A two-week backslide in processing veterans disability claims has ended, with the number of outstanding claims taking longer than 125 days to resolve shrinking by 4,300 last week. The average number of days pending slipped a bit to 171.6 from 172.9.
The previous two weeks were the first increases in the backlog since early summer and raised the hackles of veterans advocates. One advocacy group blamed the backsliding on elimination of mandatory overtime that had been authorized.
What had been steady progress against the backlog due to Congressional pressure had been slowing in November — even after maintaining a positive clip during the October government shutdown — but a net gain of 2,332 backlogged claims older than 125 days two weeks ago was a reversal.
The U.S. Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee met last week for an update on the Veterans Benefits Administration progress in reducing the backlog and heard officials pledge to continue chipping away at the backlog.
Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.
| CLAIMS PENDING | OVER 125 DAYS | % OVER 125 DAYS | AVG. DAYS PENDING | |
| This week | 639,388 | 374,073 | 58.50% | 171.6 |
| Last week | 642,861 | 378,349 | 58.90% | 172.9 |
| Change | -3,473 | -4,276 | 0 | -1 |
| Year ago | 824,601 | 567,748 | 68.90% | N/A |
Below: Claims pending (left) and backlog (right) by era served, as of 12/14/13. (Note: Includes disability and pension claims, so total numbers are different than above). Pie charts are from the Veteran’s Benefits Administration.
