Capita and the civil service pension

[Czerwonitz]

Aibu to think this is a conscious decision to encourage civil servants to turn to hard drinking and cigarettes as a retirement plan?

The system and customer service are so so so so so bad. I have no idea if my pension still exists at the moment. Retired friends are not receiving any money (the solution is for their old departments to give them a loan repayable within THIRTY DAYS of the first drawdown of their pension if capita ever finds it).

Unbearable, awful, embarrassing.

Also worth contacting MaPS Money and Pensions Service - appreciate you shouldn't have to but could be helpful

Thanks. The cost for a lot of people is going to run into the thousands. It's astounding that they haven't been barred from public procurement.

Utterly vile comment. There are Civil Service pensioners who retired in November and have yet to receive a penny. What exactly are they supposed to repay the thirty day loan with?

I had no idea this was happening

I always call them Crapita too!

Oh great, I had huge issues with mycsp, thought someone new taking over might be better, clearly not!

Fully agree, as others have said, they are beyond dreadful.

How do they still get these contracts?!

The loan repayment is due within 30 days of receiving the lump sum so with that.
Not defending them though. For anyone who is retired and out of the CS I can confirm we have many internal messages of hand wringing and tips on how to support mental health for those affected. But no further information because there isn’t any.

Three people in my office are affected. They were all due to retire in the last few months but have had to remain at work. So we can’t recruit to replace them. One is off long term sick. Because he’s older and very unwell and this really isn’t helping. It’s an absolute disgrace and I really hope there’s a class action started by the unions.

My mum worked for a council payroll department taken over by capita (years ago) it was such a shit show. They made most of the experienced staff redundant (too expensive) and brought in a load of lower paid inexperienced replacements. Unsurprisingly there were loads of fuck ups. She left after a year as it was so stressful on the remaining staff with experience. I can’t believe they are still being allowed to carry on doing the more of the same.

There have been a number of task force teams tackling backlogs and queries between Feb and April. Capita inherited a backlog of 86,000 issues so that needs to be considered. Not defending them but there are other facts surrounding the situation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-9-february-2026

Currently my older sister, a Civil Servant for forty years, is receiving a fraction of her monthly pension - just over £400 a month. No lump sum in sight. Try to call and you hear "you are 104th in the queue". When she once got through, she said the person she spoke to offer apologies but no solutions. Complaints are ignored. Enquiries made via the portal are unanswered and disappear (I'm guessing someone at Capita removes them). The Pensions Ombudsman will not touch these cases. She contacted her MP but Capita lied to him and said she had been paid in full. This is a scandal reaching Post Office proportions. In the meantime my sister, instead of enjoying her retirement, is spending her time in tears.

Lots of people in the CS scheme don’t take a lump sum due to the commutation rate- it can work out better not to. it’s not as simple as saying the can just pay it back out if that.

This is a real scandal! My Govt Dept also running a Voluntary Early Exit scheme and as above aren’t able to see the implications to their pensions.
They are also allowing people to rescind their Retirement but if you’ve been working for 40 years and we’re really looking forward to your retirement It is very unfair!

Someone from Capita has something on someone high up. Cannot explain how they keep getting contracts after the fuck ups still

I know two people who are waiting for their pensions after 35 years of working for one department. One has been trying to get their pension sorted since March last year - keeps being told it’s being sorted, urgent etc.
The other one retired in December- no lump sum, no pension and also waiting for his accrued annual leave to be paid.
If they can’t sort the pensions for people who’ve worked fulltime for one dept, then I’m screwed- I’ve had two lots of mat leave, a career break, worked part time,and term time. And have also moved departments.

How on earth do they keep getting contracts?? Why can’t it all be taken back I house?

See this is what I find interesting. 86k backlog apparently but it wasn't an issue that it didn't make waves? That would have or at least should have

Your DP's better situation last year doesn't negate the real problems happening now.

Because 86k out of 1.7 million pensions is about 5% of pensions - obviously a major problem for 5% of the pension holders - but Capita have fucked over all 1.7 million.
Blaming the backlog of 5% for failing to deliver the remaining 95% THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY WORKING PERFECTLY is another example of Capita's lies and bullshit.

Capita are awful. They're the organisation that uses bully tactics to get people to buy TV licences.

They are useless. DH (former civil servant) spent 3.5 hours on hold to them and when he finally got through the call handler terminated the call because he didn’t pick up within a second (he used that set up where you can put the phone down and it calls you when they pick up). We are lucky in that he just wanted his login to the portal unlocked (the portal wasn’t working properly and everyone was getting locked out apparently). He won’t be taking the pension for over a year so we are hoping they’ve sorted themselves out by then.

A private company I used to work for uses Capital to administer their pension scheme too. I rang to ask for a forecast (they send letters every year but they are just waffle, no facts or figures) and to enquire what they needed from me to update my name to my married name and they said they wouldn’t send it until I sent them my original marriage certificate 🤬. This is despite the fact I haven’t changed my address so they could just post something out 🙄. I don’t trust them not to lose my paperwork so I’m no further forward (currently waiting for a copy of the marriage certificate to arrive from the General Register Office).

Feel really sorry for all the people left in limbo by this and can’t believe they’ve been awarded the civil service payroll scheme now as well 😩

Why is it vile???
The loan is to be paid back within 30 days of receipt of the lump sum. Surely that’s reasonable in the circumstances?

Yes, but the point of the loan is for people who have no income due to the fuck up.

I don't see a problem with this solution - here's some money to pay your bills etc and when you've received what you're owed from your pension, pay it back within a month, that's fine.

Obviously, Capita are an utter disgrace and should never have been awarded the contract given their history with the Teachers pensions, but when you've tens/hundreds of thousands of people needing help, you need to prioritise the worst cases and provide simple solutions, which is what the loan is.

Only Classic (closed to new members 24 years ago) has automatic lump sum.

Truly awful service to staff and bereaved relatives. Cat Little had to apologise for Capita telling a caller that she sounded too young to be a widow (or words to that affect).

You didn't get the hint of "I'm all right, Jack, so no one else matters". I'm really glad her husband got his pension on time but it doesn't negate the mess that is going on now.

I'm not aware of problems getting through on the phone or of complaints being ignored prior to Capita taking over.