MP committees to double up on Capita’s civil service pension disaster

Two Parliamentary committees will come collectively to look deeper into the failings related to Capta’s takeover of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS).

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) have collectively invited Cupboard Workplace minister Nick Thomas-Symonds.

MPs in each committees will come collectively for a listening to on 7 July to “scrutinise issues” with the scheme that has induced monetary difficulties for hundreds of retired civil servants.

They give the impression of being set to quiz the minister on the federal government’s termination of Capita’s Royal Mail contract. This was terminated on account of “missed milestones” in distinction to the CSPS contract, which was retained regardless of warnings of missed milestones even earlier than Capita took over the contract from MyCSP on 1 December 2025.

In October 2025, the PAC warned the federal government about the exact same “missed milestone” points in relation to Capita’s CSPS administration. Its report cited the missed IT milestones as cause for concern, amongst different issues.

When Capita took over the £239m contract, which was awarded in 2023 in December, issues struck and an HMRC troubleshooter needed to step in to guide an “pressing restoration plan”, amid difficulties following the switch, in January this yr. The PAC has already held two proof periods with Capita, whereas the PACAC has held one with the Cupboard Workplace.

The announcement of the joint committee listening to stated: “1000’s of loyal and devoted civil servants, and their households, are having difficulties drawing on and accumulating their pensions.

“Probably subjects [in the hearing] will embody the federal government’s termination of Capita’s Royal Mail contract, what Capita and the federal government are doing to ship the scheme again to acceptable service ranges, and the general way forward for the scheme.”

Learn extra: Was Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract a botch too far?

Throughout a PAC committee listening to in February, Capita stated it was “overwhelmed” by round 16,000 unread emails and 20 million database errors unexpectedly left to it by the earlier administrator MyCSP.

MyCSP hit again in a letter to the PAC committee, with Duncan Watson, CEO at MyCSP, saying Capita didn’t benefit from MyCSP’s 12 years’ expertise administering the CSPS throughout its takeover, and its preparations for the contract change – reminiscent of costume rehearsals – had been insufficient.

The PCS union final week known as for Capita to have its CSPS administration contract cancelled in the identical method it has with the Royal Mail pension scheme.

The Royal Mail statutory scheme contract has annual revenues of lower than £10m, in line with Capita. The corporate, which has administered the scheme since 2018, stated it “will proceed to work carefully with all events to make sure continuity and a clean handover according to the Cupboard Workplace’s future different preparations”.

In accordance with figures from Tussell, Capita at present has round 230 dwell contracts with the general public sector, price £7.7bn. Its newest win is the decade-long Synergy Enterprise Course of Providers contract, which, in line with the official tender, has an estimated worth of round £959m over the interval. The contract helps back-office providers for the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Justice, Residence Workplace, and the Division for Atmosphere, Meals and Rural Affairs (Defra). 

The controversy comes at a time that the federal government is trying to in-source extra authorities work. Final month, Cupboard Workplace Parliamentary secretary Chris Ward stated “the age of outsourcing will finish”, and introduced plans to in-source providers.

“For many years, successive governments have been – at finest – ambivalent about whether or not public providers are delivered in-house,” he stated. “At worst, we’ve had outsourcing by default, with public providers hollowed out and offered off to the bottom bidder. That period ends as we speak.”

The federal government launched a Public Curiosity Take a look at, requiring all departments to evaluate whether or not a service could be delivered extra successfully in-house earlier than any outsourcing determination is made. This can apply to service contracts of £1m and above, protecting over 95% of central authorities spend.

“All departments should additionally publish insourcing methods to make the most important wave of in-sourcing in a era a actuality,” stated Ward.