Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Capita's performance as the contractor administering the NHS pension scheme for doctors.

The NHS Pension Scheme requires participating employers to perform certain duties including remittance of scheme contributions and providing information on employment and pension records. NHS England and NHS Improvement are the responsible employer for performing such duties in relation to general practitioner (GP) contractors, surgery based salaried GPs and freelance GP locums in England. In September 2015 they contracted Capita to provide a service administering these functions on their behalf.

Whilst Capita are reliant on GP practices to submit information promptly, several historic and current issues relating to the administration of GP pension records have been identified. NHS England and NHS Improvement have initiated a comprehensive action plan to remedy the situation, working closely with the Scheme Administrator and in dialogue with The Pensions Regulator and the British Medical Association.