49th Report - Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme

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. … Read more 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 their highest level since October 2023.12 Data provided by the Cabinet Office following 6 C&AG’s Report, paras 12, 3.3 7 Public Accounts Committee, Civil Service Pensions Written evidence 8 C&AG’s Report, para 2.7 9 CSP0002 10 C&AG’s Report, para 2.10 11 Q 1 12 Q 3 7 the evidence session showed that there has been an improvement in 2025 in average call waiting times, which were 25 minutes in January but had reduced to 17 minutes by May.13 However, as MyCSP explained to us in the session, from 2017 to 2024 callers were waiting for an average of just three minutes.14 There are also slightly fewer calls being abandoned in 2025, down to roughly 25% in May 2025 compared with 30% towards the end of 2024.15 Show less

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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 … Read more 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 two fines of total value of around £260,000 over the course of the contract, against a total contract value of around £238 million since 2016.28 Show less

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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 … Read more 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 against all performance indicators can now incur more severe financial penalties the longer underperformance goes on for. It also added that it will have access to a shared data repository with Capita, which would in future be an essential part of managing Capita’s performance.29 We queried whether the Cabinet Office considered the size of the financial penalties applied to MyCSP throughout the contract proportionate given the poor service that members had received at times. The Cabinet Office said that the financial penalties were one of many levers it used to encourage better service from suppliers, and that it wanted to use them “in combination with strategic and wider government leverage.”30 Show less

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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 … Read more 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 levels during that period. MyCSP’s 27 C&AG’s Report, para 3.9 28 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.5 and 1.15 29 Qq 68 30 Q 69-70 10 poor customer service record over the last two years mirrors the same drop off that occurred when Capita was handing elements of the Scheme administration over to MyCSP in 2014.31 Show less

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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 … Read more 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 size, with around 60 FTEs overseeing outsourced pension arrangements.32 We inquired further how the Cabinet Office can be sure that MyCSP’s performance will not get worse towards the end of its contract, and that Capita will avoid getting into difficulties. The Cabinet Office stressed the importance of making a success of the transition. It asserted that it had made changes to the way in which it transitions as a result of previous lessons learned, and that it would impose financial penalties on Capita from December in cases of underperformance. The Cabinet Office said that it will reset its transition plan in September, and that it would not go through with the transition if it was not confident that the service levels would be maintained.33 TUPE negotiations and staff concerns Show less

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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 …

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