OPM’s retirement backlog back up in July after months of it shrinking

Retirement

OPM’s retirement backlog back up in July after months of it shrinking

For the first time since January, the Office of Personnel Management's backlog of retirement claims increased in July.

Alyssa Miguel

August 11, 2023 4:07 pm

< a min read

For the first time since January, the Office of Personnel Management’s backlog of retirement claims increased in July. At 17,047 claims, the backlog is over 4,000 claims higher than its steady state goal of 13,000.

While over 2,000 more federal employees filed retirement claims in July compared to June, fewer claims were processed. OPM processed 6,584 claims last month, but in June, processed 6,609.

In addition to the backlog increasing, the monthly average processing time in days saw a significant increase. It took, on average, 85 days to process a claim in July, compared to 74 days in June.

Despite this sharp increase, the fiscal year-to-date average processing time in days has stayed steady at 78 days since May.