{"id":806592,"date":"2026-10-18T13:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806592\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T13:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:06:12","slug":"kirkby-woman-burning-through-her-savings-as-she-hasnt-been-paid-for-eight-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806592\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirkby woman burning through her savings as she hasn’t been paid for eight months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ongoing pension crisis is having a devastating effect on people in Liverpool and tens of thousands of others across the country<\/p>\n

09:55, 18 Oct 2026Updated 09:59, 18 Oct 2026<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Blundell at home in Kirkby(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

A woman from Kirkby has not been paid for eight months due to the ongoing crisis around the civil service pension scheme, which is having a prolonged and devastating effect on tens of thousands of people across the country. Lisa Blundell has been given no assurances of when she will receive her pension entitlement, and despite “battling” every day to resolve the problem, she says she feels increasingly “powerless to do anything about it.”<\/p>\n

The Civil Service Pension Scheme, which manages the pensions of 1.7 million public sector workers<\/a>, has been unable to provide lump sums or regular payments to thousands of people since Capita took over the administration of the scheme in December last year.<\/p>\n

The Liverpool ECHO<\/a> first reported on the scale of the problems back in February, including details of people in Liverpool worried<\/a> about losing their homes<\/a>. The situation had become so desperate that one local MP likened it to the Post Office scandal..<\/p>\n

Capita was awarded the \u00a3239m contract by the previous Conservative government, and has apologised to those impacted, but said it inherited a backlog of approximately 86,000 cases. Nonetheless, by February, the backlog rose to more than 120,000 cases.<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Blundell with some of her correspondence from the DWP at home in Kirkby(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

During the same month, the government introduced a recovery plan, which included the deployment of 150 civil servants and 100 additional Capita staff to help clear the backlog and prioritise urgent cases. In addition, bout 4,000 emergency loans have been made to struggling members of the scheme, but not everyone is eligible, including Lisa.<\/p>\n

Eight months later, tens of thousands of retiring civil servants have still not been paid, including people like Lisa who has been forced to put her life on hold, as she burns through her savings just to get by.<\/p>\n

In August, six months after Lisa should have received her first payment, the ECHO<\/a> reported that Capita had still not resolved her pension request<\/a>, despite having submitted her official application in September 2025.<\/p>\n

Lisa previously described the situation as an ‘ongoing scandal’, adding: “I worked for the civil service for 24 years […] and retired in March this year. I’m now missing six months pension, and Capita cannot tell me when I will receive it either.”<\/p>\n

How pensions crisis is impacting people’s lives<\/p>\n

Lisa has kept us up to date regarding her case, emailing a few weeks ago to confirm there has been very little progress, and said she was now extremely worried about going into the winter without her pension income.<\/p>\n

She added: “The heating and electricity bills are about to jump up during the colder months, and then there’s all of the costs associated with Christmas. We’ve just had to tell people we won’t be able to do very much this year as I still haven’t been paid after all this time, and I’m just burning through savings now to get by. “<\/p>\n

The Cabinet Office wrote to Lisa on October 7, responding to a complaint she made about Capita miscalculating the period of her entitlement. She said Capita had provided a quote which hadn’t factored in approximately ten years of service and contributions.<\/p>\n

The government told Lisa that it is taking the matter seriously and pointed to its recent record, including withholding \u00a39.9m in contract payments to Capita, as well as facilitating a Remedial Adviser which has been appointed at Capita\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Blundell with some of her correspondence from the DWP at home in Kirkby(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Lisa said she appreciates the intervention and monitoring provided by the government, but in relation to Capita’s latest mistake, she added: “It is another example of their ‘can kicking’. They just need to work out a quote, they shouldn’t need to investigate anything.<\/p>\n

“[The assurance that] Capita will complete this at the earliest opportunity, considering this bizarre situation and past lack of speed, gives me no confidence.<\/p>\n

“All the while, I’m now back to waiting for an accurate quote from Capita, heading into my ninth month without any pension, using more and more savings, and with no idea when this nightmare will end.<\/p>\n

“Heating’s gone up loads and that’s playing on my mind constantly now. I’m having to really think about every expense, and not really living life, because I’m worried all the time.<\/p>\n

“It’s just so exhausting, that battle every single day, and you feel absolutely powerless to do anything about it.”<\/p>\n

Political pressure and advocacy from MPs in Merseyside<\/p>\n

Knowsley<\/a> MP Anneliese Midgley has been a vocal critic of Capita’s performance, and has spoken previously about the plight of some of her other constituents currently facing financial hardship due to administrative delays.<\/p>\n

Ms Midgley raised the issue again in the House of Commons (April 23), asking the Cabinet Office Minister, Nick Thomas\u2013Symonds why the Capita keeps securing contracts, and when the government will start fulfilling it’s promise to insource some government contracts.<\/p>\n

Ms Midgley said: “Capita’s management of the Civil Service pension scheme has been an absolute shambles. I\u2019ve got constituents who can’t meet their mortgage payments, who are having to defer their retirement, and who are not receiving the compensation that they deserve. It’s one in a very long list of failures”<\/p>\n

Also advocating for affected constituents is West Derby<\/a> MP Ian Byrne who led a debate in Parliament last month, and said he was working with 35 people impacted by Capita\u2019s \u201cfailure”.<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Byrne MP calls a debate about Capita’s management of pension scheme in Westminster Hall in September(Image: Parliament TV)<\/p>\n

Commenting on three cases in particular, Mr Byrne added: \u201cDavid should be able to reduce his hours to care for his elderly parents. James should not fear losing his home. Karen should be not left without an income, spending hours chasing a pension.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cCivil servants have served our country and our communities. They have paid into their pensions and planned their futures in good faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have kept their side of the bargain, Minister. It is time for the Government and the system for which it’s responsible to keep theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous comments and explanations about delays to pension payments<\/p>\n

The ECHO<\/a> reached out to Capita for an update on Lisa’s case. However, despite acknowledging the suggested timeline, as well as indicating a comment would be forthcoming, no response had been provided by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

In response to questions about Lisa’s situation, as well as the wider points about Capita’s performance, and the government’s management of the contract, a Cabinet Office spokesperson previously told us: “The service levels following the move to Capita have been completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n

“A recovery plan is in place, but our immediate priority is to stabilise the service and give current and former Civil Servants the service they deserve.”<\/p>\n

Addressing the complaints made by Lisa, as well as the general sense of dissatisfaction with its handling of civil service pensions, a spokesperson for Capita provided a statement on August 13, stating: \u201cWe continue to work at pace to resolve the operational issues in collaboration with the Cabinet Office.<\/p>\n

“Despite the progress made to date, we recognise the service has not been good enough, particularly for members waiting on bereavement, retirement, and quotation cases, and we are sorry for the impact this has had on those members.”<\/p>\n

Ensure our latest news and what’s on headlines always appear at the top of your Google search by making us a preferred source. Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as a preferred source in your Google search settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ongoing pension crisis is having a devastating effect on people in Liverpool and tens of thousands of others…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,3363,4176,59,2217,28899,708,229,2221,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-806592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-finance","tag-gb","tag-kirkby","tag-knowsley","tag-liverpool","tag-politics","tag-state-pension","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806592","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=806592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}