{"id":7456,"date":"2025-07-07T18:06:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:06:51","slug":"va-to-reduce-staff-by-nearly-30k-by-end-of-fy2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456","title":{"rendered":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it\u2019s on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.<\/p>\n<p>While VA had been considering a department-wide RIF to reduce staff levels by up to 15%, employee reductions through the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition have eliminated the need for that RIF. The numbers break down as follows:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>VA had roughly 484,000 employees on Jan. 1, 2025, and 467,000 employees as of June 1, 2025 \u2014 a reduction of nearly 17,000.<\/li>\n<li>Between now and Sept. 30, the department expects nearly 12,000 additional VA employees to exit through normal attrition, voluntary early retirement authority ) or the deferred resignation program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>VA has multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact Veteran care or benefits. All VA mission-critical positions are exempt from the DRP and VERA, and more than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, VA performance continues to improve. Under President Trump and Secretary Collins:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>VA\u2019s disability claims backlog\u00a0is already down nearly 30%, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.<\/li>\n<li>VA is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-processes-one-million-disability-claims-faster-than-ever-before\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">processing record numbers of disability claims<\/a>, reaching 1 million claims processed for FY25 on Feb. 20 and reaching <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-processes-more-than-2m-disability-claims-in-record-time\/\">2 million claims<\/a> by June \u2014 both achievements were done in record time.<\/li>\n<li>VA has implemented\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-announces-major-survivor-benefits-reforms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">major reforms<\/a>\u00a0to make it easier for survivors to get benefits, after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2025\/03\/19\/politics\/veteran-suicides-va-benefits-invs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">serious problems<\/a>\u00a0during the Biden Administration.<\/li>\n<li>VA is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-names-nine-additional-facilities-that-will-deploy-federal-ehr-in-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accelerating the deployment<\/a>\u00a0of its integrated electronic health record system, after the program was nearly dormant for almost two years under the Biden Administration.<\/li>\n<li>VA is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-to-phase-out-treatment-for-gender-dysphoria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">phasing out treatment for\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.va.gov%2Fpress-room%2Fva-to-phase-out-treatment-for-gender-dysphoria%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7C%7C79fe96ddfd1a4c77ddec08dd9d2b8a98%7Ce95f1b23abaf45ee821db7ab251ab3bf%7C0%7C0%7C638839532509723333%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=9og2fhggUEIlmC2Y%2FAskTkCSc3WGThSYq%2FmjOsuPwiY%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gender dysphoria<\/a>. Frankly, this commonsense reform should have been done years ago, but only President Trump and Secretary Collins had the courage to do it.<\/li>\n<li>VA\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-ends-dei-stops-millions-in-spending-on-dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ended DEI at the department<\/a>, reversing the divisive Biden-era policies and stopping more than $14 million in DEI spending.<\/li>\n<li>VA has brought more than 60,000 VA employees\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-announces-return-to-in-person-work-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">back to the office<\/a>, where we can work better as a team to serve Veterans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSince March, we\u2019ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to Veterans,\u201d said <strong>VA Secretary Doug Collins<\/strong>. \u201cAs a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction \u2014 both in terms of staff levels and customer service. A department-wide RIF is off the table, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re done improving VA. Our review has resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving Veterans that we will continue to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VA is currently exploring a number of additional reforms to improve operational efficiency and service to Veterans, including:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Today, the Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration and National Cemetery Administration all run duplicative and costly administrative functions that can be centralized or restructured so they can each focus on their core missions of health care, benefits and burial services, respectively.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To that end, VA is reviewing the centralization of support functions to streamline operations and improve support to Veterans, including areas such as police, procurement, construction, IT, budgeting and others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>VA operates 274 separate call centers that are not connected to one another. A centralized call center with modernized systems would lead to quicker and better service for Veterans and could be run with fewer staff members.<\/li>\n<li>VA has a proven payroll system that processes paychecks for more than 200,000 VA employees, but some 50 VAMCs still process their own payroll. VA is already working to consolidate payroll for all employees under the VA Time and Attendance System, which will save time, money and resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-to-reduce-staff-by-nearly-30k-by-end-of-fy2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news","category-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\"},\"headline\":\"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News &amp; VA Updates\",\"Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456\",\"name\":\"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"width\":815,\"height\":815},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7456#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Its Veterans\",\"description\":\"Veterans news, benefits, health and community resources\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Its Veterans\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg\",\"width\":2172,\"height\":724,\"caption\":\"Its Veterans\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans","description":"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans","og_description":"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.","og_url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456","og_site_name":"Its Veterans","article_published_time":"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668"},"headline":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025","datePublished":"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456"},"wordCount":646,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-301.png","articleSection":["News &amp; VA Updates","Trump"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456","name":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025 - Its Veterans","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-301.png","datePublished":"2025-07-07T18:06:51+00:00","description":"VA on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-301.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-301.png","width":815,"height":815},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7456#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VA to reduce staff by nearly 30K by end of FY2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/","name":"Its Veterans","description":"Veterans news, benefits, health and community resources","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization","name":"Its Veterans","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg","width":2172,"height":724,"caption":"Its Veterans"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/itsveterans.com"],"url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}