Thousands waiting on pension payments after Capita misses crucial deadline: ‘It’s unacceptable’

Thousands of civil servants remain without pension payments and retirement quotes, a union has warned, despite a government deadline for progress.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said Capita officially missed the Government’s June 30 deadline for its £239 million Civil Service Pensions contract.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “The Government set a clear deadline for Capita and today that deadline has been missed.

“Ministers promised Parliament there would be consequences if Capita failed to deliver, so we need to know what happens now.

“Thousands of people are still waiting for pension payments, retirement quotes and other vital decisions.

“Ministers must now explain how they intend to hold Capita to account.

“The only way to restore confidence is to strip Capita of this contract and bring Civil Service pensions administration back in-house.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The service levels following the move to Capita have been unacceptable.

“An urgent recovery plan is under way, and our immediate priority is to stabilise service levels and give current and former civil servants the service they deserve.

“The Minister for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds set a deadline of the end of June for significant progress to have been made in this area.

“We are assessing the situation and will update in due course.

“We will continue to use all available commercial levers to hold Capita to account and ensure they deliver for both members and taxpayers.”

In April, the Royal Mail statutory pension scheme contract with Capita was terminated, a Cabinet Office minister said, after the services group “failed to deliver numerous milestones”.

Nick Thomas-Symonds told the Commons the government had repeatedly flagged delays with Capita, and will “not hesitate to act decisively” to protect public servants’ pensions.

He assured Royal Mail pensioners the government “will do all we can … to ensure continuity of service”.

In a statement, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “Following a failure to meet critical transition milestones and a lack of confidence in Capita’s ability to implement and transition to the new operating model in a timely fashion, I’m announcing today to the House that I have terminated the new Royal Mail statutory pension scheme contract with Capita.

“Capita had an 18-month planning window to prepare for the transition. They failed to deliver numerous milestones, including a failure to implement the required IT automation.

“The Cabinet Office repeatedly flagged delays in transition milestones.”