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OPM Makes Small Dent in Retirement Backlog in April

The federal government’s HR agency processed fewer claims last month, as the number of new requests stabilized following the annual winter wave.

Erich Wagner

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Erich Wagner
Erich Wagner

The backlog of outstanding federal employee retirement claims fell slightly last month, even as the average waiting period for the federal government’s HR agency to process a request increased.

In April, the Office of Personnel Management received 8,390 new retirement claims, which is greater than the 7,767 requests received in March, but much less than the 13,290 filed in February. It is still more than the agency received in April 2017, when only 6,581 new claims were submitted.

Meanwhile, the number of claims processed by OPM fell from 13,262 in March to 9,631 last month. Despite that, the backlog of pending retirement requests fell to 17,489 in April, down from 18,730 in March and 18,932 a year ago.

Although the backlog decreased last month, it is still several thousand above OPM’s “steady state” goal of 13,000. And as a result of the fewer claims processed in April, the average processing time for a claim on a monthly basis grew by nine days, from 49 in March to 58.

The average processing time for claims filed since Oct. 1, 2017, has remained steady at 57 days. OPM’s goal for both metrics is 60 days.

NEXT STORY: OPM Proposes Legislation to Cut Retirement Benefits for Current and Former Feds

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