Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 5
49th Report - Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme
Published 24 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Civil service pensions All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
There is a clear risk that Capita will not be ready to take over administration of the Scheme as planned on 1 December 2025. The planned date of transfer of administration from MyCSP to Capita is 1 December 2025. However, of the eight transition milestones which have so far passed, only one has passed with all elements delivered on time. The Cabinet Office has stated that the delays are due to Capita underestimating both the complexity of the transition and the time required to implement the technology. The Cabinet Office has also stated that in the worst-case scenario it plans to continue with MyCSP’s existing systems, however currently there is no agreement with MyCSP to keep its digital systems in place. The Cabinet Office told us that it was undergoing a reset plan over the summer with the intention of then making a “go/no-go” decision in September on whether to continue or not with the transition as planned. The decision to go ahead with the contract award has not yet been confirmed. 4 recommendation a. The Cabinet Office needs to fully develop contingency plans should Capita be unable to take over the administration on 1 December 2025. b. The Cabinet Office should write to the Committee with an update on the transition plans immediately following the decision on whether to go ahead with the transition.
From: Public Accounts Committee, 49th Report - Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (HC 888), 24 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-ninth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 24 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forth-ninth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, but disagrees with those on union recognition by suppliers and on its commercial strategy for pension administration.
- On Remedy, the government agrees and says the Cabinet Office has provided 58,400 (44%) of impacted members drawing their pension with revised options. It expects to be "in a position to communicate" timescales "during the first quarter of 2026".
- On the transition to Capita, the government agrees and says the service transitioned on 1 December. It says a rollback option with MyCSP existed until 31 December 2025, with options to extend support to the end of May 2026 "should this be required".
- On contract management, the government agrees and says a Contract Management Policy is embedded, under which the Scheme, as a gold tier contract, requires a contract manager "qualified at expert level".
- The government disagrees on union recognition, stating that under the Employment Act 1982 it is "prohibited from forcing suppliers to recognise trade unions". It disagrees on commercial strategy, citing the Procurement Act 2023 and saying in-house options are reviewed early in procurement.