Civil service pensions- what a fucking farce!

[MissCooCooMcgoo]

My mum died in March. They were notified literally on the day by her manager. We are now in July and they have been the most unhelpful, frustrating people I have ever had the misfortune to deal with!

I called 4 weeks ago and they assured me they had everything from me they needed only to chase today to be told they want more information including my decree absolute from my first marriage? WHY do they need this information from 14 years ago?

My mum kept her information updated and they have me down as the beneficiary with my married name of the last 12 years.

Anyone else had to deal with this shitshow? They should be ashamed. All of this is hard enough as it is.

True but as I said above they take their lead from who pays them.

I know the CS inside out.

Front line workers = hard working strivers taking the stress of dealing with the public home every night.

Office workers doing not so much slowly, counting the hours to home time. Actually not home time as they all WFH.

I maintain you could halve the non front line staff, pay a bit more, and actually increase productivity. No one I've met in the front line disagrees with this!

You have no idea what you are talking about. Capita are terrible at administering private sector pension schemes too, y'know...

HM Prison and Probation Service staff who work directly with prisoners or offenders

HM Revenue & Customs staff in roles involving direct contact with taxpayers or compliance visits

Department for Work and Pensions staff in Jobcentre or benefits-facing roles

DVSA driving examiners and enforcement staff

Lab techs, inspectors, researchers and scientists
across a number of departments and ministries

All civil servants. Plus many many more frontline operational staff. All getting terrible service from Capita and very much deserve the pensions they have to make up for the shocking conditions and pay

Why don't the front line people get an office job then if it's such a cushy life, or is it too unfulfilling for them?
Nothing to do with CS pensions at all.

Capita have been responsible for shit show after shit show. Why on earth are they still being hired?

Well you dont sound as if you know the CS inside out. If you did you would know there are thousands of office workers on low enough wages to claim UC for a start

Says an office wallah!

The adrenaline and immediacy of the front line makes it exciting. Whether it's on a counter or a fire engine. You never know what happens next. It's life.

You'd never understand!!

That’s such a shitty thing to say.

CS pensions are basically deferred salary.

Civil Servants get paid massively less than equivalent responsibility jobs in the private sector. People take that hit for various reasons, including wanting to work for the public good, but also because they’re happy to have their salary deferred to get a decent pension.

The CS is very competitive at all levels so it’s not a case of “can’t get any other job” either.

You know fuck all.

I’m one of your maligned “office staff”. I regularly work 10-11 hour days. I did two jobs for four months, for no extra pay, after one of my colleagues had a breakdown.

I care deeply about the work I do and about improving things for the people who have to use our services. I’m certainly not here for the pay or the benefits!!

Capita have also had 2 major data breaches over the last couple of years. They are constantly advertising for staff and I’ve heard they are not a good company to work for. Working for a pensions company myself there is not one decent administration company out there that can deal with the volume of work

They’re an absolute shower of shit.

I have been trying to get them to answer some basic errors on my deferred for the last 2 years. They had written to me when I left the CS but apparently had no record of the letter they sent so made everything up from that date. I’ve had to send them scans of that letter 7 times and it’s like I’m stuck in an interminable loop of being ignored and then they email and I have to start the whole fucking thing all over again.

@KateSixer if your just here to start a row about civil servants then clear off.

My mother was a civil servant in the court service and a damn fucking good one at that. Worked from home at the end because her employer had the ability to allow her to do so as an adjustment for her serious illness and disabilities and they valued her contribution.

So take your diatribe elsewhere.

It's the processes, not the people. And in public service there isn't much ability to change your process for the greater good at a lower level.

This is not the thread for an anti-CS rant. Start a separate thread and stop derailing.

Im sorry for your loss OP and I sympathise with anyone dealing with paperwork related to someone you love dying. My partner died a month ago, not CS, but I have been reduced to sobbing hysterically at the member of staff at the bank because I couldn't seem to navigate their system. It's brutal.

But there are an awful lot of unproductive, time serving, costly, lazy, bureaucratic, quick to complain types too.

None of which has anything whatsoever to do with Capita's poor administration of the civil service pension scheme.

They are not Civil Servants it's been outsourced to Capita

Brilliant. Civil Servants having a terrible time accessing the pensions they’ve earned and somehow it’s also their fault.

I am a non frontline CS and you’d probably be shocked at the level of responsibility I have for my salary.

Anyway. Good luck. Sounds like things are moving very slowly towards something like a viable service.

I accept that my comments are tangential to the original thread and I apologise.

@KateSixer your posts on this thread have been mind-bogglingly inappropriate. What on earth is wrong with you?

OP, have you spoken to your mum’s old HR department recently? HR can expedite applications with Capita if you let them know this is still ongoing. Death in service payments are a priority

They were bad last year, when I dealt with them, but have got much worse since Capita took over. There has been a huge amount of press coverage. It may even be worth contacting the financial pages of one of the broadsheet.

And I am sorry to you too because I totally accept what you say about huge responsibility at often an early age and low pay and not only in the SCS.

But if you are at that level then I think you should also acknowledge the truth of what I say!!

And yet, you persist.

Would that actually do any good though? They'd want all the gory details wouldn't they and I don't know if I can do that.