When Richard Evans broke down at work six months ago, he knew something had to change.
He’d been struggling since the Covid-19 lockdown and after 36 years in the Civil Service, the effect on his mental health had become too much.
With support from his manager, he lightened the load with partial retirement, allowing him to work three days a week instead of five and use part of his pension to bridge the gap financially.
But a month into his new life, he still has no idea when his pension will arrive – forcing him to borrow from his children to get by.
Evans, 56, is one of 8,500 members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, run by outsourcing giant Capita, who have had their pensions, lump sums and death benefit payments delayed.
As a result, he is also one of almost 800 retirees forced to apply for government crisis loans of up to £10,000 to tide them over, which are interest-free but must be repaid in full.
Instead of enjoying more time for walking, rugby, and preparing for the quiz nights he hosts, Evans has been forced into borrowing £5,000 to make ends meet and has had to rely on his children until it arrives.
“There is no choice but to do it this way because I’m only on 60pc pay. The whole point of going partial was to take the lump sum at the outset, pay the mortgage off, pay a few old debts off and that would leave me about £750 a month better off and make life a bit easier,” he says.
“60pc pay doesn’t even cover the bills, so I’m having to rely on my kids to help.
“It’s embarrassing. I’m quite traditional, it’s my job to provide for them, not for them to provide for me.”
‘I’m just treading water’
Evans’ battle began in December last year, when he applied for partial retirement from his role at Companies House on health grounds.
The initiative gives civil servants a chance to request a reshaping of their job, usually by reducing their hours or taking a lower-paid role, provided their pay drops by at least 20pc. They can then access their pension to bridge the gap.
His application landed a week after Capita took over the pension scheme from previous administrators MyCSP, but he had no reason to be concerned.
Once it was approved by his employer, he made the switch to partial retirement on March 16, expecting his lump sum a couple of weeks later and his pension shortly afterwards.
However, neither arrived, and he still has not heard anything from Capita.
He says: “I was hoping to get the lump sum by the end of March, but they have given me no idea when the pension starts paying in. Absolutely none.
“I rang Capita about two weeks ago and the guy was quite helpful. He said he’d escalate my case, but I’ve heard nothing back since.
“It’s like I’m treading water. I did this for a couple of reasons and I can’t enjoy what I’m doing until that happens. It’s the next part of my life that I want to move on to, and it feels like I can’t make the most of it until this is all sorted out.”
Richard spoke to a ‘helpful’ spokesman who promised to escalate his case, but he has not yet heard back – Jay Williams
£4m in government crisis loans
Capita has come under heavy fire from trade unions and from MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) over the widespread delays. However, service levels aren’t expected to return to normal until June at the earliest.
In addition to the pension delays, the firm’s total caseload backlog topped 120,000 as recently as February. As a result, ill-health retirements have still not been processed, bereavement cases are outstanding and 21,000 people are now awaiting quotes for how much they are entitled to.
Since setting up a dedicated, interest-free crisis loan scheme last month, the Government has sent £4m to struggling retirees, some of whom found themselves unable to meet their rent and mortgage payments.
At the same time, Capita is facing an investigation from the Information Commissioner’s Office after admitting to a second data breach in three years, marking the latest in a litany of crucial mistakes.
The firm spent 27 years running the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, but was stripped of a new £234m 10-year contract in 2023.
During its tenure, lengthy delays left thousands of teachers unable to finalise their divorces, while administrative failures meant some pensions were thousands of pounds lower than they should have been.
However, the same year, Capita won a new £239m deal to run the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
During the subsequent two-year transition period, a scathing National Audit Office report, released last summer, found that key milestones had been missed and the Cabinet Office withheld £9.6m in contractual payments.
Then, last October, a report from the PAC, which scrutinises financial accounts and value for money, concluded there was “a clear risk” that Capita was not ready to take over in December.
However, the firm did assume control on time and is now responsible for making £8.7bn in pension payments to 741,000 pensioners, along with handling almost £8bn a year in incoming contributions.
In the meantime, it has also secured another 10-year, £370m contract to provide payroll and HR services for four major government departments.
Capita told The Telegraph it was making “sustained progress” in addressing the backlog inherited from MyCSP by training and deploying additional staff, and apologised for the distress and frustration caused. The Cabinet Office said an urgent recovery plan was underway and that its immediate priority was stabilising the service.
This is, however, of little comfort to people like Evans. The complete lack of contact from Capita continues to leave him in limbo.
He adds: “This £5,000 hardship loan I’m getting should be a gift from Capita to say ‘look, we are sorry and we’ve given this to tide you over’. They must be getting financially penalised and if they are, why doesn’t that come to the people affected?
“Capita had two years to prepare for this. It’s plenty of time to do due diligence. You’ve got the knowledge, the experience. You can’t go into a contract of this size without knowing what you’ve taken on.
“MyCSP, the Cabinet Office and Capita are all at fault here and all three need to be held accountable.”
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