MyCSP issues bring home admin transfer risk lessons
The National Audit Office has called on civil service pension scheme MyCSP and the Cabinet Office to increase employer involvement in a report examining problems with the scheme’s transition to in-house administration.
The scheme ran into administrative issues when it brought pension payroll and other administration services in-house in September 2014.
Transition is one of the most stressful events in a scheme lifecycle and it can end in acrimony and dispute
The NAO identified four main issues faced by the scheme over the last 18 months:
- Delays in payment the first time the scheme ran the payroll in-house. 14,703 overseas pension payments were delayed by as many as seven days and 99 pensioners were not paid until the following month or – in some cases – October 2015.
- Inability to handle the volume of calls. Between September 2014 and March 2015, the scheme failed to answer 99,400 calls. At the time of the transition 59 people worked at the scheme’s contact centre. This has since been increased to 100 and the centre has been opened at the weekend to help cope with demand.
- A backlog of work. MyCSP inherited 14,000 items of work from Capita, the previous administration provider, and 40,000 data issues were created by the migration. This grew to reach 22,000 urgent cases in January 2015. The urgent cases were cleared in March 2015.
- Insufficient member information. Some members waiting for retirement quotes or new payments did not receive them until after they had retired. The production of ad-hoc statements was also temporarily suspended.
Employer involvement
The NAO made a series of recommendations for the Cabinet Office and Civil Service Pensions Board, including working with employers and MyCSP to plan a data cleanse, reform the scheme to ensure employers are properly involved and performance manage MyCSP, involving employers in the management.
A spokesperson for MyCSP said: “As the report makes clear, the service to members was back to normal standards by September last year. MyCSP operates an approach of continuous service improvement as a means of enhancing the member experience.”
The spokesperson added: “Alongside our standard monthly performance monitoring against agreed service levels, we have also further strengthened our member engagement with an enhanced scheme website, together with quarterly member focus groups for gathering feedback, and the creation of online guides.”
Planning and testing
Margaret Snowdon, chair of the Pensions Administration Standards Association, said planning and testing are key to successful transitions.
“Too many schemes underestimate the effort and risks, and cost, involved. Transition is one of the most stressful events in a scheme lifecycle and it can end in acrimony and dispute.”