![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bc649f97-ea4e-45bf-9044-c209abd582e1.jpeg\")
\nCatherine Costello <\/p>\n
On 1 December 2025, Capita took over the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Within four weeks, the scheme \u2013 which had already been a troubled service under the previous provider MyCSP \u2013 was facing a ballooning crisis of missed payments, delayed quotes and lost data.<\/p>\n
On 28 January, the Cabinet Office announced an urgent recovery plan. A surge team of civil servants led by HMRC second permanent secretary Angela MacDonald was parachuted in. Initial data suggested 8,500 retired civil servants had not received payments, and that there were 6,300 open bereavement-related cases.<\/p>\n
Capita said it expected to restore service levels for the most urgent cases by the end of February. A hardship loan scheme was also set up, offering \u00a35,000 or \u00a310,000 (and more recently up to \u00a320,000) to those who had retired from the civil service in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the service members deserve,\u201d Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little and Capita chief executive Alfonso Hernandez said in a statement accompanying the recovery plan. \u201c[We are] deeply sorry for the worry, frustration and distress this has caused \u2013 particularly for those dealing with bereavement or ill health.”<\/p>\n
Four months later, there still remain people in these categories who have not experienced any progress on their cases.<\/p>\n
\u2018After nine months of having the same conversation, it\u2019s really affecting me\u2019<\/p>\n
Two weeks after the commitment was made to prioritise bereavement cases, Capita narrowed its initial focus to death-in-service cases, and in mid-March said these cases were being managed in line with the service members should expect.<\/p>\n
For Matt Latham, whose mother died in service aged 63 in August 2025, having worked for the DWP for 40 years, there has been no such progress.<\/p>\n
Matt notified MyCSP of the death of his mum, Julie Himmons, in August but nine months on, he and his brother \u2013 who were the named beneficiaries of their mum\u2019s pension \u2013 have not received a penny, despite contacting MyCSP and then Capita every week for months on end.<\/p>\n
Adding to this distress, Matt says each time he calls Capita and presses the number to speak to the bereavement team, he is asked whether he has reported his mum’s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it very difficult to move on when every week I have to have the same conversation, and the start of that conversation is, \u2018have you told us your mum’s died?\u2019 Matt says, speaking to CSW. \u201cI’m not the sort of person that gets easily stressed by things, but after nine months of having the same conversation with no progress, it’s really negatively impacting me. Each time he calls Capita they also tell him that his case has been \u201cescalated\u201d \u2013 a word that has, according to Civil Service Pensioners Alliance general secretary Sally Tsoukaris, become \u201cpretty meaningless\u201d.<\/p>\n
Matt says the advisers he speaks to are \u201calways very polite and professional, but they’ve been given a script to relay by the sounds of it, and each time I speak to somebody, the goalposts are moved. Earlier this year I was told that everything was going to be sorted by February. That came and went. Then it was March, and now it’s June. And there just is never any tangible progress at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody agrees it’s appalling, but there just is no end in sight. My local MP’s office has written to the minister in charge to investigate it personally so there is no higher escalation route at this stage. I’ve spoken to people like Citizens Advice and solicitors, none of them can help. So I’m literally at the mercy of Capita, and when they choose to contact me to let me know what’s going on. I don’t know if I’m going to receive anything, I don’t know when I’m going to receive anything, I don\u2019t know how much it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt says all he knows is that the last person he spoke to on the phone told him that bereavement cases at Capita have 67 tasks that need to be completed, and his case was at step 30.<\/p>\n
Matt logged a formal complaint with Capita in December but says he has only received a generic acknowledgement email.<\/p>\n
Philip, whose wife died in September 2025, six months after being pensioned off under ill health and commuting her pension to a lump sum, is in a similar situation.<\/p>\n
Eight months on, he has still not received the portion of the lump sum he is entitled to despite MyCSP confirming in October that they had received the required documents and telling him in November that he was set to receive the lump sum later that month.<\/p>\n
Like many others, he has asked his MP and the Civil Service Pensioners Alliance to advocate for him.<\/p>\n
The most recent response he got was identical to that of Matt: \u201cThe only thing they can tell me is I’m on step number 30 and there’s 68 steps to processing the pension, and [to] give them a ring back in another few weeks \u2013 even though they were supposed to have processed all urgent cases and bereavements by the end of April.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Philip waits for the payment, his income is just \u00a3191 a fortnight in Employment Support Allowance and he is having to use his savings to keep going because he is \u201cnot in a mental position really to consider going back to work\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of any answers or any money is having a massive detrimental effect on me,\u201d he tells CSW.<\/p>\n
Since stepping up to lead the recovery plan four months ago, MacDonald has provided regular updates on progress, albeit with some gaps in information concerning death-in-service and bereavement cases. Update three on 12 March said that \u201call existing death-in-service cases were addressed by 28 February\u201d and that bereavement cases were \u201cbeing triaged daily and routed for immediate action\u201d. It took until update eight, published on 28 May, for the subject to be addressed again: \u201cWe continue to see escalations from understandably distressed members who are having to retire due to ill health or where there is bereavement, whether for a member in service or an already retired member,\u201d MacDonald said. \u201cThis is an area where we had been informed that service had significantly improved and therefore it is very disappointing to see that this is not what is happening. We are working with employers and with Capita to identify relevant cases and address the poor service delivery. I am sorry this is happening, it is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
As people like Matt and Philip, whose cases were handed to Capita on 1 December, reach the nine-month mark of their wait for the money they are entitled to, others like Mikki King and Coral Saunders \u2013 whose husbands passed away after the transition to Capita \u2013 are going through similar ordeals.<\/p>\n
Mikki\u2019s husband had severe dementia and died on 11 December 2025. She is still awaiting news of when she will receive the money she is entitled to from his pension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am lucky to a certain extent that I have got some money I can use to live on,\u201d she says. But she says her savings \u201cvastly depreciated\u201d before her husband\u2019s death as his care costs reached \u00a31,700 a week.<\/p>\n
Coral\u2019s husband died in February this year. With no clue as to when she will receive a portion of his pension, she says she is having to restrict her activity at a time when she needs to visit her family, who live far away. \u201cThey just really need to check that I am who I say I am and downrate his pension to the widow’s pension,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I’m frustrated that it’s taking them so very long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to CSW about the ongoing issues, MacDonald says: \u201cBereavement is a profoundly difficult time for families, and I sympathise completely with those who feel let down by the pension scheme. They deserve that vital support and have every right to expect it, so it\u2019s unacceptable it hasn\u2019t happened for so many spouses and families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already helped lots of families and real progress has been made, but it\u2019s clear that we have not yet managed to help everybody. As you go through any recovery like this, you learn lessons \u2013 but we are continually redoubling our efforts to identify cases that have been missed and to unblock them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explains that as the recovery has progressed, the \u201cflow of data\u201d has improved and the team has identified and escalated more cases, not just for bereavements, but also for ill-health retirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been communicating updates on the Civil Service Pensions website every couple of weeks. Everyone\u2019s circumstances are slightly different, so it can be challenging to communicate sufficient detail to address everyone\u2019s individual situation,\u201d she says. \u201cBut regular communication is still the right thing to do, so that people have as much information as possible. At the heart of every one of these data points is a family, or a person who is at a really critical point in their life \u2013 that\u2019s at the forefront of everything we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018It was so demeaning\u2019: From nightmare to relief<\/p>\n
While the wait goes on for many, others have finally experienced an end to months of distress.<\/p>\n
Catherine Costello was a civil servant at the DWP for 18 years. She had stopped working and received her last salary payment in February 2025 and was given six months\u2019 early retirement through ill health from 1 August 2025.<\/p>\n
Six months later, on 28 January, she finally received her lump sum. She then had to wait until 1 May for her first monthly pension payment.<\/p>\n
During that wait, Catherine used up all of her savings to pay her bills, and eventually had to turn to her neighbour to be able to survive. She says this was \u201csoul destroying\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, my husband died five years ago. I don’t have a family that I can turn to and say, \u2018I need money to pay this bill or that bill or to buy food.\u2019 Fortunately, I’ve got a fantastic neighbour, and I don’t know how I can ever thank them for what they did to help me out. I’ve paid back what I’ve owed them, but to think I’ve had to go to somebody’s door and ask them to help me out financially. Never in all my life have I had to do that. I was so depressed. My neighbour was in and out of my house all the time because she was a bit worried about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCatherine Costello
<\/p>\n
Despite the trauma Catherine went through, she sees herself as one of the lucky ones, thanks to the determined efforts of her local MP Frank McNally who, having sent a letter to Capita in November to no avail, raised Catherine\u2019s case in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
Catherine phoned Capita the following Monday and says the call handler told her the payment would be in her bank the next day. It arrived one week after McNally had raised her case in parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn’t thank him enough for what he did,\u201d Catherine says about McNally\u2019s efforts. \u201cBut you shouldn’t have to go to an MP to get your money.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she finally received her pension she says it came with no information, and despite her efforts, including being held on one call for four and a half hours, she still hasn\u2019t had any explanation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve got my money now, but I don’t know if it’s right. I haven’t a clue because I’ve got no paperwork to support it, to question it. It\u2019s just been a total nightmare, but I see a wee bit of light at the end of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, like many, she is waiting for compensation, which she has been told will take a few more months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want compensation for the length of time it’s taken, the money that I’ve had to borrow \u2013 I didn’t just pay back my neighbour what I owed her, I bought her a lovely gift for being so nice \u2013 the worry, the stress it put me through, and then the interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
End of June pledge \u2018feels fanciful\u2019<\/p>\n
Soon after the recovery plan was launched, Capita pledged it would hit standard contractual levels for all cases by the end of June.<\/p>\n
But among civil service unions only Adrian Prandle, the assistant general secretary of the FDA union, which represents mid-ranking and senior civil servants, is even slightly positive that this pledge might be fulfilled. Speaking to CSW, he says he is \u201chopeful but not confident\u201d of Capita meeting the target.<\/p>\n
Angela Grant, DWP Group president at PCS, the civil service\u2019s biggest union, told the union\u2019s annual conference last month that the union has \u201clittle faith\u201d in Capita hitting the deadline.<\/p>\n
Worse still, Steve Thomas, deputy general secretary at Prospect, the union for specialist civil servants, says the service \u201cfeels like it\u2019s getting worse rather than better\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thomas says Prospect has been supportive of the recovery plan and the prioritisation choices. But, he adds, \u201cthe longer this goes on, the more it feels that getting the service back to service levels by the end of June just feels completely fanciful, and highly unlikely to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
As the taskforce focuses on priority cases, Thomas says the more day-to-day issues \u201care slipping and getting worse\u201d.<\/p>\n
Getting outstanding retirement quotes issued to members by the end of June \u2013 a promise that is emblazoned at the top of the Civil Service Pension Scheme website\u2013 is one of the biggest remaining challenges. As of 23 April, there were 23,000 quotations waiting to be processed. Getting them all done by the end of this month would mean processing 2,300 a week on average from 23 April to 30 June. Earlier this year, Capita was managing only around 400 per week, but by mid-May MacDonald said Capita had achieved 2,500 in one week.<\/p>\n
Despite this progress, Prospect\u2019s pension officer Neil Walsh says it looks unlikely the target will be achieved. He says the uncertainty is \u201cblighting everyone’s plans\u201d and it would be better if Capita extended the deadline to a more realistic date.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they said, \u2018we’re 100% certain we’ll get there in the middle of July,\u2019 then that would be easier for members,\u201d he says. \u201cThey’d know: \u2018If I retire this year, I’m going to have to plan for a period of time when I’m retired and there’s no pension being paid \u2013 I can cope with that and take that into account\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the event that Capita does manage to reach service levels by the end of June, Walsh cautions that it would take until November for all pension scheme members to be getting their payment on time, as the normal process takes up to four months from the point of a quote being issued to a pension being paid.<\/p>\n
MacDonald tells CSW that once quotes are issued, most first payments\u00a0should come through in July or August, but acknowledges that for more complex cases Capita will need to back with further questions, delaying payments.<\/p>\n
A Capita spokesperson said: \u201cWe continue to work with the Cabinet Office to establish normal service levels. Additional trained resource remains in place, and our focus is on ensuring members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme receive the service they expect and deserve. We are sorry for the worry and frustration these delays are causing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putting off retirement: \u2018The next stage of where this goes wrong\u2019<\/p>\n
An emerging worry among unions is the number of civil servants who are putting off retirement plans until the crisis is sorted.<\/p>\n
Prandle warns that even when things start to get back on track, there will be a \u201cheavy flow\u201d of cases to deal with from those who have been waiting for the issues to pass.<\/p>\n
According to Thomas, the crisis is having \u201creal world impacts on people’s decision making and their thoughts about retiring or partially retiring, and the confidence to be able to plan for that\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn an individual basis, that’s hugely challenging and massively stressful, but also operationally, for departments, who are thinking about workforce planning and who’s going to be retiring when.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has a really significant corrosive effect on trust in the process, as well as an operational impact on workforce planning.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Walsh says there could also be a major financial impact, as Prospect estimates thousands of people have \u201clooked at this whole mess and said, even though I wanted to retire in April, I don’t know what I’m going to get and I can’t afford to take the risk that I’m going to be getting nothing for this long. That’s a hugely significant loss to somebody to put off the next stage of their lives for months because the pension administrator can’t do their job. And we would say that those members are entitled to compensation for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walsh says when you add those to the people who have been waiting months for payment \u201cand are clearly entitled to compensation\u2026you’re looking at tens of thousands of people\u2026[and] many tens of millions of pounds. Who’s going to fund that\u2026and who’s going to process these tens of thousands of complaints?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s probably the next stage of where this is going to go wrong\u201d, Walsh says.<\/p>\n
However, MacDonald tells CSW the historical trend of civil servants retiring at a rate of around 1,000 a week has not changed much.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know some people have withdrawn or deferred their application for retirement and we know how distressing and unacceptable that is \u2013 but overall, the volume of new quote requests has not changed significantly compared to what the usual trends would be,\u201d she says. \u201cWe will of course ensure we are prepared for any change in that trend, but as things stand, we haven\u2019t seen this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking beyond those currently close to retirement, Walsh says there is also an impact on mid-career officials due to there being no working retirement modeller since December.<\/p>\n
\u2018A breath of fresh air\u2019: Angela MacDonald<\/p>\n
There remains much to do to turn around the scheme, but one thing seems clear from CSW\u2019s conversations \u2013 the impact of MacDonald and her surge taskforce.<\/p>\n
Thomas says MacDonald has done \u201ca great job\u201d and been \u201ca real breath of fresh air to deal with\u201d, while Prandle says he\u2019d \u201chate to think what state the scheme would be in if [the taskforce] hadn’t gone in and worked for Capita over the last few months”.<\/p>\n
With MacDonald retiring at the end of July, there are some concerns about that transition.<\/p>\n
Tsoukaris says: \u201cWe are a bit concerned about what happens once she’s no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’d rather get through the rest of this year without that sort of change; she has made a very positive impact \u2013 but we have to respect her decision,” Prandle adds.<\/p>\n
![\"Angela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c932151c-8d74-4ab9-a273-ad3c15121070.jpeg\")
\nAngela MacDonald. Photo: GOV.UK
<\/p>\n
MacDonald tells CSW there is \u201clots of work going on to ensure we can sustain the effort into the long term and I\u2019m confident we will do so\u201d. She says she has been working closely with the Cabinet Office leadership team to ensure the right people and structures are firmly in place for the future, including the forthcoming appointment of a new permanent full-time operational director to take over from her.<\/p>\n
As the end of June deadline draws closer, MacDonald says the recovery has helped thousands of members so far and she is \u201cproud of all the efforts that have gone into achieving that\u201d.<\/p>\n
She says many parts of the scheme are working as they should \u2013 with around 730,000 pensioners remaining \u201cfirmly, consistently in payment\u201d through the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I know that is little comfort for thousands of people who are yet to get what they need,\u201d MacDonald says. \u201cThe work will continue until that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven once the scheme does hit its recovery targets, we also recognise that it will take much longer to rebuild trust with members,\u201d she adds. \u201cThis is ultimately about their experience \u2013 so we are going to have to deliver a strong experience for a long time in order to convince people that this is a service they can rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 1 December 2025, Capita took over the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Within four weeks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-621088","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\/621088","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=621088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}