OPM retirement balances continued their downward trend last month, declining 4.5% in September.
The Office of Personnel Management received 5,618 severance claims from federal employees last month and processed 6,302, reducing the total outstanding severance claims to 14,494. Currently, the number has returned to a level close to the 14,035 at the end of May 2024.
With the federal government’s busy season just around the corner, the reduced OPM retirement backlog is good news for new federal retirees and federal employees planning to retire soon. More federal employees retire at the end of a calendar year than at any other time of year, so retirement balances are constantly increasing. For example, OPM retirement balances in January 2024 increased by 46% from 14,292 at the end of December 2023 to 20,822 at the end of January.
To help process an unusually large influx of retirement applications, OPM is working with other federal agencies to prepare for the influx of retirement applications at the end of 2023, during the annual “surge period” known as the first quarter (January) of the calendar year. We asked for the cooperation of institutions. – March). This is the time frame in which OPM will have the most retirement requests to process. In a typical year, approximately 25% of your total annual retirement benefits arrive during this period.
OPM also provides tips for agencies and federal retirees to avoid delays in the retirement application process, as well as current information on the process time for federal employees who are retiring based on their most recent resignation letter. We encourage you to use our Retirement Quick Guide with estimates. Operating profit margin figures. The guide was launched last year to provide federal employees with another tool to help them better understand and prepare for the retirement process.
As of September 2024, OPM estimates that it will take 3 to 5 months from the date of separation from employment to receive your first fixed annuity each month.
The most important tip for federal employees planning to retire soon is to make sure there are no errors on your retirement application. This includes ensuring that all required signatures are on the form and that the Official Personnel Folder (OPF) is complete.
OPM Obsolescence Backlog Processing Status – September 2024
Monthly Incoming Claims Processing Inventory (Steady State Target is 13,000) Monthly Average Processing Time (days) Fiscal Year Average Processing Time (days) March 20238,3548,92922,92569814 Month 20238,29810,83920,38470795 Month 20236,0968,35518,12 57178June 20234,8546,60916,370747820237July,2616,58417,047857820237,3836,46717,963747820239September 6,7688,8791 5,85270772023October6,9246,09816,6787373November 20235,2076,05915,826 6669December 2024 35,6627,19614,2926869January 2024 12,9976,46720,8226668February 2024 8, 79410,02519,5914762March 2024 7,94 310,71116,823556120244 Month6,9017,64716,0776161May 20246,7518,79314,035606120246,9195,61415,34064 61July 20246,4515,99415,7976561August 20247,0837,70215,178 6461September 5, 2024 6186 ,30214,4946362
Failure determinations are included in the pending number after approval. Average processing time (days) represents the number of days it takes from OPM’s receipt of a termination application to final review.
*Initial retirement cases were created in less than 60 days and took an average of 41 days to complete. Meanwhile, cases created over 60 days took an average of 115 days to complete.
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