scheme transferred from MyCSP to Capita<\/a>, roughly 8,500 retired members were waiting for their delayed pension to be paid and some 7,000 dependents\u2019 pensions were outstanding. \u00a0<\/p>\nProspect says that as of 23 April there were 23,000 delayed retirement quotes awaiting processing. It says all of those scheme members are likely to have grounds to claim for financial and other losses arising from \u201cmaladministration\u201d, while \u201ctens of thousands of other scheme members\u201d could also submit complaints.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The union says \u201csubstantial extra resources\u201d will clearly be needed to handle complaints. It notes that in 2024-25 MyCSP received 339 Internal Dispute Resolution Stage 1 appeals and the Cabinet Office received 143 Stage 2 appeals, while the Pensions Ombudsman received a total of 9,610 complaints related to occupational pension schemes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prospect\u2019s letter to Little says it is \u201cvital\u201d for the Cabinet Office to put necessary resources in place to deal with a surge in complaints about serious maladministration. It acknowledges that there is uncertainty about what the actual numbers will\u00a0be, but\u00a0says\u00a0the department must \u201cregularly monitor\u201d complaints statistics so that\u00a0additional\u00a0staff can be drafted in if numbers turn out to be \u201csignificantly higher\u201d than expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Concerns over \u2018compensation cap\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prospect\u2019s letter to MPs expresses concern that the Cabinet Office, which is ultimately responsible for oversight of the CSPS, does not anticipate circumstances where compensation of more than \u00a32,000 will be payable to scheme members in relation to \u201cnon-financial loss\u201d \u2013 such as distress or inconvenience. \u00a0<\/p>\n
It says that although the figure is in line with Pensions Ombudsman guidance that compensation above \u00a32,000 \u201cis only payable in exceptional cases\u201d, many scheme members will have been impacted in ways that meet that definition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The union\u2019s letter to Little warns: \u201cAny attempt to effectively cap, or otherwise systematically underpay, compensation for non-financial losses would be unacceptable, particularly in the context of the serious detriment these members have already suffered. It would also undermine confidence in the process and ultimately generate substantial numbers of complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cabinet Office usually decides who\u00a0is responsible for\u00a0paying compensation that it\u00a0determines\u00a0CSPS members are owed. Prospect said the background to the transfer of scheme administration\u00a0from\u00a0MyCSP\u00a0to Capita\u00a0could make it \u201cmore difficult than usual\u201d to attribute blame and recover\u00a0payment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Risk of \u2018further disrepute\u2019 for CSPS\u00a0<\/p>\n
CSPS administrator Capita and the Cabinet Office are currently working towards returning the pension scheme to agreed service levels by the end of next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Prospect said that CSPS \u201crecovery\u201d will not have been achieved until members\u2019 complaints have been determined and compensation has been paid. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Deputy general secretary Steve Thomas said confidence in the management of the scheme would not be restored if thousands of members are forced to \u201cwait years\u201d for determination of their complaints and payment of compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe handling of members\u2019 complaints has the potential to cause significant additional distress and bring management of the scheme into further disrepute,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is already the worst case of pension mismanagement I have ever seen. Failing to put the necessary resources in place to deal with the inevitable increase in complaints would make things even worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTens of thousands of retired scheme members and dependants have experienced delays receiving pensions. Tens of thousands of active members considering retirement are waiting for delayed quotes. Tens of thousands more have already delayed their retirement due to this chaos. Hundreds of thousands of younger scheme members have been affected in numerous other ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot be sure what proportions of members with a legitimate complaint will use the scheme\u2019s Internal Dispute Resolution process, but it will be many multiples the level ever experienced before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Cabinet\u00a0Office\u00a0spokesperson said: \u201cThe service levels following the move to Capita have been unacceptable. An urgent recovery plan is under way, and our immediate priority is to stabilise the service and give current and former civil servants the service they deserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cabinet Office will continue to use all available commercial levers to hold Capita to account and ensure they deliver for both members and taxpayers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This story was updated at 16:30 on 22 May 2026 to include a Cabinet Office response<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government is not geared up to deal with the \u201ctsunami\u201d of complaints and requests for compensation that will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-599575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}