The government is undertaking a “comprehensive assessment” of Capita’s latest data on the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), after the contractor’s end-June recovery deadline passed.

In a written ministerial statement on 6 July, Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds, noted that Capita had been working to restore CSPS administration to contractual levels following its “failed transition” in December 2025.

Thomas-Symonds said the transition had left “far too many” scheme members facing severe delays in accessing their pensions after years of public service.

Capita had previously committed to restoring service by the end of June 2026, after months of backlogs and administrative failures affecting retirement, bereavement and other pension cases.

The minister confirmed the government is now assessing the latest data provided by Capita following that deadline.

“We will complete a full evaluation of the actions, outcomes and figures provided by Capita," he said.

He added that MPs and their constituents would “rightly question” the government’s next steps, confirming that he intends to provide a further update to Parliament in the coming days.

“We have been consistently clear that the government will not hesitate to take firm action for continued underperformance,” he stated.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) are set to hold a joint evidence session on the CSPS tomorrow, with senior leadership from Capita expected to give evidence as part of their investigation into the scheme’s administration.

The update follows renewed criticism of Capita’s administration of the CSPS, after the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said in June that the contractor was set to miss the 30 June deadline to restore services to contractual standards.

Capita was awarded a six-year contract worth up to £239m in 2023 to administer the CSPS, replacing MyCSP as scheme administrator.

The transition has since been hit by service failures and backlogs, with members experiencing delays in processing retirement claims, bereavement cases, ill-health retirements and other pension transactions.

The Cabinet Office has previously introduced a recovery plan and financial penalties for Capita after performance fell below agreed standards, while ministers have faced repeated parliamentary scrutiny over delays affecting scheme members.

In response to the latest ministerial statement, Capita said it continued to work “at pace” to resolve the operational issues in collaboration with the Cabinet Office.

Capita added: “Despite the progress made to date, we recognise the service has not been good enough, particularly for members waiting on bereavement, retirement and quotation cases, and we are sorry for the distress and inconvenience experienced by those members.

“We now have the processes, automation and technology in place to work through the backlog.”

Capita stressed it was assessing the implications of the matters contained in the ministerial statement and would update the market “as soon as it is able to do so”, if required.

The company also confirmed that it would publish a comprehensive trading statement later this week, outlining progress against the group’s strategic priorities.

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