Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Cabinet Office acknowledged that it is in everyone’s interests for unions and members of staff to be listened to and stated that its industrial relations team were providing support and assistance where appropriate. The Cabinet Office also acknowledged it has a responsibility to manage the risk of transfer. It made reference to ongoing discussions between the union, MyCSP and Capita, while claiming that given it was not the actual employer it could merely advise and support where appropriate.39 Following our evidence session the PCS wrote to us and stated that Capita had proposed to commence discussions with a view to recognising PCS in relation to members employed on the Scheme once the contract commences on 1 December 2025.40 However, on 1 August 2025 PCS announced a further six weeks of strike action, citing MyCSP’s continuing refusal to recognise the union or include it in negotiations.41
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.