OPM Carries 33,851 Retirement Cases as TSP Leads and SSA Cuts Waits
Updated
Updated · Government Executive · Jul 23
OPM Carries 33,851 Retirement Cases as TSP Leads and SSA Cuts Waits
1 articles · Updated · Government Executive · Jul 23
Summary
OPM ended June with 33,851 pending retirement cases after processing 12,751 claims, leaving average handling times at 108 days overall, 96 days for digital filings and 120 days for paper.
That backlog persists even after a 2025 retirement surge because retirement adjudication remains document-heavy, paper filings still slow the system, and Retirement Services staffing shrank 16% from fiscal 2024 to 2026.
TSP posted the strongest service metrics: about 200,000 February calls were answered in 11 seconds on average, 95% within 20 seconds, while ThriftLine satisfaction stayed above 93% for a 12th straight month.
SSA showed the biggest improvement at scale, saying shorter waits through May 2026 saved the public 14.2 million hours and helped it serve 5.9 million more callers, up more than 29% year to date.
Still, SSA's headline averages can understate delays: callers who stayed on hold in fiscal 2025 waited as long as 1 hour 40 minutes on average at the January peak, while callback times reached 2 hours 32 minutes.