The Cabinet Office has agreed to press ahead with outsourcing giant Capita\u2019s bid to take over administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme in December after concerns that the firm may not be ready in time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Capita was awarded a \u00a3239m contract<\/a> to take over from current scheme administrator MyCSP in November 2023. Preparations for the changeover, which will see Capita running the scheme on behalf of the Cabinet Office for 10 years, have been ongoing for months.\u00a0<\/p>\n However back in July, Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little told members of parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee that progress with \u201ctransition milestones\u201d built into the government\u2019s contract with Capita was a\u00a0\u201csignificant cause for concern\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Little, who is also civil service chief operating officer, said that a final \u201cgo\/no-go\u201d decision on the change of administration for the CSPS \u2013 which has 1.7 million members \u2013 would be taken in September. She said the switch would not take place unless there was confidence in Captia\u2019s readiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n Weeks before Little’s comments, public spending watchdog the National Audit Office reported that Capita had already missed three of its \u201ckey milestones\u201d for the transfer<\/a>, prompting the Cabinet Office to withhold \u00a39.6m in transition payments. At the time of the parliamentary session, Capita was adamant that its milestones had been met.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Cabinet Office has now confirmed to Civil Service World that Capita was able to reassure the department that preparations for\u00a0the December changeover are in order, and that last month\u2019s \u201cgo\/no-go\u201d decision went in favour of the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson said the department is \u201cconfident\u201d that the programme to transfer administration of the CSPS \u201cremains on track for the 1st of December and beyond\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0They added: \u201cAs with any major programme, we will continue to regularly assess business readiness during the transition and work closely with both MyCSP and Capita to keep member and employer impact during the transfer to a minimum. Any changes to the programme will be communicated to all affected workers in a timely manner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Civil Service World understands that the changeover is likely to involve a period of days when online services are unavailable to CSPS members so that account details can be transferred to a new platform. The switch from MyCSP to Capita is also expected to involve members having to re-register to use online services. The rollout of Capita\u2019s full service offer is expected to be complete by the end of March 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n