The Civil Service Pension Scheme expects there to be about 4,000 retirement quotes left to be issued after a deadline of 30 June was missed. The Public and Commercial Services Union will be holding a rally at Westminster on Tuesday, calling for Capita's contract to be cancelled and administration to be pulled in-house. 

Capita has issued more than 15,380 quotes, with about 4,000 still outstanding as the administrator tries to get on top of a large backlog with the help of 500 taxpayer-funded civil servants. 

As well as the outstanding quotes, there are currently 3,700 bereavement cases where administrator Capita is waiting for families to return information.  

The update on case numbers was issued on Friday by second permanent secretary at HM Revenue and Customs, Angela MacDonald, who leads the government’s emergency intervention. Capita took over the administration of the CSPS from MyCSP last December. The two administrators have blamed each other for the huge backlog and service failures. As well as this, members have also struggled to access and register for a new online portal. 

MacDonald is retiring in July, and has announced that Richard Vianello, newly hired pensions director at the Cabinet Office, will take over from her. Vianello headed up the Department for Work and Pensions’ later life delivery until February and for three-and-a-half years led the DWP state pensions correction exercise. He was most recently on secondment as director of continuous improvement at National Savings and Investments. 

Capita was due to restore normal service levels by the end of last month. The Cabinet Office is expected to keep pressure on Capita for missing the deadline. At the end of May, Cabinet Office minister Satvir Kaur said the Cabinet Office was “actively exploring the use of all available commercial and contractual levers” and is continuing to withhold milestone payments for missed transition deliverables. “All options remain on the table if they fail to meet the June deadline,” she added. 

 

MacDonald said the end of June position “is an important point to reflect on the effectiveness of our recovery actions” and is assessing this to support ministers and “ensure appropriate commercial actions are taken”. 

 

She acknowledged “the unacceptable and awful experience that so many of you have had”. 

 

The PCS union and Prospect launched a petition last month to bring the administration of CSPS in-house. The online petition had recorded more than 10,000 signatures at the time of writing. PCS is also holding a rally this week. As well as clearance of the backlog and in-house administration, the union demands a compensation scheme for everyone affected by pension administration failures, and the suspension of any further contract awards involving Capita until a review of the company's performance and the procurement process has been completed. 

 

PCS urged the government to “honour its commitment to deliver the greatest wave of insourcing in a generation”. The government is set to introduce a public interest test for all departments from next April, meaning they will have to assess whether contracts worth more than £1m including VAT can be delivered more effectively in-house, and explain why if they cannot, publishing guidance last month. In-scope organisations with an annual contract spend of £100m or more will also have to publish a five-year insourcing strategy within 30 days of 1 April 2027. 

 

Like other public sector schemes, CSPS funding applies the ‘superannuation contributions adjusted for past experience’ discount rate. This was set at CPI+2% for the 2024 valuation. The new rate means factors for transfers and divorce-related valuations are changing. As a result, CSPS has put these cases on hold.