Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration Debate
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Jayne Kirkham
Main Page: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)Department Debates - View all Jayne Kirkham's debates with the Cabinet Office
Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration
Jayne Kirkham Excerpts(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing this debate. It is crucial for my constituents who have dedicated their entire careers to public service at naval air stations, the Inland Revenue and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. They all got in touch with me as a last resort due to delays and lack of information. I welcome the urgent recovery plan that has been put in place by Angela MacDonald’s team, but we need more clarity on the timeline for when the outstanding pensions matters will be resolved.
My constituents have highlighted issues with accuracy. Simon found that the figures he received were incorrect. When he questioned them, the answer from MyCSP was that he should wait until January and contact the new provider, who would sort it out. Mark, who worked at HMRC, noticed that, according to the new website, his nominated beneficiary was his dad, who has been dead for many decades. Mark queried this and was told that it is actually his wife, but the website still has not been updated. David said:
“I heard nothing. I called many times and was…on hold for 90 minutes to 2 hours. The line kept going dead, after getting from say number 105 to around 45 in that time. I got through three times this month and each time the call handler promised escalation, telling me I’m with the ‘finalisation team’, but still nothing.”
What steps are being taken by Capita and the Cabinet Office to improve the situation, and what penalty clauses have been triggered? Is consideration being given to forfeiture of the contract? What hard targets has Capita been set to get through the backlog? Did MyCSP breach its contract? What penalties has it paid?
When I was a councillor, I chaired Cornwall’s local government pension scheme, which managed to deal with 60,000 members and £2.3 billion. It had proper resources in place to deal with the McCloud judgment, among other things, and everybody gets their pension on time. That is done in house. Why cannot these civil servants, who have worked their whole life in public service, receive the same measure of fairness and respect?