On the go: The British Medical Association has hit out at the decision to give Capita a three-year extension to its contract to run Primary Care Support England.
The extension, awarded by NHS England and NHS Improvement, will be worth £94mn. Capita began operating digital, logistic and support services, including pensions administration, for PCSE in 2015.
The quality of NHS pensions administration has been heavily criticised in recent years. In April, the British Medical Association called for an end to the outsourcing of NHS pensions administration after errors were found in nearly 20,000 NHS GP pension records.
When revealing the number of errors, health minister Edward Argar told parliament that “no assessment has been made on the potential merits of moving the pensions administration service to the NHS Business Services Authority”.
An online portal for GP pensions and payments launched in June 2021, meanwhile, has been beset with problems, including missing records and payments.
In November 2017, just two years into the contract, the England local medical committees conference, which brought together NHS England GPs, passed a motion in full calling for NHS England to respond to issues with Capita’s service delivery.
Dr Krishan Aggarwal, BMA pensions committee deputy chair, said that a “litany of failures” had occurred over the course of the contract.
“With thousands of GPs’ pension records missing data, the handling of pensions administration nearly seven years on from Capita winning the contract continues to be appalling, with GPs unable to access accurate information about their pension records,” he said.
“This can have a significant impact on their wellbeing and their financial planning, which can also result in them being hit with exorbitant tax charges. These failings led to NHS BSA reporting NHS England to the Pensions Regulator, and it is therefore astonishing and extremely disappointing that NHSEI continues to subcontract this part of the PSCE contract via Capita.
“Given this contract has been renewed for a further three years, it is essential that Capita urgently fixes its systems and ensures that accurate timely information is made available to GPs and their practices,” Aggarwal continued.
“Capita must make addressing these outstanding issues its priority and the BMA will continue to hold it to account if it fails to do so.”
Capita has been approached for comment.
In the announcement of its contract extension, Capita claimed it had made service improvements, including “launching the PCSE Online platform, which has digitised many services critical to primary care practitioners’ roles which were previously paper or desk-based”.
“For example, through PCSE Online, practitioners can now efficiently order medical supplies, track medical records, access pension records and process payments,” it said.
Capita pledged in its announcement to find further opportunities for improving its service over the next three years.
Al Murray, chief executive of Capita Public Service, said: “The extension of our contract with NHS England and NHS Improvement reflects our focus and commitment to continuing to improve and deliver for the organisation, as for all our clients and customers.
“We are proud to have introduced a number of significant digital capabilities which have helped make the services we deliver for England’s primary care practitioners more efficient.
“This renewal reflects our ability to retain and continue to work with important clients and partners by successfully delivering for them.”
