(1 day, 9 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Sally Jameson)
I wish to provide the House with an update on the administration of the civil service pension scheme. I must declare my own interest as I hold a civil service pension with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
As we know, the previous Government awarded the contract to Capita in 2023. Earlier this year, in response to significant performance issues, the Government intervened to increase scrutiny and oversight of the scheme’s administration. Capita committed to recovery milestones for April and for June, both of which it failed to meet. In June, we exercised our contractual rights and mandated Capita to produce a rectification plan and—at Capita’s expense—appoint a remedial adviser to assess the plan. The Government also appointed an independent auditor to assess the effectiveness of Capita’s operational arrangements up to July.
Capita committed to the House to deliver recovery milestones in September, which it states it has achieved. However, I want to be clear that that does not reflect members’ lived experience or my own correspondence. Those were self-imposed, self-determined and self-assured targets. Many hon. Members, unions and scheme members have written to me asking why, if Capita has met those targets, they still do not have their quote, their pension remains unpaid and they are struggling with no income despite years of commitment and public service. Building on the good work in holding Capita to account undertaken by my predecessors, my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) and my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Test (Satvir Kaur), I have taken further clear and definitive action to continue that work and ensure that Capita has its feet held to the fire.
We have seen some small improvement on priority cases, with Capita now processing more than it receives, and I acknowledge that Capita staff on the ground are working hard in difficult conditions. We are also seeing some slow improvement on technology, with Capita confirming that increased volumes are being managed through automation. It is also rolling out new tools that allow eligible spouses and dependants to view pension payslips and make online inquiries.
However, the question remains: why has it taken this scale of Government intervention to force Capita to act? Since taking up this role, I have met the CEO and his senior team twice, and on both occasions expressed in no uncertain terms my outrage at their performance throughout this contract. We were promised
“the most AI-enabled Pensions service”.
It is fair to say that Capita has comprehensively failed to deliver on that commitment. The progress overall has been abysmal. Complex issues remain unresolved for too long—1,800 cases for more than a year. Although some individuals have more than one case, too many members and family are still left waiting in limbo. The administration issues have also had a knock-on effect on the progress of Capita’s work on the McCloud remedy. I will update the House on that issue next month.
The House will be aware that my predecessors rightly directed Capita to appoint a remedial adviser and Cabinet Office to appoint an independent auditor through the Government Internal Audit Agency. My officials have this month received the remedial advisory report and the auditor’s interim report, giving independent and objective perspectives. It will not shock this House that the independent adviser’s report clearly shows that Capita’s rectification planning was wholly insufficient, its technology was weak, and its ambition was falling well short of restoring the quality services that members deserve. Poor performance has been evident, but the reports now provide detailed and actionable recommendations, including a new recovery plan for the whole service, with a road map for technology and a focus on data.
The remedial advisory report concluded that, in a service whose success firmly relied on automation, Capita did not deliver the promised technology, that it had not been applying the right techniques to understand demand, productivity and capacity, and that it had not put in place effective mechanisms to detect and escalate failure. Well, I have certainly detected a lot of failure, as have many in this House. For the sake of the dedicated people who are waiting for their pensions, we must not allow the service to fail them further. It is clear that Capita cannot do that on its own. A new plan is needed.
I agreed with Capita executives that Cabinet Office officials would work with Capita to develop a credible, workable and realistic recovery plan for which Capita alone will be held to account. I can confirm that, for the first time, Cabinet Office officials now have full access to Capita systems and data. I have put in place expert teams to work alongside Capita to agree priorities, improve quality and processes, and ensure that pensions are paid correctly.
The new recovery plan is made up of five workstreams. The first three workstreams look at cases of differing levels of complexity, the fourth ensures that significant exercises such as the McCloud remedy are not overlooked, and the fifth, on technology, tackles issues around infrastructure that support delivery. We will require Capita to evidence its focus on fixing complex cases, ensuring that this plan makes the difference that Capita’s original plan could not. Capita has committed that every member with a complex case will be written to in the next month, ensuring that they understand where they are in the system and how they will be supported. Old cases will no longer be allowed to sit on backlogs without progress. Any stuck quote or payment will be actively managed through revised complex case management.
Capita’s new plans will be further supported by challenge and advice from a new group of senior experts, drawn from across the civil service and led by the Cabinet Office. These problems were not created by civil servants, but it will be through the expertise, commitment and perseverance of the civil service that operational delivery is supported and we shape the solutions with Capita. Capita must be open and transparent. We will be publishing fortnightly scheme updates on the pension scheme website, with the number of outstanding complex cases broken down by age, the service levels for straightforward cases and the number of other tasks that are outstanding. We will do so until performance has been stabilised.
I want to be clear that while we are leaning in with expertise, Capita remains absolutely accountable for service delivery. It will need to deliver its contractual obligations and pay for its failures. We will continue to apply commercial levers to recover costs incurred, including holding back nearly £10 million of statements. Throughout this crisis, hon. Members have shown why they and their teams are so valued by their constituents. To support that, we have delivered over 1,300 surgeries for more than 320 MPs. I will provide further updates on the progress of our recovery plan in the coming months.
In addition to the immediate ongoing recovery plan, I want to update the House on the longer-term strategy for the scheme. Following our previous commitments to Parliament, my officials have led an extensive programme of engagement with trade unions, practitioners and experts. The evidence from those sessions was clear: restoring operational resilience and member trust must be the approach. I have instructed my officials to evaluate the viability of a range of future delivery options, including insourcing all core business operations.
There are a number of different insourcing models in operation across the public sector that we will learn from, and we will consider which is the best approach to take for the civil service pension scheme and all the other schemes that it interacts with. Once those assessments are complete, I will return to the House to provide a further update, but in the here and now, Capita must deliver.
This Government inherited a broken, outsourced administration. We cannot replace a complex pension operation overnight, but let me be clear: this Government will hold Capita to account and continue to apply the most stringent commercial levers, and we will not rest until every civil servant receives the pension they are entitled to. I commend this statement to the House.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
I thank the Minister for the briefing she gave last week to me and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart), and for early sight of her statement. I note that it arrived in unusually good time and hope that other ministerial offices will learn from her good example.
The latest figures in the Government’s 5 October update are deeply concerning. As of the end of last month, more than 1,900 cases in four priority categories were more than 100 days old. Of those, just over 1,500 were labelled non-workable, with a further two death-in-service cases in data triage. That includes 1,049 bereavement cases and eight ill-health retirement cases, all classified as non-workable. That is not acceptable.
Recent reporting also raised the prospect of bereaved families facing severe tax consequences because of delays to death-in-service benefits. Reports have suggested that the Government plan to make those bereaved families claw back this money via the Pensions Ombudsman, rather than preventing His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from taxing delayed claims. To make matters worse, the Pensions Ombudsman itself estimates an 18-month wait to resolve cases. Will the Minister reassure the House and all those watching outside that this is not the case and that bereaved families will not have to proactively claw back that tax?
The Minister mentioned the delivery of surgeries to many Members of this House. Last month, my casework team had a surgery with a member of Capita staff. They were expecting to come away with updates to pass on to affected constituents, but for all the cases that were discussed, there were no updates whatsoever, leaving them feeling that the surgery was a total waste of time. I know that other hon. Members have reported similar experiences. What hope do affected constituents have when reaching out to Capita if it is prepared to tell our teams that nothing has been done on their cases?
The warnings about Capita were there in black and white, and not only from earlier this year, as the Minister suggested. The contract of Capita’s predecessor, MyCSP, was extended to December 2025 to allow a two-year transition nearly 18 months of which was under the current Government. There were several milestones during those 18 months that Capita failed, but the new Government chose not to act. The National Audit Office’s June 2025 report identified many missed milestones and risks around operational readiness and data transfer. The Public Accounts Committee subsequently warned of further missed milestones and the need for contingency plans, but still the new Government chose to allow the new contract to go ahead and gave it that final go-ahead.
Issues with Capita have been reported across several Government contracts. Under the new provisions in the Procurement Act 2023, the Government could refer Capita to the Debarment Review Service for investigation to prevent it from winning further similar contracts. Does the Minister plan to do so?
The people affected by these failings did everything asked of them. They paid into the scheme, and they served this country as civil servants. They should not have to chase their own pensions, borrow for basic bills or wait months for basic updates. I ask the Minister to give the House clear deadlines and to set out how every affected member will receive their payments, and to explain why she is so confident that the assurances that Capita now gives her will deliver results when the assurances of improvements so repeatedly given to this House by her predecessor have amounted to so very little for those retired public servants, who cannot wait any longer.
Finally, I agree with the Minister that Capita should be made to put things right. Cancelling the contract would result in more disruption, but surely there is only so long for which she will put up with failed targets and broken promises of improvements, so what preparations and contingencies will her Department put in place if it is necessary to cancel this contract, and what criteria will she use for deciding when we reach that point?
Sally Jameson
I thank the Opposition spokesperson for his questions. Let me start by saying that I am not making excuses for Capita, and I am not here to defend its triaging of workable or unworkable cases. I made it very clear to the Capita CEO when I met him on two occasions that I do not recognise those categories—it is either done or it is not, frankly. I will not make excuses for that.
In relation to the cases of bereaved families, particularly the families of those who have died under the age of 75, the Cabinet Office has identified that a very small number are at the 18-month point. There is huge focus on ensuring that those cases are resolved before the two-year point, and we will continue to do that with any cases that might fall into that bracket, so that we do not find ourselves in a position where anyone would end up paying tax as a result of having to wait two years for these pension issues to be resolved.
In relation to the casework surgeries, I understand that sometimes the answers people get back are not satisfactory, and that is because Capita’s performance overall is not satisfactory. All the casework surgeries can do is let people know where they are in the system. For a lot of people, that is not good. We are continuing to work to improve the service through the rectification plan. Over time, that should mean that people have a better experience with casework surgeries—as, frankly, the answers should be getting better.
I think this rectification plan will be different from previous plans that Capita has set out because this time the Cabinet Office has access to all the data and to the Capita systems. It has taken the advice of the remedial adviser and worked alongside Capita to help produce this rectification plan, meaning that it is of a better quality. We can now hold Capita to account in relation to that plan, using its systems and using the numbers and data in the correct way, and we will not be quoting things like “unworkable cases” or having all sorts of different triaging mechanisms that make no sense to anybody else.
On the “go live” issues referenced by the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood), by November 2025 assessments indicated that Capita had made significant progress since the Public Accounts Committee hearing in July. The only alternative would have been extending the contract with the incumbent, MyCSP, but anyone who had any involvement with MyCSP would have known it was equally abysmal. The comparative risk assessment conducted in October 2025 concluded that an extension would have been commercially and operationally unacceptable, and presented a significantly greater risk than transitioning. Let me gently say that if, in the 14 years prior, the Conservative party had not stripped our public services to the point where we were reliant on companies like Capita all the time, we might have found ourselves in a different position.
On the question of other contracts in the future, the hon. Gentleman rightly identified that the Procurement Act 2023 will allow Government Departments to look at previous poor performance. It would not be right for me to comment at this time on whether anyone is subject to, or being looked at in relation to, debarment.
Finally, as with any contract of this size, the Cabinet Office always has contingency plans in place should they be required.
Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for initiating this statement on civil service pensions and for her strong commitment to hold Capita to account, because we are still getting no updates or progress even on the cases that we were told were a priority, particularly those relating to the bereaved. I know she knows the hardship and anxiety this is causing out there, so in the short term will she push those priority cases harder? I join other hon. Members in supporting her to sort this out.
Sally Jameson
I will indeed be holding Capita’s feet to the fire every single step of the way on the rectification plan. Now that we have access to the Capita systems, we will be able to track its progress every single day, as I know Cabinet Office officials are doing. As I said in the statement, we will be publishing figures every two weeks so that people can see for themselves how Capita is performing. If it is not up to scratch, I will return to the House.
Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement and for the briefing last week. Since the last ministerial statement in July, Capita is reported to have met its own September target on priority cases, but as the Minister has said, that does not match lived experience and hon. Members have heard promises of improvement before.
Capita missed both its April and June targets, and months later it is being propped up by a Cabinet Office taskforce. I welcome the news from the Minister that Capita is improving its technology, and I am glad that it has been deploying additional resources to support improvements to its dashboard so that it can get through more cases. Time will show us if that work actually results in Capita working through its backlog—there are still too many people across the country waiting.
My constituent, Diane, who lives in Offerton, applied for retirement at the end of August last year. She finally received her formal quote this month—a full 14 months after applying. It was a whopping £14,000 less than she was informally quoted, which may well have changed her decision to retire had the quote been received in a reasonable timeframe. There are 1.7 million current and former civil servants who simply want to know that their pension will be handled competently, fairly and with dignity. I heard the Minister’s statement on holding Capita to account, but will she say, in terms that our constituents will relate to, exactly how she is planning to do that and what the impact will be on families around the country?
I note the Minister’s comment on debarment, but, given the absolute shambles Capita has made of this situation, can she truly say that she would be happy for it to bid for future Government contracts? Will the Government finally commit to inflation-linking payments for all outstanding cases in order to ensure that those affected by Capita’s mistakes do not pay even more for Capita’s delays?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear about the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituent, Diane. It is just one of many, many cases that we have heard about where the outcome is totally unacceptable. The Chief Whip was on the phone to me this morning about her constituent, Lisa, who is also facing similar problems in getting anything out of Capita.
The hon. Lady asked what I am doing to make sure that Capita lives up to its promises on the most recent rectification plan. As I said, Cabinet Office officials are now in the Capita systems every single day, which has given us the ability to challenge the organisation in a way that we have not been able to do before. If we do not start to see progress each fortnight, as we publish those results, I will have the Capita CEO back in and I will continue to hold Capita’s feet to the fire. All options remain on the table contractually. It is in Capita’s interest, frankly, to pull its socks up and do a better job.
On debarment, I really cannot comment on anyone that may or may not be subject to consideration or investigation under the Procurement Act. However, I think that most hon. Members would recognise that Capita has done a pretty poor job. It is not its first rodeo either—I will leave that there. I will take away the hon. Lady’s point about inflation-linking and write to her, and I am happy to meet her to discuss it further.
Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)
I have no doubt that Members across the Chamber have an extremely regrettable constituency postbag on this issue, as I do. I thank the Minister for her statement. I do not plan to rehearse the cases that I have seen, but, needless to say, they are all marked by the fact that timescales seem to be ignored, while people are being left in financial hardship. People are finding it very hard to understand why this is the case with a Government body—or, at least, with a body that they think is a Government body. How long will Capita have to deliver on the latest rectification plan, and how will the Minister judge it on that plan? Does she have a timeframe for all that work?
Sally Jameson
In terms of the timelines, I do not want to set a date here today and end up with there being disappointment. However, now that the figures are going to be released every fortnight, if we do not start to see pretty rapid improvement over the next month, I will come back to this House and explain the next steps that might be taken.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (North Cotswolds) (Con)
I thank the Minister for her statement, but the situation is worse than she has outlined. We have had four PAC inquiries into Capita’s administration scheme this year, and it has missed virtually every single one of the deadlines that it set out in each of those hearings.
The latest revelation I have discovered is that if Capita does not pay out the lump-sum payment due to bereaved relatives within two years, those relatives will have to pay tax at the highest rate. I wrote to the Minister about that issue; she very kindly replied and had a meeting with me, and she told me that there were not likely to be more than 10 such cases. I find that improbable, given that the scheme has 1.7 million members. Indeed, The Guardian has published an article saying that 1,600 members have been waiting for over 100 days, so it is likely that many of these people will get up to the two-year deadline. Can she guarantee to the House today that she will either enforce Capita paying compensation for any lost money, or change the law so that none of the people in that very vulnerable position, waiting for their payment, will be worrying about whether they will pay tax?
Sally Jameson
I thank the hon. Member for meeting me last week to discuss this really important issue. The relatively small figure of around 10 that I gave to him is in relation to a very specific category of families who are at or beyond the 18-month point. Cabinet Office officials are working to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible, but if it ends up looking like the rectification plan is not going fast enough and more people will fall into scope, I will of course take further action. I have also liaised with His Majesty’s Treasury on this issue.
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)
I am the chair of the Public and Commercial Services Union parliamentary group. I think we all appreciate that my hon. Friend has inherited a scandal, and I thank her for the access that she has given to the unions and for working with them closely. In her statement, she mentioned the independent audit report. Will the Grant Thornton report be published and, if so, when? The trade unions are willing to work with the Minister on bringing this service in-house—first the front operations, then eventually the computer systems—in a gradual but, I hope, fast way. Let me ask her this. The Government went ahead and outsourced to Capita the payment of salaries in three Government Departments under the Synergy contact. If there is any delay in wage payments at all, will that contract be brought in-house immediately?
Sally Jameson
Due to some commercial and legal sensitivities, we will not be able to publish the Grant Thornton report. However, we will make it confidentially available to the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. I will work with the trade unions on any future plans that we might have for the scheme, and I am happy to work further with the PCS parliamentary group. The Synergy contract did not fall in the remit of the Cabinet Office—it was with the Department for Work and Pensions—but I am sure that my right hon. Friend’s comments have been heard.
John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)
Like many MPs across the House, I have a number of constituents who have been affected by this issue. I thank the Minister for her comprehensive response, but there is an issue that concerns me more than anything. When the procurement process happens, it seems that officials come to us and assure us that a series of decision points have been gone through, and that the options before us are the best ones available—as a former Minister, I recognise that. However, when these things go wrong, nobody is individually accountable. What would the Minister say to our constituents, who are alarmed at the fact that nobody is apparently responsible for such a dire outcome?
Sally Jameson
Of course, the contract and the procurement were done under the last Government. In relation to accountability, the immediate priority for me and the Cabinet Office is getting this crisis resolved and making sure that all constituents get the pensions they should have. There will of course be lessons learned, and I will look into that personally, but the priority at the minute is getting people their pensions.
Jon Trickett (Normanton and Hemsworth) (Lab)
The right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) says that people should be held accountable for their actions, but let us remember that the Conservatives allocated this contract to Capita, knowing that it was a recidivist, continually breaking contracts that had been outsourced.
It is totally unacceptable that a woman living in Upton in my constituency who gave 40 years of her life to public service has been left with no response from Capita for over 300 days since we contacted them. Since then, she was diagnosed with cancer. We can imagine the problems that people affected by this issue face in any event; pile on the problems that she has with illness, and we can imagine the personal anguish. Has the Minister been able to establish whether Capita is in breach of contract? Finally, let me say this: bring it back in house.
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent, which is particularly terrible. I encourage him to write to me about it, so that I can look into it. As for bringing the scheme back in house, we are looking at all the different in-house options at the minute; we have a team doing that. We are working with the trade unions and other experts on it, but I am really clear that Capita needs to clean up this mess; it will not be the UK taxpayer who pays to do it. We will make sure that we recoup any costs of the additional support that we have provided.
Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)
I thank the Minister for her statement. I, too, am on the Public Accounts Committee, and as the hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) mentioned, we have done our best to get reasonable responses from Capita. My constituent Jane has been failed time and again by Capita; there has been a five-year delay to her pension payments, poor communication, an unexplained suspension of her pension, and now an outrageous demand that she repay £8,000 because of Capita’s mistake, not hers. Will the Minister condemn that treatment and reassure my constituent that the Government will ensure that she is treated fairly following those serious errors? Will they ensure that Capita, as a contractor acting on behalf of the state, is properly held to account for its failures? That has not happened so far.
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to learn of the terrible experience of the hon. Member’s constituent; there are many more like it. If she would like to write to me about that, I would be happy to look into it. I will continue to hold Capita to account. We have withheld nearly £10 million of contractual payments, and Capita is voluntarily invoicing a 10% reduction in its fee until the service is restored to an appropriate level.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
As the Public Accounts Committee Chair said, we have had Capita before the Committee on many occasions. In all my time in the House, I do not think I have seen a worse example of incompetence, failure to deliver to deadlines, and a company seemingly just not caring about its effects on people and the distress it is causing. Every time Capita’s representatives come along, I simply do not believe a word they say. Does the Minister really have any confidence, even with all the guardrails that she is putting in place and all the connections to the Cabinet Office, that Capita is capable of delivering a scheme that actually works and delivers pensions on time?
Secondly, I congratulate the Minister on what she said about looking into bringing the scheme in house; it is a pity the previous Government did not think about that before they let the contract. Will she commit to updating the House regularly on how far she is progressing with those possibilities? In the end, bringing the contract back in house may be the only option for giving pensioners a proper scheme, given Capita’s failures.
Sally Jameson
I agree with my hon. Friend that Capita’s performance has been absolutely abysmal. There are no excuses for it, and I will make no excuses for it and its terrible performance. I have more confidence in the rectification plan I outlined today, purely because of the involvement that Cabinet Office officials and experts have had in it, and because they now have access to the Capita systems and data, which they did not have before. That will allow us to properly hold it to account. On bringing the scheme in house, it is a manifesto commitment that we will have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation. I am committed to that, as is everyone on the Labour Benches. I will continue to update the House on progress made on this policy.
Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)
I recognise the Minister’s efforts to resolve this issue, and I am grateful to her for meeting me recently, but far too often, Capita remains completely unresponsive. Sadly, trying to get an appointment at the MPs’ surgeries is proving very difficult. Last week, I wrote to her about four outstanding cases in my constituency. Will she commit personally to reviewing those cases and securing me a detailed update, so that my constituents know what to expect and when to expect it, and when they will get the money that they are owed?
Sally Jameson
I thank the right hon. Member for meeting me recently and raising her constituency cases. I will ensure that I identify those four cases, follow them up personally, and get back to her as soon as possible. I am sorry to hear that she struggled to get an appointment at the surgeries. I will work with my officials to see if there is any way that we can increase capacity, so that everyone can get the appointment that they need.
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)
Only on Friday, I spoke to a constituent who gave notice of retirement in March and still has not had his pensions quote. I commend the Minister very much on the very hard work she put in over the summer, after the actions I took and the statement that I made to the House in July. Looking to the future of the scheme, can she assure me that she will direct officials to do the preparatory work to make sure that the different insourcing options are viable ones that we can put to the House?
Sally Jameson
I thank my right hon. Friend for his question, for all the work he did up to the summer on appointing the remedial advisers, and for all the help he has given me since. I will absolutely make sure that the right preparation work is done on any insourcing options, so that when people in the civil service retire, they can have confidence that the scheme we end up choosing is the right one for them.
Pete Wishart (Perth and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
I have to say that I found the Minister’s statement extraordinarily complacent and singularly unhelpful. It is a damning indictment of successive Governments’ failure to get to grips with a full-blown pension crisis. It is not good enough to simply criticise Capita. We know how bad it is. People want real and decisive Government action, so will she commit to bringing the scheme in house, ensuring that meaningful emergency payments are paid out to people who are in real trouble, and get to grips with solving this issue, once and for all?
Sally Jameson
I do not accept at all that this is not a meaningful plan. I set out in some detail the measures and the resources that the Cabinet Office is putting in to get this whole process back on track, so that it delivers for scheme members. Many former colleagues of mine have been affected. Everybody is working night and day to try to rectify the situation. As I said, we are looking at all options for insourcing, but we do not want to do anything that will bring further disruption for scheme members. Everything we do must be member-led and in their interests, but of course we are looking at all the options. Significant work is going into contingency planning and future options for the civil service pension scheme.
Kirsteen Sullivan (Bathgate and Linlithgow) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Minister for her update. I appreciate the focus on complex cases—Members across the House are dealing with many of them—but can I ask that she also looks at the paid-for fast-track services? I have a constituent who paid almost £700 for a pension valuation in order to finalise his divorce. It was expected within 10 working days, but it took nine months; the wait cost him several times the original amount. Does the Minister agree that that is entirely unacceptable? What action will she take to ensure that Capita refunds any payments taken for so-called fast-track services that are nothing of the kind?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent. It is absolutely disgraceful that they have been treated that way by Capita. If she could write to me with the details of that case, I am happy to look at it, and to see if there is any further assistance that I can provide.
David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)
My constituents will welcome the robust tone of the Minister’s statement, but what difference will this make for constituents such as John Carroll from Annan, who worked at Dumfries prison and who has been waiting since February to hear anything meaningful from Capita? What difference will it make to the likelihood of a response?
Sally Jameson
I believe that Cabinet Office officials are now working in lockstep with Capita to ensure that it delivers against the new rectification plan, which was recommended by the remedial adviser. As I have said, we will be able to see on a fortnightly basis how Capita is doing in bringing down the case numbers, and that should give some indication of the service recovery level. If it is not up to scratch—we will know whether that is the case in the coming weeks—I will of course update the House on any further action that we can take to improve the service.
Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire) (Lab)
Communications with Capita did get better for a time, but I am afraid they have dropped off a bit now. Let me share with the House the sad case of a constituent who came to us in May 2026. She had spent two hours on the phone to Capita; she could not get through, and she had two pensions unpaid. She had retired from the Department for Work and Pensions with breast cancer. In June, she was contacted by another scheme member—a completely different person—who said that on two occasions, she had been sent my constituent’s details, both the annual benefit statement and some other details about the scheme, which was an appalling breach of GDPR. Can the Minister please help me to resolve that case, as it is still outstanding, and will she consider compensation for those who have waited for more than two years, and from whom I have many emails in my inbox?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent. There are no excuses for that. According to the deadlines that Capita sets itself, the case should have been resolved by now. If my hon. Friend will write to me, I will take it up with the chief operating officer of Capita. I would be happy to have a further conversation with my hon. Friend about what we are considering in respect of compensation, but the Pensions Ombudsman is obviously aware of what is happening with Capita, and a number of people will want compensation for their loss of income and the impact that has had on their life.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
A constituent of mine from Somerton applied for retirement nearly a year ago, but has had to withdraw her application twice because she has not received her pension quotation, and she obviously cannot afford to retire with no income. My caseworkers have been attending the fortnightly casework meetings regularly, but there has been no resolution of this issue and many others like it. If neither Capita or the Cabinet Office can resolve my constituent’s problem, will the Minister intervene personally and tell my constituent when she will finally be paid?
Sally Jameson
If the hon. Member writes to me with the details of that case, I will look at it myself and ensure that it is passed to my private office as well. I am sorry to say that this is the experience of many scheme members because of the failure of Capita. It is not acceptable, and we are working day and night to ensure that Capita is held to account and the service is improved.
Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)
I have raised in the Chamber previously the appalling delays that my constituents are experiencing in gaining access to their civil service pensions. Those delays continue. Another problem they are experiencing is that if they do not agree with the amount that they receive when they finally receive it, there is no response to their concerns from Capita and, indeed, no response to my correspondence on their behalf. Will the Minister raise with Capita the need for it to respond, as a matter of urgency, to my constituents who are receiving lower amounts than they expected, and to make corrections where necessary?
Sally Jameson
I will continue to challenge Capita about that. I have already done so, particularly in relation to correspondence from Members to which its responses have not been acceptable. If my hon. Friend will write to me about any specific cases, in particular the one that he has mentioned, I will happily put that in front of Capita myself.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
Let us not sugar-coat this: the contract has been a complete flop. Yes, it was awarded under a past Government, but now it is under the current Government—but of course the Prime Minister is setting the standard of not playing the blame game, although I have heard a lot of that today. What my constituents want to hear is when this will be sorted out. Ministers have talked about a recovery plan in April—fail. They talked about a recovery plan in June—fail. They talked about a recovery plan in September —fail. There has been failure after failure after failure. Will the Minister answer the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood), and tell us whether Capita will be given any other Government contracts? Will my constituents be compensated? This Government wanted to be in government, so now that they are, may I ask when the Minister and the Government will take responsibility for this, take control of the contract, and get it sorted out, because my constituents are suffering?
Sally Jameson
I set out in my statement how we are taking responsibility, holding Capita to account and ensuring that it fulfils its contractual obligations. For legal and commercial reasons, I cannot discuss other Government contracts in the House right now, or who might be subject to debarment under the new procurement law—I made that clear in response to earlier questions. We are now moving to a member-led approach and dealing with the most complex cases first. We will be able to see that on the fortnightly update to the website, where members will be able to see cases going down. We will mark progress against that by looking at the cases on the website and the updates that Capita sends me, and by seeing the improvements. If those improvements do not start to materialise in the coming weeks, I will return to the House with what further actions we may take.
Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)
I declare an interest, as I hold a civil service pension. I thank the Minister for her statement. Like other Members of the House, I have a number of constituents who provided years of service in the civil service. They have retired yet have had to wait months to be paid. Could the Minister say more about the pressure she is putting on Capita and the options for taking the whole matter in-house?
Sally Jameson
We have already withheld nearly £10 million in contractual payments, and Capita is voluntarily taking 10% less in its monthly payments. On bringing the service in-house, it is important that we get this right, do it at the right time and ensure that we pick the best model for the scheme, so that service members do not have to suffer any further. We are liaising with trade unions, pension experts and others to look at the options for different types of models, and I will return to the House when I have further updates on that.
Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)
Like many right hon. and hon. Members, I have constituents who have not had their pensions paid. In the worst case, a constituent has waited for 11 months without a pension. My question is twofold. First, what compensation will the Minister force Crapita—sorry, Capita—to pay those constituents who have missed out? Secondly, there are tax implications for the sequencing of payments, so payments can fall in different tax years, among other things. Will that all be squared away with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, so that our constituents do not overpay tax?
Sally Jameson
We are committed to ensuring that no member is left financially worse off, and Capita has committed to paying interest on late payments. All complaints will be handled with reference to the Pensions Ombudsman standards. Compensation can be awarded following investigation under the internal dispute resolution procedure—first by Capita and then by the Cabinet Office. If members are not satisfied, they can then refer to the Pensions Ombudsman. On tax, it is difficult to comment on individual cases. If the hon. Gentleman is aware of a specific case and would like to raise it with me, I will liaise with His Majesty’s Treasury to ensure that no one is negatively impacted.
Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on getting a grip of this issue. I am a member of the Public Accounts Committee and, as we have heard, we have had repeated undertakings from Capita that improvements were imminent. Despite that, many of my constituents are still waiting for quotes and pension payments. The Minister has set out clearly that Cabinet Office officials are effectively taking over the delivery from Capita. Does she agree that this is a shambles and that Capita should pay for its failures?
Sally Jameson
The Cabinet Office is leaning in, but I want to be absolutely clear that Capita is still responsible for the contract and is still accountable for the delivery of any rectification plan. All options remain on the table and, as I have said, we are looking at different in-house models for this scheme, in line with our manifesto commitment to have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)
I thank the Minister for updating the House. I have had so much casework on this, as she will know, with some really heartbreaking stories. The fact is that the backlog, including the growing number of cases over 100 days old, is just continuing to grow. One of those in the backlog is my constituent Ann, who had to leave work with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism and severe pneumonia, and five months later she is still waiting to receive her money. She will be very disappointed with what the Minister has said today. I think she is looking for some really hard facts on the timescales. When will this be sorted once and for all? Are there meaningful sanctions? When will we hear whether Capita can be prevented from bidding for other Government contracts? Could there be some clawback of all the money her Department is spending on trying to put this right? When will there be compensation for my constituents who have had to wait so long?
Sally Jameson
I thank the hon. Member for raising her constituent’s case, and I am sorry to hear of Ann’s experience under Capita’s own self-imposed deadline. That case should have been resolved by now, and if the hon. Member wants to write to me about it, if she has not done so already, I will ensure that it is looked at. On further contracts for Capita, this Government brought in the Procurement Act 2023, which allows us to consider poor performance in giving out other contracts. As I have said, I cannot discuss whether Capita, or any other organisation, is subject to an investigation or anything in relation to debarment, but there is now a lever at the Government’s disposal.
Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East) (Lab)
Like many other MPs, I am still being contacted by constituents about their civil service pensions and the unacceptable delays. It is deeply concerning that my constituent Julie, who retired from the civil service in February, had her pension finalised only in September, and these delays are causing huge distress and financial hardship. If we are going to pay compensation, should it not be paid by Capita, not from any pension pot, and will that be done without having to navigate any lengthy or tiresome claims process?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear about the experience that my hon. Friend’s constituent has had, as have the constituents of so many in this House. On compensation, as I have set out, we are absolutely determined that no member will be worse off as a result of Capita’s failure. The Government are determined to recoup every single penny we have had to spend helping Capita to resolve the failures, which it should have been able to do itself. On her constituents being able to claim compensation, I will come back to this House at a later date once we have this under control, and I will be happy to answer further questions on that. However, as I have set out, complaints will be handled in reference to the Pension Ombudsman standards.
Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)
In North East Fife, civil service pension delays are not the only issue. I have previously spoken in this House of the “Jobs Forgotten” campaign for retired former police officers who are dealing with the failings of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, so I found the comments from the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart) interesting.
My question to the Minister is this: one of the things my office is finding is that, just as they manage to sort out somebody’s case, a new one comes in, so I appreciate the interest and focus on complex cases, but are we not just firefighting if we are not stopping new cases emerging in the first instance?
Sally Jameson
There is a focus on complex cases, but alongside that Capita is working to do incoming cases on a live basis, particularly those relatively easy to resolve. It is actually processing more cases than it is getting in, but because of the significant backlog and the high number of complex cases, it still will not feel like a good service to many members.
Frank McNally (Coatbridge and Bellshill) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for her statement. As I have mentioned in the House before, my constituent Mr Fraser served as a prison officer until he retired in 2020, yet six years on he is still waiting for his accurate pension. Like many impacted by the McCloud remedy, he has been met with barrier after barrier, with little to no explanation—as have I, when I met Capita as recently as the summer. Can she update the House on what specific steps are being taken to clear the McCloud cases so that Mr Fraser can receive what he is entitled to?
Sally Jameson
I thank my hon. Friend for raising his constituent’s case. As I said in my statement, I will come back to the House in the next month or so to give an update on the McCloud remedy. Capita has completed the discovery phase, but due to delays and the identified complexities in the remaining cohorts, it is not clear whether the initial date is achievable. I will come back and update the House on what more we will be doing to ensure that his constituents and others get the pension they are entitled to.
Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)
I thank the Minister for her statement. Elizabeth from Carpenders Park served as a Ministry of Justice usher for 23 years before retiring in January. Months later, she has still not received a single pension payment. That is despite spending more than two hours sitting in queues on the phone while simultaneously being prevented from using the pensions portal due to the high volume of inquiries. I am conscious that the Minister is encouraging casework to be brought to her via her good offices, but I am mindful that there will be a lot of casework across the House. What effort is she putting forward so that both Capita and the Cabinet Office increase capacity to deal with the backlog, as well as new cases?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear of Elizabeth’s experience. It is totally unacceptable, as are so many of the cases that we have heard about today—and so many that we will not hear about, too. As the hon. Member will know, the Cabinet Office supplied nearly 150 staff in a surge team to help support Capita in processing the backlog. We also now have senior Cabinet Office officials working every single day with Capita to ensure that it is dealing with the complex cases that need serious expertise to be processed. We will continue to support Capita in any way we can. The remedial report noted that the technology let Capita down in a big way. It has now put some further resource and money into the technology, so automation should help process some cases faster. The biggest learning from the report is that while Capita said it would be an AI-enabled pension scheme, that just was not the reality.
Douglas McAllister (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab)
West Dunbartonshire has one of the worst backlogs for civil service pension cases in the country. Although taskforce meetings help me keep constituents informed, the delays remain unacceptable. On top of that, I have found that many pension quotes are incorrect, requiring manual recalculation by Capita, whose revisions team is overwhelmed. My constituents are waiting too long for quotes that are often undervalued, or omit service years, or use incorrect pay rates. Is the Minister aware of these particular issues, and what steps will the Government take to address them?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear of the experience that my hon. Friend’s constituents have had. It is totally unacceptable, and Capita has been totally unacceptable. As I said in my statement, its performance has been utterly abysmal, and those at Capita should hang their heads in shame at how they have treated dedicated public servants in this country. I will take up the issue that he raises with my officials to ensure that we are improving that part of the service, so that his constituents can get the correct quotes that they need.
Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)
Another weekly surgery, another Capita complaint—this time, a constituent was told on one of her many calls to Capita that she would have to wait while they accessed the spreadsheet because someone was already using it. When the Minister talks about some slow improvements in technology, one can only imagine that Capita’s starting point was a typewriter and abacus. Even with the support of officials, does the Minister really trust Capita to safely deliver an AI-enabled service to our constituents?
Sally Jameson
I agree with the hon. Member. I am not a tech expert, but I certainly know there is nothing AI about the system that Capita has been using. It is totally unacceptable that Capita suggested that the system would be AI, when clearly it was not ready to take on this level of automation. The technology was not available to Capita at the time. Cabinet Office officials are working on the Capita systems day in, day out to make sure that we are holding Capita to account and challenging it. As I have said, there have been some improvements to the technology, and I have told Capita that those improvements need to continue. Whatever it is putting in, there is more it can do, and I continue to tell Capita representatives that every time I meet them. As far as I am concerned, things will never be good enough until every single person affected has the pension that they should have and the compensation to which they are entitled.
Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) (Lab)
My constituent Denise lost her husband in September last year, and in the more than a year since she has been passed from pillar to post by Capita, as have many of my other impacted constituents. Now Capita tells me that it has lost the form that Denise submitted in January. Does the Minister share my disgust at this rank incompetence? Will she do everything she can to help Denise and my other constituents?
Sally Jameson
I share my hon. Friend’s disgust. I will look into that case to ensure that Capita finds the paperwork, or if it must be re-sent, that it is actioned immediately. As my hon. Friend said, it is indicative of Capita’s total and utter incompetence. We need to bear in mind that this is why it is important that we stick to our manifesto commitment to have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.
Jim Allister (North Antrim) (TUV)
What should I say to my constituent, a stage 4 cancer patient, who applied for his civil service pension in April and has heard nothing? What should I say to him about the fact that, as his Member of Parliament, I wrote about his case to the Cabinet Office on 26 August—two months ago today—and have equally had no reply and heard nothing?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear that the hon. and learned Member has not had a reply from the Cabinet Office; I will chase that as a priority when I leave the Chamber. I receive correspondence daily from Members across the House and I get on with them as quickly as possible, so I am unsure why something sent on 26 August has not come to me yet. I will chase that immediately. According to Capita’s own deadline, the case the hon. Member describes is something that should have been resolved by 1 September, so when I receive the correspondence, I will ensure that it is chased appropriately.
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for her robust work in this area. Capita’s handling of the civil service pension is nothing short of a disgrace. I have seen people taking out loans, falling into debt, having bailiffs sent to their houses and suffering serious mental distress because of this sham. That cannot be how we treat people who have dedicated their lives to public service. While I welcome today’s statement, the Government changes and the much-needed action that the Minister is taking, my constituents want Capita to face consequences. What consequences has Capita already faced? Will she guarantee that further failure will mean further consequences?
Sally Jameson
I agree with my hon. Friend: Capita has been abysmal, as I have said a few times now. It is for that reason that my predecessors in the role held back nearly £10 million in contractual payments to Capita—a move that I supported. Capita, on a voluntary basis, is now receiving 10% less on its monthly payments because it recognises that its service is wholly inadequate. All other options remain on the table. I will monitor the outcome of the new rectification plan on a fortnightly basis and return to this House if it is not good enough.
Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
Pat’s father died in September last year. It took eight phone calls between October and May to be told that everything was in place. It then took another three months to be told that the claim was accepted and literally awaiting dispatch. We are now four months further on. Does the Minister think that it is acceptable for it to take four months to put a stamp on a letter and send it?
Sally Jameson
No, it is not acceptable, and if the hon. Member flags that case with me, I will ensure that it is chased. I will not make excuses for Capita’s poor performance; it is accountable for its performance, and frankly it should be ashamed.
Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)
I have taken up 11 constituency cases about the civil service pension this year alone, and only three have been resolved. I was pleased to hear the Minister’s strong statement, because my constituents are fed up of being told by Capita that things are improving when they are simply not. The most heartbreaking case is that of a gentleman I started helping at the beginning of the year, who has since died. His widow is now having to fight Capita, and I am doing everything I can to fight alongside her—I am sure she will be glad to know that the Minister is with her too. What can the Minister say to give my constituents confidence that the situation will finally improve?
Sally Jameson
I hope that Capita is listening to the pain and hardship that it has caused so many thousands of dedicated public servants up and down this country. The new rectification plan that is being done with Cabinet Office officials means that we should hopefully see some improvement. We will be monitoring that on a fortnightly basis, since Capita will now be publishing the numbers. I will keep a close eye on that and ensure that the House is updated.
Susan Murray (Mid Dunbartonshire) (LD)
I have been contacted by constituents whose complaints Capita has closed without resolution and whose pension quotes have disappeared. I heard the Minister say that old cases will not be allowed to sit in backlogs without progress, but my constituent, who served 43 years in the Department for Work and Pensions, alleges that this is an example of Capita manipulating closure figures. Will the Minister say how the Government are monitoring Capita to ensure that complaints are closed only once they have been resolved and that quotes do not disappear?
Sally Jameson
I myself was not confident in the numbers previously given by Capita, as I said to its face after 1 September, when it claimed to have met its self-imposed deadline, which did not reflect the experience of scheme members. We have today heard about cases that should have been resolved by that deadline, but which clearly were not. I agree that Capita has been, let us say, flaky with the truth on the reality of the numbers. The difference now is that Cabinet Office officials have access to those systems; they can go in, see for themselves exactly what is going on, verify the numbers and figures that Capita is providing and report back on that. The transparency of the new fortnightly updates means that we will be able to see those cases in all their glory and see whether or not the figures are coming down.
Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for this statement. Like everybody else, I have cases that I have contacted the Minister about, but today I want to raise something else—something that has been consistent across all the cases that my office has dealt with on a regular basis, which is how my constituents are being treated when they call the Capita helpline.
My constituents describe being laughed at and being told that, regardless of what happens in this House, it will be up to Capita to decide when they actually get their pensions. These individuals—people who have served this country well for many years—are getting increasingly desperate, as they have often had no income for up to a year. Nobody should be treated without dignity or respect by anybody acting in the name of this Government. I ask my hon. Friend to engage with her officials to ensure that the message that this is completely unacceptable is driven through to Capita.
Sally Jameson
I am absolutely disgusted to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituents with the Capita hotline and will be taking that up with Capita myself. It is totally unacceptable. No one in Capita right now should have the time to laugh, frankly; they should be spending every waking minute working to resolve their failures and the crisis that our retired civil servants are facing.
Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)
I have many constituents who are caught up in this hell—this limbo. Some of them have been waiting for more than a year. However, I also have teachers writing to me concerned about the transfer of the teachers’ pension scheme from Capita to Tata that is now under way. Thinking about lessons learned, what advice would the Minister offer to her counterpart in the Department for Education?
Sally Jameson
I will be discussing with the Department for Education the lessons that we have learned from this transfer. Capita has shown publicly how terribly it has been—you do not have to look far to find a constituent who has been affected by this. We absolutely must improve these services going forward, which is why we are exploring in-house models. We want to have a big wave of insourcing, because we can no longer be totally reliant on these companies that let us down time and again.
Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for her update and recognise that she is working hard to try to resolve what is a heartbreaking situation for so many pension recipients. I have seven cases currently open with the Department, including the case of a constituent who retired on 1 May but, despite repeated correspondence, has received no payment since then. Another constituent, whose case I first raised with Capita in January, ahead of his retirement in spring, finally received a quotation, with payments expected, only for Capita to decide that the quotation was wrong. He is now back to square one, and is still not receiving any payments. Will the Minister undertake to investigate those two particular cases, as well as others that my office has raised with the Department, and ensure that they are resolved?
Sally Jameson
If my hon. Friend writes to me with the detail of those two cases, I will, of course, be happy to look at them. What he raises is just another example of the poor service that Capita has provided—an indictment of its incompetence.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister very much for her understanding of these issues and her perseverance in trying to deliver results. Everyone in the House can understand her annoyance. The facts are deeply concerning. While the Government and Capita point to putting in place specific milestones for what they count as “workable stock”, the hard data shows that hundreds of priority bereavement and death-in-service cases remain completely trapped, some over 100 days old. Given that the independent remedial adviser and technical audit reports are due this month, will the Minister outline exactly what robust commercial penalties or legal enforcement measures are being prepared against Capita if it fails to restore full contractual service levels immediately?
Sally Jameson
Some of Capita’s classifications for cases—“workable cases” and that sort of carry-on—are not something that the Government ever recognised; that classification was not in the contract, and it is something that Capita has made up. I was very clear when I first met the CEO of Capita that I do not recognise that. Capita said that those bereavement cases would be resolved by 1 September. If any of those have not been resolved, then frankly that is a missed deadline.
In relation to what further action we could take, as I have said, my predecessor already withheld £10 million in contractual payments. Capita is receiving 10% less each month on a voluntary basis while the service remains as poor as it is. The Government now have at our disposal the Procurement Act 2023, which allows us to take into account poor performance when regarding other contracts.
Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)
Capita has missed its deadlines and failed in its obligations to my constituents. Supposed priority death-in-service cases, such as Derek’s, are unresolved, and people have been left grieving for over a year without having received what they are entitled to. Quotes such as Anne’s, who retired from the Scottish Prison Service nearly seven months ago, have still not been provided, and annual benefit statements have been delayed, leaving people concerned that they will not be paid accurately when they finally are paid. We should insource this scheme. I appreciate the Minister putting that option on the table, but my constituents deserve transparency as well as action. If not the full report, will the Minister publish just the recommendations from the independent remedial adviser’s report?
Sally Jameson
My hon. Friend has raised a number of issues related to Capita and fought for his constituents on many occasions in the Chamber. As I set out, it will not be possible to publish the full remedial adviser’s report for legal and commercial reasons. However, we will be providing it confidentially to the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. I will discuss with officials the possibility of bringing out a smaller version of it that can be made public, but the rectification plan that we have put in place is based on the recommendations of the remedial adviser.
Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
Several of my constituents are in financial hardship as a result of Capita’s failings. This appalling company has even sent out financial statements and letters with figures deliberately obscured so that former civil servants do not know what they are entitled to. MPs across the House have clearly lost confidence in Capita, so will the Minister agree for the Cabinet Office itself to set up a hotline for MPs to raise cases and hold regular surgeries so that we can ensure that our former civil servant constituents get the money that they are entitled to?
Sally Jameson
I appreciate the points that the hon. Gentleman raised. The Cabinet Office is working with Capita on existing cases from MPs’ surgeries. The only hesitancy I would have is that the priority is to make sure that the service Capita is providing is improving. I could put lots more resources into this, but unless Capita is able to provide answers, produce a quote, and deliver people’s pensions, we will not see an improvement in the output that people are getting. We will absolutely keep under consideration what more we can do to help people, but I really want to hold Capita’s feet to the fire on this rectification plan so that we can get to a position where the surgeries are not needed any more because people are getting what they deserve.
Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)
I thank the Minister not just for her statement but for the tone of her statement, which I am sure will be very much appreciated by many of my constituents, including Kathy, who has given 26 years of her life in service to the Ministry of Defence and the Prison Service, yet Capita’s failure means that her retirement has been blocked three times in just over a year. A fortnightly dashboard is welcome, but what guarantees can the Minister give that Kathy and thousands like her will receive their pension payments on time? Will the auditor’s report be published in full for MPs and the unions?
Sally Jameson
I am sorry to hear of Kathy’s experience. What has happened to her and many scheme members up and down the country is not right.
As I have said, we will not be able to publish the audit report in full for legal and commercial reasons, but we will provide it confidentially to the PAC and PACAC for their scrutiny. The remedial adviser’s report recommended the rectification plan that we have put in place. That has only just been put into place. In the coming weeks, we will monitor whether it is working. If it is not, we will take further steps. Nothing is off the table.
Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)
Stuart is 83. He lives in a care home in my constituency, which his pension pays for, but that pension stopped for four months over the summer, and even after my constituency office intervened he has had less than a quarter of those arrears paid back.
Anna, another of my constituents, is in her 80s. She has just come out of hospital, and she is owed a staggering 17 years’ worth of widow’s pension. In July, Capita told me that the payment would be made within two weeks. In August, it said that it had no notes on file from that July meeting. In September, it told me that payment would be made within 10 days. On the 15th of this month, it said that it was still awaiting human authorisation. Last Friday, I was told that four members of Capita’s staff were working directly full time on her case. Would the Minister like to join me this Friday at 11 o’clock for my next weekly Capita casework call to try to ensure that Anna finally gets some of those 17 years’ worth of pension payments?
Sally Jameson
The situation that the hon. Member highlights for his constituents is totally unacceptable. I understand why he is so angry about it; I am, too, as I am about so many of the cases we have heard about. I am not sure whether I can make 11 am on Friday, but I will follow up after the statement to see if we can get any further progress.