Investigate the failures in the administration of Civil Service Pensions

We call on Parliament to investigate the ongoing and systemic failures in the administration of civil service pensions. These failures have left thousands of current and former civil servants in limbo, waiting excessive periods for pension payments they are entitled to.

The delays have caused significant financial hardship, emotional distress, and insecurity for individuals who have planned their retirements in good faith.

Parliament should scrutinise Capita’s handling of pension administration, the government’s oversight of the contract, and what immediate action is required to resolve outstanding cases, prevent further harm, and provide redress to those affected.

The Government recognises the vital contribution of civil servants and understands the significant distress that delays in pension administration cause to members and their families. We take these concerns very seriously and apologise to those who have experienced unacceptable service levels or delays in receiving their entitlements. On 22 April 2026, the Minister for the Cabinet Office delivered an oral statement to the House of Commons outlining the failures in pension administration and the robust steps being taken to resolve them.

Regarding the request for a formal Parliamentary investigation, the Government maintains that Parliament is already rigorously investigating these matters through established select committees. The Public Accounts Committee has held two public hearings specifically with Capita to scrutinise their performance and hold their leadership to account for these delivery failures. Furthermore, Cabinet Office officials have provided evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding the administration of the scheme. These ongoing proceedings ensure a high level of transparency and parliamentary oversight without the need for a separate inquiry.

The Government is executing a robust recovery plan and has set a hard deadline for Capita to restore service levels to the standard contractually required by the end of June 2026. This recovery includes clearing the backlog of all outstanding pension quotes. To ensure compliance, we are using every commercial lever at our disposal, which includes withholding transition and milestone payments where deliverables have not been achieved.

The Minister for the Cabinet Office also established a specialist Pensions Recovery Taskforce, led by the Second Permanent Secretary at HMRC, Angela MacDonald, to take strategic oversight on the scheme’s management. This intervention, which includes a circa 140-person government surge team to bolster operational capacity, has already delivered results. Through this intervention, we helped Capita clear 15,000 inherited unread emails, and telephony wait times that averaged at over 90 minutes earlier this year were successfully brought down to an average of under two minutes.

The Government has already demonstrated that it will not tolerate continued failure; we recently terminated Capita’s contract for the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme following failure to meet the necessary performance standards.

To mitigate the impact on those facing financial difficulties, the Government has provided over £8.25 million in interest-free transitional support loans to more than 1,500 members. These loans, of up to £10,000, remain available for retirees experiencing delays.

We are also holding the administrator to account for a data breach that occurred on the pension portal on 30 March 2026. We view this as a fundamental failure in data protection and have demanded a full technical account to ensure such a breach never recurs.

Ministers have addressed these administration issues in several recent debates including: ● the Westminster Hall debate on Civil Service Pension Scheme Administration on 4 February 2026 ● The House of Lords debate on 5 February 2026 ● The Oral Statement on 22 April 2026 regarding the Pensions Update

The Government remains dedicated to ensuring that all current and former civil servants receive the high standard of service they have earned. We will not tolerate delivery failures from contracted partners and will continue to prioritise the recovery of service levels until performance meets the standards we expect.

Cabinet Office