The Department of Veterans Affairs says its disability benefits compensation claims backlog is under 200,000 for the first time since March 5, 2023.
VA credited the backlog reduction to a series of record-breaking production milestones, including processing a million disability claims during a fiscal year faster than ever before.
April marked VA’s highest month of disability claims processing to date, with 256,178 claims processed. On May 29, VA processed over 15,000 disability claims for its highest daily production rate.
“Under President Trump, VA’s claims processing productivity is the highest it has ever been, and we will continue working overtime on behalf of Veterans until the backlog is at record lows,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve timely and accurate claims decisions, and that is exactly what we will deliver.”
According to figures provided by VA the Biden Administration oversaw a 24 percent increase in the backlog, from 213,189 on Jan. 20, 2021, to 264,717 on Jan. 20, 2025. The backlog reached its highest point ever of 611,000 in March of 2013 and VA achieved its lowest backlog ever of 64,738 in December of 2019.
A VA claim is considered backlogged when it has been pending for more than 125 days.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.