UK Plans to Bring £239 Million Pension Contract In-House as Capita Misses June Deadline
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 20
UK Plans to Bring £239 Million Pension Contract In-House as Capita Misses June Deadline
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 20
Summary
The Cabinet Office said it is preparing to bring the civil service pension scheme back in-house after Capita failed a critical end-of-June service target and repeatedly missed recovery goals.
Up to a year-long payment delays have left some retired civil servants and bereaved families without income, with about 17,000 relatives of deceased claimants facing hardship from stalled claims.
Individual cases underline the breakdown: a 98-year-old widow waited months for payments, while Sarah Colhill said a delayed £86,000 death-in-service benefit forced her onto universal credit and left her struggling to pay rent.
Capita, awarded the £239 million contract despite earlier pension-contract failures, said it inherited a 90,000-case backlog from Equiniti and was working through it with new technology and staffing.
The reversal marks a sharp shift from January, when the government backed Capita, and aligns with parliamentary and union warnings that outsourcing had failed pensioners and taxpayers.