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, 16 February 2026

Summary

Catherine Little, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, responds to the Public Accounts Committee's follow-up letter on Civil Service Pensions administration. She defends the Cabinet Office's rejection of two committee recommendations: one on employee voice and union recognition (citing Employment Act 1982 statutory constraints), and one on commercial strategy and in-sourcing (citing Procurement Act 2023 requirements). She confirms the Cabinet Office remains committed to employee engagement through social value clauses and will consider in-house delivery options in future procurement.

Key findings

Cabinet Office rejected Recommendation 4 on union recognition because Employment Act 1982 prohibits government from mandating trade union recognition in commercial contracts.
Cabinet Office rejected Recommendation 6 on in-sourcing because Procurement Act 2023 dictates specific legal frameworks for procurement; this does not signal unwillingness to consider in-house administration.
Cabinet Office promotes employee voice through 'social value' clauses in contracts rather than statutory union recognition mechanisms.
Cabinet Office will conduct robust evaluation of costs and benefits of different delivery models (including in-house administration) when preparing future contracts.
Permanent Secretary clarified earlier remarks about compensation scheme, referring to the statutory internal dispute resolution process within the pension scheme itself.

Government position

Partially accepts. Cabinet Office rejects Recommendations 4 and 6 on legal/statutory grounds (Employment Act 1982, Procurement Act 2023) but affirms commitment to employee engagement through alternative mechanisms (social value clauses) and confirms openness to considering in-sourcing in future procurement despite rejecting the specific recommendation.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

public-financecivil-servicepensionsprocurement

Key actors

Catherine Little CB, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Public Accounts Committee, Cabinet Office, Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Notable line

“Our disagreement does not signal an unwillingness to consider in-sourcing.”

Key Quotes

“I wish to clarify that we rejected the recommendation because the Employment Act 1982 expressly prohibits the government from mandating trade union recognition within commercial contracts and we focused on the …”
— Catherine Little CB · Explaining rejection of Recommendation 4 on employee voice and union recognition

“… the Cabinet O ffi ce actively promotes fair treatment through mechanisms such as a 'social value' clause to ensure that suppliers uphold high standards for their workforce and provide meaningful …”
— Catherine Little CB · Describing alternative approach to employee engagement

“… can con fi rm that the Cabinet O ffi ce will consider all viable delivery options, including in-house administration, when we prepare for future contracts.”
— Catherine Little CB · Addressing concerns about commercial strategy and in-sourcing

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗