Minister says Capita was “completely unprepared” for civil service pensions contract
The paymaster general, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has issued a highly critical update to parliament on Capita's handling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
In a highly critical update to parliament, paymaster general Nick Thomas-Symonds said Capita had had two years to prepare for the handover, but its systems were “overwhelmed”, when civil service pension accounts were transferred from the previous administrator. Capita had been required to clear the resulting massive backlogs by the end of June, but thousands of cases remain outstanding.
The minister said he would in-source the civil service pensions contract today if he could and that the government had withheld £9.9 million in payments to Capita and would recover the cost of deploying more than 140 Cabinet Office officials to help clear the backlog, saying: “Public money will not fund Capita’s failings.”
Officials have been instructed to examine longer-term options for running the scheme, including bringing it back in-house. PCS has renewed its call for ministers to strip Capita of the Civil Service Pension Scheme contract and bring the service back in-house after the government admitted the company was “completely unprepared” for taking it on.
Cross party MPs highlighted the backlog of casework and frustration of dealing with Capita in their constituencies across the UK, but Capita continues to profit from being a preferred supplier. PCS has drawn attention to the decision to award Capita the Synergy contract, which will deliver payroll and HR services for more than 250,000 civil servants.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said:“Whilst we welcome today's statement from the minister, it does little to support the many thousands of our members who have been left almost penniless because of the catastrophic failure of Capita and MyCSP to manage their pensions."Labour's commitment to the biggest wave of insourcing must become a quick reality, our members have waited too long for justice and delaying the inevitable until October will do little to ease their concerns. Privatisation is a failed commitment; we need insourcing now.”