Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions
The question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse is of additional staff and other resources deployed to help resolve the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme by Capita since December 2025; and how much of that cost has been recovered from Capita.
Answered by Cabinet Office
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.
Exact costs are subject to an ongoing commercial reconciliation as we comprehensively evaluate the latest service data. While specific operational figures remain commercially sensitive at this stage of the recovery plan, we continue to use all available commercial levers to manage performance and hold the administrator to account.
The appointment of Capita followed a rigorous procurement process conducted in strict accordance with The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), with their selection primarily driven by proposed improvements to digital infrastructure and member services. Under the regulations active at the start of the tender, there was no legal remit to penalise a bidder for performance failures on unrelated contracts, such as the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
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