Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the levels of funding and resources to ensure that complaints and compensation payments for people affected by Civil Service Pension Scheme processing delays are handled promptly.

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 keeps the adequacy of funding and resourcing for the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme under continuous review, including the resources specific to handling complaints and compensation payments.

In respect of complaints and compensation payments, Capita has increased its workforce circa 140 staff and is now operating with 50% more resources than the previous administrator. Alongside this Capita has brought in additional support from third parties to assist in automation of calculations and additional functionality that is anticipated to increase the overall processing that will increase the output and clear any historical cases. Capita continues to deliver the monthly pension payments to over 730,000 members who have retired.

Senior leaders across Capita and the Cabinet Office are working closely to resolve current issues through provision of additional support from the Civil Service. The focus is on identifying the main causes of delays and moving pension administration to a stable position, which includes having adequate resources to effectively and promptly handle complaints and any compensation due.