Oral Answers to Questions

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

4. What recent steps his Department has taken to help tackle issues impacting the civil service pension scheme.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

15. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of the civil service pension scheme.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Satvir Kaur)]

The issues and delays that a number of civil servants and pension scheme members have encountered when accessing their pensions after a lifetime of service are completely unacceptable. Members of the House will have heard my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General’s statement to the House yesterday on the Government’s robust recovery plan to stabilise the service, while ensuring that support is in place for those impacted. We will continue to use every commercial lever possible to hold Capita to account so that public servants get the quality service they deserve as soon as possible.

--- Later in debate ---

[Satvir Kaur]

I also wish my hon. Friend a happy Warwickshire day and a happy St George’s day. I thank her constituent Jillian for her public service of 34 years. I agree with my hon. Friend that the service that Jillian has experienced is completely unacceptable. My hon. Friend will know that we have taken a number of measures, including deploying a surge team to help stabilise the service, and we continue to hold Capita to account for poor service. I encourage her and other Members to direct affected constituents to the hardship loans we have made available to support those impacted. If she sends me the details of Jillian’s case, I will make sure to look out for them.

[Christine Jardine]

Happy St George’s day. Yesterday, in the statement, the Paymaster General was kind enough to say that he would look into the case of one of my constituents who is afraid that she will lose her house because she has no income and cannot get access to her civil service pension. However, I have several other affected constituents, one who is still working full time and is a full-time carer. They were supposed to retire in January but cannot, because they cannot get access to their pension. Can I meet the Minister to discuss what is happening and how we can get Capita to pay attention to this issue and to look for a way forward?

[Satvir Kaur]

I thank the hon. Member for raising both of those distressing cases, and I would of course be happy to meet her to discuss them.