Civil Service Pension Scheme 2026-09-10
2026-09-10
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Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
The question arises from ongoing issues with the civil service pension scheme run by Capita, impacting service delivery and causing delays in pension payments to civil servants.
What recent steps has the Department taken to tackle issues impacting the civil service pension scheme? Recent reports indicate unacceptable service levels and delays in pension payments. Constituents are experiencing long waits and inaccuracies in their pension calculations, raising serious concerns about the scheme's viability and accountability.
Current service levels are completely unacceptable, and we are holding Capita accountable by withholding payments in the short term and assessing the long-term viability of bringing the scheme in-house. We will continue to use the most stringent commercial levers we have under this contract—which was signed by the last Government—to ensure we have full accountability.
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Assessment & feedback
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Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The questioner cites specific instances of constituents in Southampton Itchen who have experienced severe delays and issues with their pension payments, one even waiting a year for an accurate quotation and another with stage 4 cancer waiting three months for any payment.
In Southampton Itchen, constituents have been deprived of their pension for months, with one waiting over a year for a quote and another receiving nothing after 40 years of service. Another with stage 4 cancer waited three months for any payment. When I was a councillor, we ended Capita's contract and took services back in-house. Is it not time for the Government to consider doing the same?
I thank my hon. Friend for raising his constituents' cases. I have had many similar cases in Doncaster. I assure him and his constituents that I am using all the levers at my disposal to ensure that Capita delivers a better performance at the earliest possible time. We have set out our intention to advance the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, and we are now actively shaping a long-term strategy to look at what it would look like if we brought the pension scheme back in-house.
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Assessment & feedback
Does not commit to specific timelines or actions for insourcing
Response accuracy
Q3
Direct Answer
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Context
The questioner cites the case of a constituent named Craig who has received no pension payment or calculation since July, highlighting the persistent failures of Capita to deliver the necessary services.
In surgery after surgery, I have examples of Capita failing to do its job. The latest example was in a surgery just the other week, where I met my constituent Craig, who has received no pension payment or calculation since July. Will the Minister please look into Craig's case and do everything she can to give Capita the boot?
Capita's performance has been totally abysmal, and I too have raised it a number of times in this House. I can assure my hon. Friend that we will be holding Capita to account, including withholding nearly £10 million of contractual payments, because we will not pay for services that have not been delivered. If my hon. Friend writes to me, I will ensure that his case is investigated, and I will get back to him at the earliest possible opportunity.
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Q4
Direct Answer
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Context
The questioner raises concerns about severe delays in pension payments causing anxiety and financial hardship for constituents who have dedicated their lives to public service in the civil service.
Despite dedicating their lives to public service through long careers in the civil service, many of my constituents have faced severe delays with their pension payments, causing them anxiety and financial hardship. How will the Minister ensure that her Department gives my constituents the support they need, that this crisis is resolved and, just as importantly, that it does not happen again?
An independent, Capita-funded remedial adviser has been appointed to identify service delivery issues and to allow us to continue to hold Capita fully accountable. Around 147 surge staff have been deployed in this crisis. The Government remain committed to maintaining resource levels. No team members will be withdrawn from that surge team until service levels are permanently fixed. As I have said in my previous answers, we are using all commercial levers at our disposal, including withholding those payments, so that Capita is held accountable. We are looking closely at options for bringing the pension scheme in-house.
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Assessment & feedback
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Q5
Direct Answer
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Context
The questioner highlights a specific case of a constituent named Ruth, whose husband died in service nearly a year ago and who has been waiting 11 months for a death-in-service payment and pension. This case is an example of the failure of outsourcing the civil service pension scheme.
Numerous constituents of mine have had the same problems with the civil service pension scheme run by Capita. One example is Ruth, whose husband worked for the Ministry of Defence and died in service nearly a year ago. She has been waiting 11 months for a death-in-service payment and pension. Capita promised to have this resolved, with all bereavement cases done by the end of August. It broke that promise. This week, she is still waiting. This is utterly unacceptable. I welcome the Minister saying that there will be penalties for Capita, but does she not recognise that this is such a clear example that outsourcing does not work? Will she ensure that Capita is not given contracts like this ever again?
I thank the hon. Member for raising her constituent's experience, which I am sorry to hear about. I have many similar examples in my constituency, as I know have Members across the House. I hope to provide a more substantive update in October. As I have said previously, Capita's performance is totally unacceptable. I will not defend it, and I will continue to hold Capita to account every single day that I am in office, until the service levels are brought back up to an acceptable standard and all our constituents have received the pensions that they should already have had—in the hon. Member's constituency case, 11 months ago—and I will continue to do that. We are looking at bringing the pension scheme in-house, and we are looking at the different viable options to do that. In our manifesto we committed to the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, and we are all committed to doing that.
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Assessment & feedback
Response accuracy