PCS Parliamentary Group calls to pause Capita’s Synergy deal after pensions scandal
John McDonnell, chair of the PCS Parliamentary Group, has written to Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds calling for the government to pause and reassess Capita’s £370 million Synergy shared services contract.
The letter follows the ministerial statement which outlined Capita's failure to deliver on the civil service pensions administration, leaving thousands of civil servants and their families in hardship.
In his letter to the paymaster general, Nick Thomas-Symonds, John McDonnell MP welcomed confirmation that PCS will be part of the stakeholder group set up to ensure priority pension cases are urgently expedited and backlogs fully cleared.
He referred to the "disastrous performance of Capita and their repeated failure to deliver on their undertakings" adding that the pensions contract, which was awarded under the previous Conservative administration, should serve as a lesson for future procurement processes.
Grave concerns
John raised concerns that Capita has been awarded the Synergy contract for shared services across four government departments, including payroll for civil servants. He called for ministers to investigate pausing and reassessing the award of the contract in light of Capita’s performance on the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
He said: "I'm sure your colleagues will have received similar promises and reassurances with regard to Capita's ability to deliver, but you can understand that civil servants remain deeply sceptical and have grave concerns over the financial impact of failures to pay their salaries correctly and on time."
John also reiterated the union’s determination to see the pension scheme administration made fit for purpose as soon as possible.
Fran Heathcote, general secretary said: "The minister can try to shift the blame, but the facts are clear. After the catastrophe of the civil service pensions contract, the last thing this government should have done was award Capita the Synergy shared services contract.
"Failure should have consequences. Capita should lose the pensions contract and should never have been rewarded with the lucrative Synergy deal, which now puts the payroll and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of civil servants in its hands."
PCS is calling on the government to deliver on its promise to oversee the “biggest wave of insourcing for a generation”.