Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Civil Service Pension Scheme MP casework sessions in Parliament.

The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and Gov.uk.

Capita is under a firm mandate to restore full service delivery to standard contractual levels by the end of June 2026. We are actively exploring the use of all available commercial and contractual levers and continue to withhold milestone payments for missed transition deliverables. All options remain on the table if they fail to meet the June deadline.

The Cabinet Office regularly assesses the effectiveness of mechanisms to support Members of Parliament with Civil Service Pension Scheme casework. This includes working with Capita to ensure case updates for MPs are timely and accurate.

Due to Capita failing to deliver an effective MP drop in session on 18 May, the Cabinet Office Pensions Recovery Taskforce now lead the coordination of future casework sessions with Capita, and has introduced a new system of regular virtual surgeries to ensure more efficient, reliable, and trackable resolution of constituent cases.

The Head of the Cabinet Office Pensions Recovery Taskforce wrote to Members on Friday, 22 May, to outline the details and timelines of this new process.