OPM Retirement Backlog, October 2026: 10,606 Claims Waiting, 73 Days Average Processing

October 2026 against the last three Octobers

OPM publishes one table, “CSRS/FERS New Claims Monthly Processing Times”, with claims received, claims processed, month-end inventory and the average days it took to process the cases closed in that month. The same month in four years shows how far the system moved.

Year on year, October 2026 against October 2025: inventory down 23,981 claims (69.3%), new claims down 49.2% and cases processed down 20.0% (our arithmetic). Against October 2024, new claims are 50.3% higher and processing time is 11 days longer. OPM’s “average processing days” describes cases finished in the month, not the wait of a claim filed that month, so it moves with whichever cases happened to close.

Month by month: 37 months of OPM’s report

The table has every month we could recover. OPM replaces the PDF each fiscal year (October to September), so the older months are read from Internet Archive copies of OPM’s own file; months present in more than one copy were identical. OPM began splitting out digital claims with the October 2025 figures, so the digital column starts there.

Reading the series (our arithmetic): the three fiscal years received 87,250 (October 2023 to September 2024), 113,857 (October 2024 to September 2025) and 179,958 (October 2025 to September 2026) new claims, and OPM processed 88,608, 104,800 and 178,551. In fiscal 2026 the office closed nearly as many cases as it received. OPM publishes no bridge between the columns, and they do not work as a running balance: fiscal 2026 intake exceeded cases processed by 1,407, yet inventory fell by 14,738 (23,552 to 8,814), so treat inventory as OPM’s own count. The 10,606 left at the end of October equals about 1.5 months of October’s processing (10,606 / 7,004). At the February peak the same ratio was 3.6 months (65,237 / 18,149).

Paper versus digital: where the wait is

OPM states: “In October RS Received 10,329 new retirement claims; of these 8,746 were digital and 1,583 were paper.” It adds: “In October digital cases were processed in 59 days, and paper claims were processed in 150 days.” The September report said 6,746 digital and 1,334 paper, with digital cases processed in 56 days and paper claims in 149 days.

Paper claims were 15.3% of the month’s intake but 25.5% of the month-end inventory (our arithmetic). OPM describes the cause in its own words: “The processing of digital cases is faster. With systematic checks of data, annuitants experience less delays due to missing information or incomplete packages.” OPM’s Online Retirement Application page describes ORA as “a secure, fully-digital system that replaces the paper-based process”.

OPM’s own timeline for a new retiree

Two OPM pages give the planning numbers. The Retirement Processing Times page, which OPM says reflects “the cases processed in the month of October 2026”, lists averages by claim type. The Retirement Quick Guide breaks the 3–5 months into stages.

OPM warns that the numbers are averages and that a case that “involves a court order, special computation, workers’ compensation, missing documentation, or is a deferred or postponed application it may take longer to process”. The Quick Guide adds law enforcement, firefighter and air traffic controller service, part-time or intermittent service, service at several agencies, and moving without updating your address to the list of factors that can delay a case. The 73 days applies to immediate retirements and excludes deferred and postponed applications.

What a new retiree gets while waiting: interim pay

OPM’s Quick Guide says that during processing you receive “Interim payments, typically 60–80% of your estimated net annuity to help cover your expenses.” Its definition: “Interim pay is a portion of your estimated annuity payment (approximately 60–80% of your finalized net payment for most people). It is intended to help cover expenses while OPM is processing your case.” What OPM documents about the payments:

• Timing. OPM issues the first interim payment in the intake step, “if eligible”, and monthly interim payments continue during OPM processing. The Processing Times page lists “Interim Pay – 6 days” and says “There are rare situations where an applicant may not be authorized to receive interim payments.”
• Deductions. “Interim payments do not include deductions for health benefits, life insurance, dental, vision, or long-term care. The only deduction taken from interim payments is for federal tax. State tax is not deducted from interim payments.” Dental, vision and long-term care coverage is managed through BENEFEDS in this period.
• Supplement. “Your interim payment does not take into account any annuity supplement you may be eligible to receive.”
• True-up. “OPM issues an adjustment payment to make up the difference between your interim and finalized annuity amount. Any premiums due for health and life insurance since you retired will also be deducted.” Health and life premiums are withheld from that adjustment payment.

A worked example (our arithmetic), using a made-up finalized net annuity of $3,000 a month: at 60% interim pay is $1,800 and at 80% $2,400, a shortfall of $600 to $1,200 a month. Over OPM’s 3-month low end of the process the cumulative gap is $1,800 to $3,600; over the 5-month high end it is $3,000 to $6,000. The adjustment payment makes up the difference, less the premiums OPM says it withholds then. Your own interim amount is stated by OPM when the first payment is issued; $3,000 is only an illustration. TSP withdrawals are one source retirees use to cover a gap; the choices are covered in the TSP Roth in-plan conversion guide and the 401(k) rollover guide.

How to check a claim, as OPM documents it

These are the steps OPM lists on its Retirement Quick Guide and Online Retirement Application pages; nothing here comes from outside OPM.

1. Start in the Online Retirement Application (ORA). OPM says your HR office initiates the application and you receive an email invitation to the personal email you gave them. You log in with a Login.gov account and create a digital signature PIN. The ORA page lists a “Status tracker and dashboard” for the application stage.
2. Record your claim number. At OPM intake “OPM assigns you a Retirement Claim number, also known as a CSA number.” OPM sends a welcome email with it and advises you to record it.
3. Create a Retirement Services Online account. OPM says you can log in “shortly after you receive your Retirement Claim (CSA) number”, and that the site shows “updates on your case such as when you are assigned to a specialist and when your case is completed”. OPM’s step during processing: “Log in to Retirement Services Online to confirm your case status.” It also lets you change your address and direct deposit.
4. Call only with the number ready. OPM: “call the Retirement Information Office at 888-767-6738 and have your claim number ready.”
5. After finalization, OPM says the adjustment payment amount is “not currently available on Retirement Services Online”, so note it from the payment itself.

Fiscal-year totals: how many people retire each year

OPM’s Retirement Statistics page also lists the CSRS and FERS annuitants added to the Annuity Roll Processing System each fiscal year (to September 30). The FY2025 figure, 112,679, is 18.0% above FY2024’s 95,477 and the highest since FY2022’s 114,505 (our arithmetic); the claims counts above run on the same fiscal-year calendar but count applications received, not annuitants added.

The page lists years from FY2000; all of them are in the data file. OPM’s source note: “U. S. Office of Personnel Management, Annuity Roll Processing System (ARPS)”, covering all federal agencies including the Postal Service and intelligence agencies.

What a reader can do with this

• Plan for a 3–5 month gap, not 73 days. Seventy-three days is the average for cases processed in October and covers only OPM’s part; the agency and payroll step adds 30–45 days before it, per OPM’s guide.
• Size the interim gap in dollars. Take your estimated net annuity from your benefits office, apply 60% and 80%, and see which monthly bills the lower figure would cover. The example above gives the cumulative gap over 3 and 5 months.
• Remember what interim pay leaves out. No FEHB, FEGLI, dental, vision or long-term care premiums come out of it, and no annuity supplement is in it; premiums for health and life are withheld later from the adjustment payment.
• Give OPM what it needs the first time. The Quick Guide says missing documents and forms, or incomplete or incorrect information, can delay a case, and its pre-retirement list includes paying any open service credit deposit and checking supplemental documents.
• Watch the next two reports. OPM updates its table monthly. The November report will show whether the October rise (1,792 claims) is a seasonal blip or a trend; January intake was 12,997 claims in 2024, 16,101 in 2025 and 18,923 in 2026, so the January 2027 report is the next test of volume.

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

More for federal retirees, read from the same kind of primary documents: the 2027 FERS and CSRS COLA by retirement month, FEHB and PSHB 2027 premiums, plan by plan, FEGLI Option B premiums after 65, the FERS supplement's 2027 earnings limit, FLTCIP premium increases since 2010, keeping the TSP or rolling it to an IRA and the TSP L Funds' allocations and glide paths.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on November 11, 2026: OPM, “CSRS/FERS New Claims Monthly Processing Times” (retirement-processing-status.pdf; live file for October 2026 and Internet Archive copies of the same file for October 2023 to September 2026); OPM, Retirement Statistics page (annuitants added to the annuity roll, FY2000 to FY2025); OPM, Retirement Processing Times page (October 2026); OPM, Retirement Quick Guide; OPM, Online Retirement Application page. OPM replaces its monthly PDF each fiscal year, so older months are available only from archived copies.