Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
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 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.45 At the end of March 2025, the Cabinet Office had withheld £9.6 million from Capita in transition payments due to delays.46 To derisk delivery, the Cabinet Office and Capita have agreed to deliver a simplified IT solution in December 2025, delaying expected greater functionality until at least March 2026.47 Prior to our evidence session in early July Capita provided written evidence to the Committee to assure us of its readiness to take on Scheme administration on 1 December 2025. It argued that where milestones have been missed, these have subsequently been met and stated that it was “firmly on track to assume full administration of the CSPS from 1st December 2025” with “enhanced, innovative services for members for when the contract commences”.48
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.