Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an independent auditor to assess adequacy of the Capita fire and rescue workers pension system.

The Cabinet Office, acting as the Civil Service Pension Scheme Manager, has met on a number of occasions with representatives of Unite the Union (Unite), Capita Land Services and MyCSP to discuss issues surrounding Pensionable Pay for members of the Defence Fire and Rescue Services that were transferred to Capita Fire and Rescue. Work is currently ongoing towards resolving these issues.

The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) is supported by a robust governance model that includes audits carried out annually by the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA). The scheme is also responsible for providing scheme accounts which are fully audited on an annual basis. Alongside this, the scheme is required to implement the legislation for pensions effectively and pay the correct benefits. I am comfortable that the administration of the pension scheme is adequate and robust and that there are effective policies and procedures in place to resolve issues impacting members.

To support all employers in performing their duties required for the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme there are several different functions that employers can utilise:

• Dedicated on-boarding team

• Guidance and Notifications

• Employer Training

When an employer joins the CSPS, they must complete a legal document called an Admission Agreement (AA) and ensure that the parties comply with their obligations set out in it. The AA is signed in triplicate by the provider, the contracting authority and Cabinet Office. To ensure employers are meeting their requirements we:

Internally have:

• Interface Compliance Model - which reviews the monthly interface quality which is supplied from employers. Capita Fire and Rescue are working with the Scheme Administer to bring their interface up to date. Once this has been completed, a review of all pensions in payment will be completed to ensure that the members are receiving the correct benefits.

• Annual Assurance Statement (AAS) - The purpose of the AAS is to assist the Cabinet Office’s Accounting Officer, to carry out their responsibilities to the Civil Service Pensions Scheme. It reminds employers of their fundamental roles and responsibilities in relation to the scheme and gives the opportunity to highlight any issues.

• Employer Engagement Matrix - The Employer Engagement Matrix tracks employer performance and measures against set criteria which are either essential and desirable. This is to provide an overview of several different metrics to identify if employers falling down in their duties.

Externally we have:

• Annual audits carried out by both the Government Internal Audit Agency and the National Audit Office.

• An independent external company (ITM) has recently carried out a data audit which identified no material concerns.