Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes have been made in Capita's approach to existing and retired civil servants on pension problems since the commencement of the recovery plan.

The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and Gov.uk.

Capita is under a firm mandate to restore full service delivery to standard contractual levels by the end of June 2026. We are actively exploring the use of all available commercial and contractual levers and continue to withhold milestone payments for missed transition deliverables. All options remain on the table if they fail to meet the June deadline.

Since the commencement of the recovery plan, Capita’s operational approach has adapted flexibly to address priorities as they arise. To demonstrate the current focus, the published updates progressively change to establish which specific priorities are being actively tackled by the Recovery Task Force at any given time. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates

Capita were initially instructed to prioritise and clear the most urgent cases such as Death in Service and Ill-Health during February and March. While Capita previously assured us that performance standards for Death in Service and Ill-Health were being met by mid-March, recent information continues to demonstrate unacceptable delays in some ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases. We have urgently escalated this to Capita, who are actively investigating the underlying data and reasons for these continued delays.

Capita has issued lump sum payments to 16,776 retired members awaiting their regular pensions, whilst the scheme continues to pay approximately 730,000 existing pensioners on time. To alleviate immediate hardship, employers have issued £14.2 million in Transitional Support Loans to 2,612 members, alongside interest-free bridging loans ranging from £5,000 to £20,000. Members will fully repay these bridging loans upon receipt of their formal pension payments.