Committee publication · Correspondence · 23 February 2026

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to a follow-up to the Administration of the Civil Service Pensions Scheme, 23 February 2026

Summary

Catherine Little, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, updates the Public Accounts Committee on progress in resolving the Civil Service Pensions Scheme administration crisis. She reports that 116 employers are issuing interest-free hardship loans (£5,000–£10,000), with 287 loans paid totalling £1.6m as of 23 February 2026. A 150-person surge team is processing backlogs; call-centre wait times have dropped from 95 to 26 minutes. Recovery is tracked through three-week sprints, targeting standard service levels by June 2026.

Key findings

116 Civil Service employers confirmed issuing hardship loans; 287 loans worth £1.6m paid as of 23 February 2026, up from 81 two weeks prior, showing accelerating deployment.
Interest-free hardship loans capped at £5,000 (up to £10,000 exceptionally) for members not receiving expected CSPS payments since 1 January 2025; repayment within 28 days of pension receipt.
Of 1,804 hardship cases flagged with Capita, 864 have received payment and 375 are at quotation stage; death-in-service and ill-health cases prioritised for completion by end of February.
Average call-centre wait times reduced to 26 minutes 17 seconds from 1 hour 35 minutes; a 150-person joint Government–Capita surge team mobilised to clear backlogs.
Recovery plan committed to returning lump-sum payments to service level by end of February and recurring pensions to standard levels by end of April 2026; all trade-union and MP escalations now tracked through single point of contact.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

public-pension-administrationcivil-servicecustomer-servicefinancial-hardship

Key actors

Catherine Little, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Angela MacDonald, Cabinet Office, Capita, Civil Service Pensioners Alliance, Civil Service Retirement Fellowship

Notable line

“Loyal, dedicated former and serving civil servants should not be experiencing the very serious range of issues currently being endured including examples of severe financial hardship. It is simply not an acceptable position.”

Key Quotes

“Loyal, dedicated former and serving civil servants should not be experiencing the very serious range of issues currently being endured including examples of severe financial hardship. It is simply not an acceptable position.”
— Catherine Little · Opening statement on the severity of the pension administration crisis

“… these interest-free loans are valued at £5,000, rising up to £10,000 exceptionally, and are explicitly not compensation.”
— Catherine Little · Clarifying the nature and limits of hardship loan support

“As of 23 February 2026, Civil Service employers have reported 287 loans paid to CSPS members. This compares to 196 and 81 loans reported as paid in the previous two weeks (16 February and 10 February 2026), demonstrating a steady increase in the deployment of support.”
— Catherine Little · Reporting acceleration in hardship loan distribution

“Average call centre wait times have been significantly reduced to 26 minutes and 17 seconds, down from an average of 1 hour, 35 minutes and 21 seconds this time last month.”
— Catherine Little · Member support improvements from surge team mobilisation

“While we remain focused on the goal of returning all aspects of the service to standard contractual levels by June 2026, we are now proactively communicating every two weeks through departments about what we are working on and the progress made.”
— Catherine Little · Commitment to transparency and departmental engagement throughout recovery

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗