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

8 items
4 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Set out approach to ensure suppliers adequately recognise employee voice, including union recognition

In order to ensure a smooth transition from MyCSP to Capita it is important that appropriate consideration is given to the rights of staff members transferring across. MyCSP staff who are members of the PCS union have been on strike over the summer in protest at the lack of PCS …

Government response. The government rejects the recommendation, stating it is prohibited by the Employment Act 1982 from forcing suppliers to recognise trade unions. It clarifies that its Social Value Model requires suppliers to ensure workers are informed of their right to join …
HM Treasury
6 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Set out commercial strategy for pension administration, including benefits and costs of in-house delivery

There has been a small market of pension administrators bidding for the contract, potentially limiting the Cabinet Office’s ability to secure value for money for the scheme administration. Capita administered only some elements of the pension scheme before MyCSP took over the contract in 2014 to administer the whole scheme. …

Government response. The government disagreed with the recommendation, stating it is legally required to follow the Procurement Act 2023 and its standard procurement process already includes reviewing in-house solutions for contracts.
HM Treasury
17 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Staff uncertainty and strike action threaten pension scheme transition due to TUPE issues

On 24 June 2025, MyCSP staff who are members of the PCS union announced six weeks of strike action planned to take place in the period preceding the transition in protest at the lack of PCS involvement in Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) negotiations.34 TUPE regulations are intended …

Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation to ensure suppliers recognise employee voices through union recognition, stating it's prohibited from forcing suppliers to recognise unions under the Employment Act 1982, although the Social Value Act ensures fair working conditions, including the …
HM Treasury
18 Conclusion 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

MyCSP's refusal to recognise PCS union impacts staff relations, though Capita offers hope

MyCSP told us that it does not recognise the PCS union for collective bargaining or otherwise, because MyCSP is a part-mutual organisation with an elected, formal employee works council who are involved in negotiating terms, conditions and pay.37 It did, however, state that there were ongoing 31 Q 75 32 …

Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation to ensure suppliers give adequate recognition to the voice of employees through union recognition. They state that the Model Services Contract has a clause for Social Value that successful bidders must comply with under …
HM Treasury
20 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Government lacks policy requiring trade union recognition in contracts, but performance remains a concern

We queried with the Cabinet Office if it was normal practice to let a contract to an organisation that does not recognise trade unions.42 Although unable to give us a definitive answer at the time, the Cabinet Office subsequently wrote to the Committee to confirm that there is no government …

Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation to ensure suppliers give adequate recognition to the voice of employees, stating that while the Social Value Model ensures fair working conditions and the right to join a trade union, it's prohibited from forcing …
HM Treasury
25 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Small market for outsourced pension providers necessitates review to encourage new entrants and resilience

Noting the seemingly small concentration of suppliers, we queried with the Cabinet Office if the market for pension providers is too small and, if so, what it is going to do to ensure that it has more options in future contract tenders. The Cabinet Office responded that the market is …

Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating it adheres to the Procurement Act 2023, conducts market analysis, and reviews in-house solutions before making procurement decisions, ensuring equal treatment and transparency across the process.
HM Treasury
26 Conclusion 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Public procurement regulations limit consideration of supplier's past performance in tendering.

We asked the Cabinet Office if it considers the past performance of companies when procuring suppliers. It said that it did take past performance into account.58 Subsequently the Cabinet Office has written to the Committee to clarify that public procurement regulations state that consideration of a supplier’s past performance when …

Government response. The government disagrees, stating that it follows the Procurement Act of 2023 which outlines the requirements for ensuring equal treatment and transparency across the procurement process, including reviewing whether an in-house solution is a viable option.
HM Treasury
27 Recommendation 49th Report - Administration of the Civ… Rejected

Insourcing government work often proves more expensive than outsourcing due to various costs.

If the market isn’t sufficiently competitive, one option we suggested that the Cabinet Office could consider is what value there might be to bringing the work in-house. The Cabinet Office said that ‘insourcing’ was always considered when making such business case appraisals. It said that insourcing was generally, but not …

Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation to set out its commercial strategy for pension administration including consideration of the benefits and costs of administering the scheme in-house, stating that it follows standard procurement procedures and the Procurement Act 2023.
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…