Capita to miss Ministerial deadline on Civil Service Pensions
The Cabinet Office has confirmed to PCS that Capita will miss the ministerial deadline of 30 June to restore pension administration services to contractual standards – another unacceptable failure by the contractor.
In April, the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds, made it clear that Capita was expected to be delivering the full terms of its £239 million contract by no later than 30 June 2026.
However, PCS has now been informed that not only will the service fail to meet contractual standards by the ministerial deadline, but the extensive recovery operation established to prop up the failing contractor will also have to continue beyond that date.
Around 150 HMRC staff, led by a senior civil servant, will now still be required to help clear backlogs and support core pension administration functions that Capita has been unable to deliver.
Critical cases, including bereavement and ill-health retirements, were due to resolved by February 2026. Four months later, they are still being actively chased and escalated.
The scale of concern among scheme members is reflected in the level of parliamentary engagement. To date, 607 MPs have received at least one email from constituents about this crisis, with more than 3,134 emails sent in total. This level of correspondence demonstrates the growing frustration of civil servants and pensioners left with no answers.
Fran Heathcote, PCS general secretary, said:
"This is beyond disappointing, but I can’t say it’s surprising. Capita has missed deadline after deadline, yet civil servants and pension scheme members continue to pay the price for those failures.
"Minor financial penalties mean little, when you look at the size of the contracts they’ve been rewarded. They're certainly no comfort if you're facing financial hardship because you've retired and your pension hasn't been paid.
“Behind every delayed case is a real person dealing with uncertainty, stress and financial worry.
"How much more evidence does the government need? Capita has failed to restore confidence in this service. Ministers must now take immediate steps to bring the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme back into the Civil Service."
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