Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Civil service pensions

Status: Open Opened: 6 May 2025 18 recommendations 9 conclusions 1 report

The civil service pension scheme has 1.7m members, either in work or retired. It paid out just under £8bn to scheme members in 2023-24, with its total liabilities coming to nearly £190bn in the same year. The Cabinet Office contracted with MyCSP to administer the scheme in 2014, taking over from Capita, who are due …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
49th Report - Administration of the Civil Service Pension S… HC 888 24 Oct 2025 27 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

6 items
8 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Acknowledged

MyCSP's increased staffing shows improving contact centre performance, but remains poor

We questioned MyCSP about what it was doing to ensure its staffing level was at the level it needed to be. MyCSP told us that it has recently increased staff numbers and contact centre performance is improving as a result. It said that staffing levels in April 2025 were at …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states that Capita's financial cost model identifies the minimum staffing levels required, and they are recruiting an additional 60% of staff to bolster the team, with flexible staffing arrangements to cover elasticity in …
HM Treasury
13 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Acknowledged

Cabinet Office contract with MyCSP lacked commercial levers, resulting in minimal fines

The Cabinet Office accepts that the contract with MyCSP has not always given it sufficient commercial levers to influence how the Scheme is being administered,27 despite having made multiple changes to the contract over its lifetime. For example, despite MyCSP’s mixed performance record, the Cabinet Office has only successfully applied …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it has embedded a robust contract management policy with a standardised approach for administering and managing contracts, including ensuring staff are skilled and trained, and that the Civil Service Pension Scheme must …
HM Treasury
14 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Acknowledged

New Capita contract incorporates stronger KPIs and penalties to improve accountability and performance

We asked the Cabinet Office what in the current contract was limiting it from holding MyCSP to account for its performance, and what lessons had been learned going forward with Capita. The Cabinet Office responded that the new contract with Capita now contains service-focused key performance indicators, and that failures …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it has embedded a robust contract management policy with a standardised approach for administering and managing contracts, including ensuring staff are skilled and trained, and that the Civil Service Pension Scheme must …
HM Treasury
15 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Acknowledged

Cabinet Office repeatedly fails to manage smooth transitions between pension scheme administrators

The Cabinet Office’s difficulties managing the contract are particularly evident when transitioning from one supplier to another. This is the second time the Public Accounts Committee has seen the Cabinet Office fail to manage the successful transition from one administrator of the Scheme to another without a drop in performance …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states the new contract contains 38 Performance Indicators (PI), broken down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Subsidiary Performance Indicators (SPIs) which cover all aspects of service delivery and allow for financial penalties.
HM Treasury
16 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Acknowledged

Cabinet Office confident in its capacity to manage outsourced pension contract risks

We questioned the Cabinet Office about how we can be assured that it had the capacity to ensure that contractors deliver. The Cabinet Office said that it is fairly confident it has the right expertise and capacity to manage the contract, and that the contract management team is significant in …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states the new contract contains 38 Performance Indicators (PI), broken down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Subsidiary Performance Indicators (SPIs) which cover all aspects of service delivery and allow for financial penalties.
HM Treasury
24 Conclusion 49th Report - Administration of the Civ…

Capita's public sector pension administration history includes ongoing legal challenges from unions

Capita administered some elements of the pension scheme before MyCSP took on full responsibility for Scheme administration in 2014.54 Capita is now due to take on that full administrative responsibility from December. Capita already administers the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme on behalf of the Cabinet Office. Capita also administers …

HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

2 sessions
Date Witnesses
26 Mar 2026 Chris Clements · Capita Public Services, Richard Holroyd · Capita View ↗
7 Jul 2025 Cat Little CB · Cabinet Office, Duncan Watson · MyCSP, Fiona Ryland · Cabinet Office, Muna Rowe · Cabinet Office View ↗

Correspondence

25 letters
DateDirectionTitle
21 May 2026 To cttee Letter from the Prospect Deputy General Secretary relating to Dealing with Civi…
14 May 2026 To cttee Letter from the CEO of Capita Public Services relating to Civil Service Pension…
28 Apr 2026 From cttee Joint PAC-PACAC letter to the Minister for the Cabinet Office relating to the C…
15 Apr 2026 To cttee Letter from the CEO of Capita Public Services relating to the Administration of…
15 Apr 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office relating to the Admin…
15 Apr 2026 To cttee Letter from the CEO of Capita Public Services relating to the Administration of…
15 Apr 2026 To cttee Letter from Chief Executive Officer of MyCSP relating to the Administration of …
25 Mar 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to Administr…
23 Mar 2026 To cttee Letter from the Managing Director of Capita Pension Solutions relating to an up…
12 Mar 2026 To cttee Letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Chief Executive Officer of MyCSP …
12 Mar 2026 To cttee Letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Chief Operating Officer of the Ci…
2 Mar 2026 To cttee Letter from the Managing Director of Capita Pensions Solutions relating to a fo…
23 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to a follow-…
23 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to a follow-…
13 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Chair to the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating…
9 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Civil…
9 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee to the Permanent Secreta…
6 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office regarding Civil Servi…
2 Feb 2026 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Commi…
1 Dec 2025 To cttee Letter from the Head of Public Affairs and Government Relations at Capita relat…