Civil Service Pensions

Lord Butler of Brockwell Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. She is absolutely right. It is incredibly important that the failure that we are currently discussing and wider concerns about how our pensions operate are not seen as suggesting to younger people, especially, that they should not sign up to pension schemes. It is deferred salary and they are entitled to it; it is part of their overall package.

I was reflecting today with my private office—all of whom make me feel very old, hence my previous comment—on the fact that we are trying to fix their pension scheme. The first thing I did when I started working for my trade union, which is now Unite, was to write a guide for our members to the NHS pension scheme. The unions fulfil an exceptionally important role in making sure that people have access to their full terms and conditions. As for the problems that we are currently experiencing with this scheme, our officials are meeting every week with the FDA, PCS and Prospect to make sure that the workforce is fully engaged.

[Lord Butler of Brockwell (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a Civil Service pensioner, though one with the reassurance that existing pensioners are not affected. I welcome that interest is being paid on late payments, and that is compensation for other damage. However, what assurance can the Minister give that the payments that are due will not be delayed by endless processes—legal processes and others—that will stop people getting what they now really deserve and need?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. There is zero excuse for not getting this money to people as quickly as possible. We have all read about this and had people directly approach us. I appreciate that many former members of the Civil Service will undoubtedly have had colleagues who have just retired approach them about the impact this is having on their lives. We need the money out the door as quickly as possible and the pension scheme stabilised at the earliest opportunity.