Pension Schemes

Sojan Joseph Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

The hon. Lady speaks powerfully about the very vulnerable situations in which her constituents find themselves, and I entirely share her concerns about the portal. I referred to the statistics on call times in my response to the shadow Minister, and to the average call time. I regularly monitor performance. Where there are particularly egregious examples of poor service, Members should write to me and draw them to my attention. I have mentioned the June 2026 deadline for the resumption of normal service, which includes having a functioning portal. There are people who may not have reached the end of their career, but want to access their updated benefits, and they should be able to do so.

[Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)]

A few weeks ago, I raised in this Chamber an issue affecting my constituent, Andrew Mackay, whose wife Katy passed away at the end of September. Both Andrew and Katy worked for Border Force for 40 years, and Andrew has been in contact with Capita numerous times, but with no luck. I have written to the Minister, and I thank him and his team for their engagement with me. After making numerous attempts over several months, my constituent Andrew is still waiting for Katy’s pension. We hear about the prioritisation of bereavement cases, but this has not happened in my constituent’s case. What would the Minister say to my constituent, and to Capita, to get this case resolved?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

First of all, I say to my hon. Friend’s constituent, Andrew, that I am very sorry to hear about the loss of Katy, and I thank them for their decades of important service to Border Force. In order to take this case forward, it would probably be sensible for my hon. Friend to share the details in a meeting with the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Test (Satvir Kaur). We would be delighted to facilitate that.