The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is currently facing a significant backlog of retirement applications, with pending cases nearly doubling since last fall. As of the end of February, the backlog stood at over 65,200 applications, a sharp increase from approximately 36,500 at the end of October.
In February alone, OPM received more than 31,200 new applications but was able to process only about 18,100. The overall average processing time at OPM slightly decreased to 71 days, down from 77 days in January, reflecting improvements consistent with earlier trends. This reduction in average processing time can largely be attributed to a surge in digital applications submitted through the Online Retirement Application portal. The processing time for these digital applications fell significantly from 48 days to 34 days. Meanwhile, traditional paper applications continue to take much longer, with an average processing time of 95 days.
Interestingly, in keeping with recent patterns, approximately half of the applications in February were submitted online, rather than through paper forms. Upon reaching OPM, retirees are eligible for interim payments, which typically average around 80% of their monthly entitlements; these payments are generally disbursed within eight days of the applications being processed.
It’s essential to note that the figures reported by OPM only reflect the processing time after applications arrive at their office. Before reaching OPM, applications must first navigate through personnel and payroll offices at the employing agency, which can add considerable time to the overall process. Recent data from OPM Director Scott Kupor indicates that the human resources step averages 60 days and payroll processing adds another 51 days. This timeline was impacted by the government shutdown from October to mid-November, which likely contributed to these delays.
As with previous years, there is often a spike in federal retirements at the start of the new year, often driven by employees looking to maximize their payout for unused annual leave. However, this surge was somewhat mitigated as the year transitioned from 2025 to 2026 due in part to the impact of deferred resignation programs. Many employees who opted to take advantage of these offers retired by the program’s cutoff date, typically no later than September 30, leading to higher than usual retirement numbers last fall.
The current state of the retirement application backlog at OPM underscores ongoing challenges within the federal retirement system, highlighting the need for improvements in processing efficiency and the importance of digital options in streamlining the application process for retiring federal employees.
