Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions

The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and GOV.UK.

While Capita committed to a complete return to standard contractual service levels by the end of June 2026, they have failed to meet this critical milestone. The Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita. To enforce strict compliance, independent auditors are being deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense. Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table during the consideration of long-term structural delivery options.

The conditions for releasing the withheld payments require the completion of specific deliverables. Each deliverable within the applicable milestone must be achieved and formally signed off by the authority.

The specific financial values of commercial transactions remain commercially confidential in relation to Capita and I am unable to disclose the figures, but I can confirm that the Cabinet Office has withheld significant transition milestone payments due to missed deliverables. Although contractual performance data is generally considered commercially sensitive, in this instance, information regarding MyCSP and recovered amounts is already in the public domain via submissions to the Committee of Public Accounts. In these submissions, it is noted that over the last five financial years, the Department has recovered a total of £247,893. Wider financial adjustments, such as routine overpayment corrections or contribution reconciliations, form part of the broader operational accounting of the scheme and are not categorised as direct departmental recoveries from the administrator.