The UK Cabinet Office is being forced to promise “interim support measures” for struggling retired government workers as Capita’s botched takeover of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) lurches from bad to worse.
The Cabinet Office has also tasked Angela MacDonald, deputy chief executive at HM Revenue & Customs, “to lead oversight of an urgent recovery plan.”
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The move was revealed in a statement by Civil Service COO Catherine Little and Capita CEO Adolfo Hernandez saying: “Capita and the Cabinet Office are deeply sorry for the worry, frustration, and distress this has caused – particularly for those dealing with bereavement or ill health.”
Capita has repeatedly referred to a backlog of 86,000 cases inherited from the previous provider, “a significant proportion of which was already overdue.”
The apology came almost two months after a Capita spokesperson said there had been some “teething problems” with the new CSPS web portal for members but claimed “we worked quickly with our partners to fix the issues.”
Capita promised “enhanced system design and digital innovation” when it won the £239 million contract to oversee the CSPS, an agreement that was scheduled to begin in September 2025.
The win came after a massive security breach in 2023 affecting its management of multiple pension schemes, including the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
This week, the Cabinet Office and Capita accepted there were “serious issues” affecting scheme members.
“Members have reported difficulty logging into the portal, incomplete pension details, long waits on customer service calls, and delays to pension quotes and payments. In some cases, this has caused financial hardship,” the statement said.
In addition to parachuting in MacDonald to implement a recovery plan, Capita and the Cabinet Office are focusing on “urgent bereavements, ill-health retirements, and hardship situations” as they prioritize cases.
A surge team of “over 150 additional staff” is being deployed to Capita to “support clearing the correspondence backlogs and speed up processing, bringing the total workforce to more than 650.”
The Register asked whether these 150 staff are civil servants or redeployed Capita staff.
Little and Hernandez said the Cabinet Office is working with departments “to agree interim support measures.”
The PCS union described the situation as a “fiasco,” which has delayed payments of pensions to “8,500 newly retired civil servants.”
A statement from PCS said: “In a letter to PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote, Cat Little sets out plans to make payments to those affected who are at risk of hardship. Further information is expected on this from employers within the next 24 hours.
“A swift response in cases of ill-health retirement and bereavement is promised, with full service for cases of bereavement restored by 12 February.”
However, PCS said: “It is clear that the backlog at Capita will take months to clear.”
It added that thousands of civil servants are facing hardship “as pensions and lump sums fail to arrive on time.” Some individuals were waiting more than nine months “for money they are legally entitled to receive.”
Heathcote said: “The government must ensure the Civil Service Pension Scheme is properly resourced and preferably brought back in house.”
Union FDA’s Assistant General Secretary, Adrian Prandle, told The Reg:
“Eight weeks after the transfer of the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita, the FDA remains deeply concerned that there is still no end in sight to the continuing failures and unfolding scandals.
“We acknowledge the backlog of cases handed over to Capita was more than double the expected number, issues experienced with Capita go deeper than delays. Issued faced by our members include difficulties logging into their pension portal, missing and incorrect data, inability of customer service helpline to deal with volume of calls and late payments to retired members.”
Current civil servants have been advised to await details from their department about how to access support. Former civil servants experiencing financial hardship, who have retired in the last year, are advised to contact their former departments.
“If you left more than 12 months ago, or you are a long-deferred member, pensioner or dependant, please raise hardship concerns with Capita,” the Capita/Cabinet Office statement stated. ®