VA will hire 2,000 new staffers as it seeks to cut back on increasing backlog of claims

[Tony]

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department plans to hire 2,000 new workers starting this month to deal with an expected increase in backlogged claims which have tripled since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last year, VA officials announced Wednesday.

VA officials hope the new hires will help them slow the backlog which they expected to grow from about 204,000 overdue claims at the end of September to some 260,000 by the end of October, according to a VA statement. In addition to adding claims processors, the VA intends to mandate overtime work for its current processors to cut into its backlog, which it intends to pay for with emergency pandemic funding.