Cabinet Office apologises for Capita's continuing poor service

Last week Angela MacDonald, who leads the Pension Scheme Recovery operation, issued an update which contained a specific apology for the failure by Capita to prioritise escalated cases. The cases include those involving bereavement and those originating before the transfer from MyCSP to Capita. Public commitments to prioritise these cases had been made and the Cabinet Office has said the delays are unacceptable.

PCS has escalated many cases for members in these circumstances, but only in a minority of cases has this resulted in action. Feedback from MPs in our parliamentary group tells the same story, and many members have written to Angela MacDonald themselves. 

A discussion took place at the weekly meeting with the unions, about the prospects of Capita meeting their undertaking to bring the level of service back within contractual terms by the end of this month.

We know that there are around 6,000 overdue payments with up to 25,000 scheme members awaiting pension quotes. Average call waiting times have reduced a little to 26 minutes, but, set against an industry standard of 2 minutes, this is still very poor. Even worse is the fact that call agents are able to tell callers very little about their retirement application. To make progress towards genuine recovery Capita needs to consistently issue 4,000 pension quotes per week. This is a level they have yet to achieve.

Writing to PCS General Secretary, Fran Heathcote, on 12 May, the Cabinet Office reiterated the expectation that Capita must be within contractual terms by the end of this month. Progress will be scrutinised at a joint session of the public accounts committee and the public administration and constitutional affairs committee on 7 July. 

Meanwhile PCS is stepping up the political pressure for an alternative to the failed “external model” which has failed our pension scheme members.