Committee publication · Correspondence · 12 March 2026

Letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service relating to a follow-up to the Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, 12 March 2026

Summary

The Public Accounts Committee Chair writes to the Cabinet Office Chief Operating Officer following February 2026 evidence on failures in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme after the MyCSP-to-Capita transition. The letter challenges prior assurances about transition readiness, raises concerns about misaligned recovery targets, and seeks accountability for the handover of 90,000 work-in-progress cases and 20 million lines of corrupt data.

Key findings

Capita inherited 90,000 complex work-in-progress cases (vs. anticipated 37,000), 16,000 unread emails, and 20 million lines of corrupt data at December 2026 transition, contradicting Cabinet Office assurances of adequate risk mitigation
Discrepancies between Cabinet Office letters on death-in-service case targets (12 February vs. end of February vs. Capita's stated commitment) suggest misaligned expectations between government and contractor
Capita awarded £700 million DWP payroll contract on 26 February 2026 despite ongoing failures in pension scheme administration, raising questions about inter-departmental communication on contractor performance
Committee objects to terminology 'hardship loans' as 'demeaning' and suggests replacing with 'transitional support loans'
Chair requests clarification on Cabinet Office awareness pre-transition, responsibility for handover standards, penalties for MyCSP failures, and cost allocation for 143-person surge team deployment

Tone

Adversarial

Topics

public-pension-schemesgovernment-procurementpublic-sector-operationsservice-delivery-failurescivil-service

Key actors

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Catherine Little CB, Capita, MyCSP, Cabinet Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Public Accounts Committee

Notable line

“We know from subsequent events that those assurances turned out to be misplaced.”

Key Quotes

“The Committee discussed this letter and noted that the term "hardship loans" is rather demeaning and adds insult to injury to those impacted.”
— Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP) · On terminology for emergency loans to affected pension members

“We know from subsequent events that those assurances turned out to be misplaced.”
— Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP) · Referring to Cabinet Office's prior assurances about transition risk mitigation

“Capita told the Committee that it was "surprised" at the size and nature of the work that it received at handover from MyCSP, despite the two-year transition period.”
— Capita (via Committee evidence) · Explaining the gap between expected and actual workload at transition

“Capita also told the Committee that it was "unheard of" to receive 16,000 unread emails, and that they did not know how many unread emails there were until they were migrated at transition.”
— Capita (via Committee evidence) · Describing data handover challenges

“It seems extraordinary that given the failings that are currently being exhibited in its administration of the civil service pension scheme that Capita would be awarded such a contract.”
— Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP) · On Capita's £700 million DWP payroll contract award

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗