More than 14,000 people have backed a petition calling for administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme to be brought back in-house, as the trade union Prospect takes its campaign to Downing Street.
The petition, organised jointly with the Public and Commercial Services union, was delivered to Number 10 on August 24 following continued problems with the administration of the scheme.
Capita took over from MyCSP in December 2025, but problems with delayed pension payments and outstanding cases predated the transfer.
Pressure intensified in July after Capita missed a commitment to clear the backlog of pension quotations by July 6. At the end of June, more than 6,700 quotations for past retirement dates remained outstanding, alongside more than 4,100 unresolved bereavement cases.
The government withheld almost £10m of contractual payments from Capita and announced plans to bring in independent auditors and a remedial adviser to drive improvements.
The government has also provided hardship loans to members affected by delayed payments and deployed more than 140 additional staff to support the service. Capita acknowledged in July that its service had “not been good enough”, particularly for bereavement, retirement and quotation cases, and apologised to affected members.
“The only long-term solution that will work for scheme members, and taxpayers, is to end this debacle by bringing the contract in-house at the first suitable opportunity.”
Steve Thomas, Prospect
At the time, Civil Service chief operating officer Cat Little said the government was considering how scheme members could best be served in the long term, including the potential insourcing of administration.
Prospect deputy general secretary Steve Thomas said this week: “The problems did not start when Capita took over last December, with thousands of retired civil servants facing financial hardship due to delayed pension payments under the previous administrator. The problems have been compounded by inadequate action from Capita.
“The only long-term solution that will work for scheme members, and taxpayers, is to end this debacle by bringing the contract in-house at the first suitable opportunity.”
Prospect is also using the petition handover to press the government to formally confirm which Cabinet Office minister now has responsibility for civil service pensions.
The union said no minister has been formally assigned the brief since the new prime minister took office, limiting efforts to address the ongoing administration problems.
Thomas said: “The prime minister must act immediately to confirm this Minister so we can work with them to hold Capita to account.”
