings the backlog closer to OPM’s “steady state” goal of 13,000.
The progress on reducing the backlog comes at a good time because OPM is likely to get hit with a massive influx of new retirement applications in January and February. A quick glance at the historical data shows this trend.
Last January and February for example, the backlog soared over 23,000 thanks to a total of 24,431 new retirement applications that came in during that time period. In 2016, it jumped 73% in January, putting the total backlog at just under 20,000.
Given the apparent fact that the end of a calendar year is a popular time for federal employees to retire, it stands to reason something similar will happen again this year, but we will find out next month.
The latest data from OPM are included below.
| Month | Claims Received | Claims Processed | Inventory (Steady state is 13,000) | Avg. # of Days to Process Case in 60 days or less | Avg. # of Days to Process Case in more than 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct-16 | 7,326 | 5,795 | 16,677 | 49 | 91 |
| Nov-16 | 5,065 | 5,723 | 16,019 | 48 | 94 |
| Dec-16 | 5,483 | 6,405 | 15,097 | 52 | 95 |
| Jan-17 | 15,317 | 7,327 | 23,087 | 53 | 89 |
| Feb-17 | 9,114 | 8,285 | 23,916 | 38 | 104 |
| Mar-17 | 7,216 | 10,602 | 20,530 | 38 | 105 |
| Apr-17 | 6,581 | 8,179 | 18,932 | 51 | 80 |
| May-17 | 5,548 | 8,340 | 16,140 | 48 | 89 |
| Jun-17 | 6,141 | 7,751 | 14,530 | 47 | 99 |
| Jul-17 | 10,070 | 7,509 | 17,091 | 45 | 98 |
| Aug-17 | 7,136 | 7,102 | 17,125 | 47 | 105 |
| Sep-17 | 8,810 | 9,107 | 16,828 | 45 | 93 |
| Oct-17 | 8,850 | 6,818 | 18,860 | 44 | 93 |
| Nov-17 | 5,572 | 5,138 | 19,294 | 46 | 97 |
| Dec-17 | 5,568 | 10,347 | 14,515 | 43 | 96 |
