OPM’s goal is a “steady state” of 13,000 pending claims at any given time.

OPM’s goal is a “steady state” of 13,000 pending claims at any given time. Ryan McVay/Getty Images

OPM’s retirement backlog just hit its lowest level since 2017

The federal government’s HR agency’s efforts to modernize the retirement process have been buoyed by increased investment and renewed focus on customer service.

The Office of Personnel Management’s oft-scrutinized backlog of pending retirement claims from recently departing federal employees reached a six-year low last month.

The federal government’s dedicated human resources agency has now reported decreases in the number of retirement requests that have yet to be processed for each of the five months since January, the month in which OPM sees a spike in new retirement applications each year. And in June specifically, the backlog fell to 16,370 pending cases, which marks the lowest that the backlog has been since 2017, when the number of pending cases briefly fell to roughly 14,000 claims.

OPM’s retirement backlog has long been a sore subject for the agency, but the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many of the challenges associated with quickly processing federal retirees’ annuity payments, in part due to the fact that the process remains heavily paper-based. As recently as March 2022, the backlog sat at 36,349 pending claims.

Despite continuing to chip into the backlog—OPM’s goal is a “steady state” of 13,000 pending claims at any given time—the agency saw its performance slip slightly in terms of the average time it takes to process a retirement claim. After a 2022 in which the agency averaged around 90 days to process a retirement request, OPM boasted a monthly average processing time of 65 days last February, a figure that has steadily crept up to 74 days last month.

The agency’s progress in reducing the backlog comes as it undertakes a concerted effort to revamp the process, bolstered by an increase in OPM’s annual appropriations last year. OPM is in the midst of developing a strategic plan to modernize the agency’s IT infrastructure and the retirement process, particularly by digitizing records and encouraging employer agencies to do the same.

And in May, OPM released a new three-page guide for recent retirees to help them navigate the retirement process. The guide, which is updated monthly to reflect the most recent time estimates, breaks down what agencies are responsible for which phase of the process, as well as a checklist of actions feds can take to ensure their retirement claim is processed as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Lori Amos, OPM’s deputy associate director for retirement services, told reporters in May that while the current goal of the retirement guide is to better set expectations for federal workers and improve customer service, it could evolve as the HR agency upgrades its processes.

“Absolutely, this [guide] is a need right now, because this is our current state: we’re primarily paper-based and need to manage expectations and get information to customers, because we don’t want them worried about their annuity payment,” she said. “Now, once we start to embark on our IT modernization effort, we don’t know what this guide may look like. If it’s automated, this form itself could be digitized, but that’s in the future and TBD.”

This recent progress could be in jeopardy, however. Republicans in Congress have advanced appropriations legislation that, if enacted, would fund OPM at fiscal 2022 levels, which marks a $49.2 million cut from its current appropriation and a $134.7 million reduction from President Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.