Veterans Benefits Administration workers put a dent in the backlog of veterans disability claims in March, processing 32,000 claims and cutting the percentage pending more than 125 days by nearly two percentage points. March was the third consecutive month of progress after stalls in November and December of 2013.
Chart and table below detail changes month-to-month, week-to-week and year-over-year.
Data is take from the VBA’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress. We think monthly tracking is a better barometer of actual progress because it flattens out some of the temporary ups and downs the weekly reports reflect.
| CLAIMS PENDING | OVER 125 DAYS | % OVER 125 DAYS | AVG. DAYS PENDING | |
| End Mar. | 581,527 | 333,147 | 57.30% | 167.3 |
| End Feb. | 613,550 | 362,028 | 59% | 171.4 |
| Change | -32,023 | -28,881 | -1.7% | -4.1 |
| YTD Change | -54,747 | -55,031 | -3.70% | -6.5 |
| Mar. 2013 | 804,427 | 569,547 | 70.80% | N/A |