Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
49th Report - Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme
Public Accounts Committee
HC 888
Published 24 October 2025
Recommendations
4
Rejected
Set out approach to ensure suppliers adequately recognise employee voice, including union recognition
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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 a trade union and have access to independent representation and grievance mechanisms, but does not mandate union recognition.
HM Treasury
View Details →
6
Rejected
Set out commercial strategy for pension administration, including benefits and costs of in-house delivery
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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
View Details →
17
Rejected
Staff uncertainty and strike action threaten pension scheme transition due to TUPE issues
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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 right to join a union.
HM Treasury
View Details →
20
Rejected
Government lacks policy requiring trade union recognition in contracts, but performance remains a concern
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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 suppliers to recognize trade unions.
HM Treasury
View Details →
25
Rejected
Small market for outsourced pension providers necessitates review to encourage new entrants and resilience
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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
View Details →
27
Rejected
Insourcing government work often proves more expensive than outsourcing due to various costs.
Recommendation
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 …
Read more
Government Response Summary
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
View Details →
Conclusions (2)
18
Conclusion
Rejected
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 Summary
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 the Social Value Model and that workers must have fair working conditions including the right to join a trade union or other forms of worker representation.
26
Conclusion
Rejected
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 Summary
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.