Capita Pension Solutions has signed a voluntary recognition agreement with the Public and Commercial Services Union, effective 1 December 2025, as it prepares to take over the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme from MyCSP, which did not recognise the union.  

Administration for the 1.7m members of the unfunded public service scheme is being transferred from MyCSP to Capita on Monday.   

Capita said the agreement provides PCS members with a formal voice in workplace matters and provides continuity for the 350 staff that are transferring to Capita for the contract. Capita will also add 150 new employees working remotely and in offices in Liverpool and Cheadle.  

The general secretary of PCS, Fran Heathcote, said: “We welcome the recognition agreement between PCS and Capita, which gives our members a real voice in the workplace. We look forward to working towards building a positive industrial relations environment, which is in the best interests of the successful administration of the pension scheme.”   

Capita’s chief people officer Scott Hill said: “This agreement reflects our commitment to building a strong, positive relationship with PCS.  We look forward to working closely with PCS to ensure a smooth transition of the service and a constructive partnership going forward.”  

  

Chris Clements, managing director of Capita Pension Solutions, noted the firm is rolling out a new service using more automation and AI, calling voluntary union recognition “an important step in that journey”.   

The recognition agreement comes after the Public Accounts Committee criticised the government on its handling of the scheme last month.  

Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said it was frustrating that that the scheme had to be scrutinised for value for money, for keeping members waiting years for age-related discrimination to be remedied, saying that the contract has “shuttled back and forth between different administrators”.  

The Conservative MP for North Cotswolds said: “Our report also provokes wider questions on whether the government is doing enough to ensure that suppliers receiving public money are doing enough to make sure the voices of employees are heard. There may be structural reasons for the lack of union recognition by MyCSP. However, it will seem odd to many that the civil service pension scheme administrator did not recognise the civil service’s largest union, and it is positive to hear that Capita have agreed to move towards recognition with PCS.”  

He added that it was time for the government to publicly take stock.  

"The costs and benefits of bringing the scheme back in-house must now be laid out. Whatever route is taken in the future, the status quo has long clearly not been good enough.”  

The Committee’s report from last month said more than half of members affected by historic discrimination who are drawing their pension face unacceptable waits for this to be remedied, and while the Cabinet Office plans to reach all members by 2027, it has no plan or selected supplier yet to carry out the work to offer a remedy to roughly 70,000 people who have not yet heard from government on the issue.