Civil Service Pensions

Lord Falconer of Thoroton Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister, who has been incredibly helpful in relation to this, has said that £9.9 million so far has been withheld from Capita as a result of this absolutely dreadful scandal. Will the Minister give us an approximate amount of money that Capita has received, gross, from the Government since November 2023, when this contract was entered into? My fear is that £9.9 million withheld is absolutely nothing, and that is why little is happening.

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

My noble and learned friend is right. I do not have that information in front of me because this is a combination of government contracts and public service contracts, but while the £9.9 million is a first stepping stone for not meeting the milestones that it promised us, the noble and learned Lord may be interested to look at the profits warnings that Capita issued this week.