Retirement processing times significantly improve in November

Though its backlog of retirement claims barely budged in November, the Office of Personnel Management largely made improvements in processing applications on time.

OPM processed 82 percent of its applications last month in 60 days or less, beating October’s 74 percent processing rate, according to the agency’s most recent report released Dec. 4. OPM hasn’t posted a monthly processing rate of 80 percent or higher since March 2014.

It processed 76 percent of its retirement claims for the year so far in 60 days or less, better than 74 percent in October.

It took the agency an average of 37 days to process a case in November.

The inventory itself stands at 12,562 claims, a slight dip from the 12,642 applications OPM recorded the previous month.

OPM received 6,019 claims and processed 6,099 — down several thousand from October’s numbers.

The agency tweaked its reporting metrics for retirement claims last month, choosing to add more data about the time it might take for federal employees and retirees to receive their benefits. New retirement reports now include the average number of days it takes to process retirement cases in 60 days or less, in addition to the average number of days for processing cases in more than 60 days. Reports also include monthly and year-to-date percentages.

OPM made a sizable dent in its retirement backlog in October, when the inventory stood at 12, 642 claims.

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