Civil Service Pension Scheme administration problems

Last updated: 30/03/2026

This page is regularly updated with the latest information and guidance.

Many members have urgent queries about the current unacceptable performance of the civil service pension scheme administrators.

This is a fast-moving issue, with significant developments occurring regularly. This page will be updated with the latest position and key information for members.

Hopefully, most of the answers that members need will be available here. But please contact your local representative or full-time officer if you need further assistance.

What has been going wrong with Civil Service Pension Scheme administration?

The service that members receive has not been good for some time. A recent National Audit Office report noted particular problems with response times to members’ calls and emails last year.

Things got noticeably worse from 1 December 2025 when the administration contract transferred to Capita (from MyCSP).

From that point, there were many complaints from members who could not access Capita’s online pension portal, or whose data was missing or incorrect.

These issues obviously caused great inconvenience and sometimes affected members’ ability to make important decisions, including about full and partial retirement.

From the beginning of this year, we started to become aware of significant numbers of newly retired scheme members not receiving any pension payments, sometimes for several months.

This obviously caused the members concerned great distress, and many experienced significant financial hardship.

We supported members who were:

But all other members of the scheme are also affected by issues caused by these problems to a degree.

It is much harder for scheme members to get accurate and timely information from the scheme that they need to plan their future.

Those most affected include members aiming to retire over the next few months. Many have no certainty about the pension they would get, or if it would be paid on time.

What is the scale of these problems?

When planning for taking on this contract, Capita assumed they would inherit about 37,000 cases from MyCSP.

In the joint apology from the Cabinet Office and Capita on 28 January it was noted that the actual backlog of cases was 86,000.

On 2 February the Public Accounts Committee published a letter from the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary that stated the backlog had increased to 120,000 cases.

The backlog will include a wide range of cases (including duplicates), from relatively trivial to extremely difficult cases involving financial hardship and even bereavement.

The most serious cases will involved members who retired but did not receive their pension. The Permanent Secretary said this happened to about 8,500 members.

The maladministration underpinning this terrible standard of performance is obviously completely unacceptable.

What scrutiny has this issue received in the media and in Parliament?

A scandal of this scale inevitably attracts attention, and there has been a lot of media coverage of it, particularly about the impact on individual members.

Because this is a public scheme whose managers are accountable to Parliament, there has also been a high level of scrutiny there too.

Initially, Prospect devoted resources to raising the profile of the problems that members were experiencing. It has now received the attention it needs at the highest levels.

The experience of one young terminally ill member of the scheme was raised at PMQs on 21 January (BBC Northern Ireland covered that case).

MPs also debated the schemes’ problems in Westminster Hall on 4 February. This report conveys the outrage that MPs expressed about the human impact of the situation.

Prospect wrote to all MPs with a briefing about the situation ahead of the debate in Westminster Hall (you can download that here).

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) has oversight of the Cabinet Office (the managers of the pension scheme).

PACAC questioned Ministers and senior civil servants about the situation on 4 February. This committee held a follow-up session with senior officials on 3 March.

Both the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have scrutinised scheme administration in general and the transfer to Capita in particular.

The Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the Civil Service Pension Scheme contains a lot of information about the background to this problem (and the latest government responses).

This committee held an oral evidence session with senior Capita executives on 12 February and has another scheduled for 26 March.

What has been the scheme’s response?

There should be no doubt that the very highest levels of government have grasped the seriousness of the situation and responded appropriately.

HMRC’s second permanent secretary Angela MacDonald was asked to lead a specialist team to help with the casework backlogs.

She and her team developed a recovery plan to return the service to an acceptable standard.

The recovery plan includes the prioritisation of processing payments to the most urgent cases, but it also aims to return to the contractual levels of service by June.

There is also a surge team of over 150 civil servants deployed to work on reducing the backlog. This is on top of additional resourcing from Capita.

A crucial element of the plan is providing interim financial support for members while they wait for their pensions to be paid.

What progress has been made by the recovery team?

The recovery team has committed to providing regular feedback to members on the progress they are making. Latest updates are available here.

The update on 12 February reassured members that their data had transferred successfully to Capita.

The update on 27 February outlined progress on: call waiting times, the backlog of cases, unread emails transferred by MyCSP, retirement quotes and the pension modeller.

The update on 12 March provided more information on progress on answering calls, but particularly focussed on the position of members who had not received pension quotes yet.

Separate recovery plans are also available from here.

Progress on processing payments to the backlog of cases of retired members

The initial priority for the recovery team was to deal with the financial hardship of retired members who were waiting for their pension to be paid.

The transitional loan scheme (see below) was able to address the immediate needs of members in this position and allowed the recovery team to focus on making payments.

The recovery team established a priority order for dealing with the backlog, death-in-service, bereavement and ill-health retirement cases were treated as the most urgent.

Capita has settled all death in service and ill-heath cases it is aware of or has done everything it’s possible to do whilst waiting for members to respond.

Capita also committed to making sure that all members who have submitted their forms and have received their pension quote, received their lump sum, and in some instances 70% of their arrears, by the end of February.

All outstanding payments to this group of members are expected to be made within a further eight weeks (i.e. by the end of April).

The Cabinet Office has accepted that interest must be paid on delayed pension payments. Further information about this is available from the website.

Progress on issuing retirement quotes to those considering retirement

While the most urgent cases that the recovery team had to deal with were those who had already retired but not received any pension, those planning to retire are also significantly impacted by the unacceptable standards of pension scheme administration.

Unfortunately, members considering whether to partially or fully retire will continue to be impacted by these problems for some time.

The recovery team is aiming to restore normal service by the end of June 2026. But, given that it can take up to 4 months from requesting a retirement quote to processing a payment in normal circumstances, even achieving this aim would mean that it will not be until November that members will be retiring under normal conditions.

In the meantime, all that we are practically able to do is to give members a realistic idea of what they can expect and a clear explanation of their options.

Pension quotations are being prioritised on the basis of the desired retirement date and not the submission date.

If you requested a retirement quote before 1 December, Capita will write to you by 10 April 2026. You will be contacted via the portal, if you are registered, or if not then via your postal address. Capita will check if you are planning to progress, if your circumstances remain unchanged and gather any further information they require to progress your quote.

If Capita doesn’t hear from you within two months after they have written to you, your case will be closed, and you will need to make a new request if you need a quote. Please respond as quickly as possible.

If you submitted a retirement quote after 1 December it could take up to 3 or 4 months to process.

Capita has committed to publishing information on how long the queue for retirement quotes is taking shortly, this information will give members an up-to-date picture of the likely delays they will experience.

What are my options if my retirement quote and / or pension payment are late

Urgent cases, such as death-in-service and ill-health will continue to be prioritised. However, anyone else who wants to partially or fully retire and asks for a quote before the end of June can expect delays.

This is obviously completely unsatisfactory, but it is also the reality that members must deal with, and it is important that they have information about their options.

The example given in the Cabinet Office update of 12 March is of a member who gave notice to retire in March only receiving their quote in May. On normal timescales (though they might act more quickly in practice) their pension will be paid in August.

That member can potentially delay their retirement to later in the year when the service is expected to return to normal. But there are several implications of this decision:

If the member either does not want to, or is not allowed to, postpone their retirement, they face up to 4 months waiting for their pension (and potentially without any income).

In these situations, we understand that they will be eligible for a transitional loan (see below).

A first transitional loan of £5,000 should be payable without any conditions. If that amount not sufficient to avoid financial hardship while waiting for the pension to be paid, a second loan of up to another £5,000 can be applied for (it may be necessary to demonstrate need in the case of a second loan).

What if the information in my retirement quote is wrong?

If there is a mistake in your retirement quote, get in touch with Capita immediately (the ‘contact us’ facility on the pension portal is the best option for this).

Members can put a pension into payment while still challenging the basis of the calculation by the scheme administrator.

In these cases, it is important not to spend any money that may be reclaimed later or to assume that any discrepancy will be resolved in your favour.

Can my case be escalated?

It is important to remember that all members are currently affected by these issues, many very seriously.

There is some prioritisation in respect of death-in-service and ill-health cases, otherwise quotes are being prioritised in order of date of retirement.

Capita are also prioritising the cases of members in hardship. These are members that have been issued transitional loans (see below) because their pension is delayed.

If your pension has been delayed, it can be worth taking a transitional loan just to ensure that Capita is aware that your case should be prioritised.

If you are not a death-in-service or ill-health case, or if you have not received a transitional loan because of a delay to your pension, you will not be prioritised.

If you fall into one of the above categories, but have not heard from Capita in two months, please contact Prospect.

I am not retiring imminently, but I am affected by scheme administration problems, when will these be fixed?

While those waiting for delayed pension payments or retirement quotes are impacted the most, all scheme members have been affected by administration problems.

Thousands of scheme members are still unable to register for the membership portal. This is particularly affecting those with multiple periods of service.

Capita are trying to resolve these problems and are communicating with impacted members by ‘phone or post.

Thousands of members who could register for the portal have not been able to access information like their Annual Benefit Statement yet.

Again, Capita is working on this problem and will make all relevant information available as soon as possible (though a small percentage of Annual Benefit Statements have been impacted by issues related to the McCloud remedy).

The retirement modeller is planned to be available on the membership portal from 31 March. If you are interested in your benefits, but not planning to retire, please use this tool if possible.

New ‘track my case’ functionality is also planned to be available from the portal from 31 March. Information on how to use this will be provided shortly.

Should there be compensation for the detriment caused by these problems?

Yes, thousands of members have suffered detriment due to the unacceptable service from scheme administrators, and they are entitled to compensation as a result.

These losses will be financial (eg interest payments owed on the sources of credit members relied on while waiting for their pension to be paid) and non-financial (eg the distress caused by the delays).

Each case will be different, but it is not difficult to imagine circumstances where members who suffered the most from serious delays in payment could be owed substantial compensation.

Many tens of thousands more members will have suffered less serious detriment, but still potentially be owed compensation for the significant inconvenience these problems will have caused.

The usual route for making complaints about maladministration is through the pension scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure.

This process has two stages, if members are unhappy with the outcome, then can appeal to the Pensions Ombudsman (this must be within three years of becoming aware of the problem – see this update from the Pensions Ombudsman).

Should I make a complaint?

All relevant stakeholders are very aware that the level of service for scheme members is completely unacceptable.

A complaint about delays that you are currently experiencing is unlikely to produce any positive results.

Eventually, members’ pensions will be paid, and the full scale of their losses (financial and non-financial) can be evaluated.

At that point a complaint about maladministration through the scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure can be initiated.

Members are entitled to start this process whenever they want, but the Cabinet Office has made it clear that its priority is returning the service to acceptable standards.

The Cabinet Office does not currently have the resources to process the number of complaints that are expected through its internal dispute resolution procedure.

For this reason, we believe it would be better for members to wait until later in the year to submit complaints (though it is up to members when they want to complain).

When the Cabinet Office is resourced to deal with complaints, Prospect will provide detailed guidance to members on how to engage this process.

How do the transition loans work for those waiting for delayed pension payments?

The Cabinet Office and employers have moved at great speed to set up a scheme to offer support to people in financial distress due to delays in receiving their pension.

The proposal is for a scheme of personal loans to provide transitional help to individuals experiencing financial hardship due to delays to their pension payments.

The loan is to provide funds to bridge the gap until the pension is paid. It is not a form of compensation for the detriment suffered.

The loan is interest free and a single payment of £5,000. A further loan, of up to £10,000 in total, will be provided if more financial support is required for exceptional reasons.

Those who have fully retired (ie left active service) since 1 January 2025, and those who are partially retired, should apply to their former / current employer.

All other members of the Civil Service Pensions Scheme should continue to use the hardship route available through the pension scheme administrator, Capita.

Any member who has not received their pension payment on time will have suffered a detriment and will be entitled to a payment under this scheme (subject to basic ID / fraud prevention checks).

Entitlement to a further payment, beyond the basic £5,000, will be based on evidence of additional financial need.

The most serious cases will urgently need funds to deal with the financial hardship they have suffered. This scheme provides the fastest potential access to financial help.

Members should be directed to the scheme run by their (former) employer. Accessing funds through this scheme will also automatically trigger escalation of the case with Capita.

The expectation is that all employers will offer this scheme to affected (former) employees. Please get in touch if there is any difficulty with your employer participating in this.