The civil service\u2019s biggest union has \u201cgrave concerns\u201d about the looming change of administration for the Civil Service Pension Scheme \u2013 and in particular the readiness of new provider Capita.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PCS has this week called on the Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for the pension scheme, to bring its administration back in-house rather than proceed with the currently planned transfer of administration from MyCSP to Capita.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In June, the National Audit Office published a withering report on MyCSP\u2019s administration of the scheme<\/a> \u2013 which has 1.7 million members. The public spending watchdog added that Capita had already missed key milestones for its takeover of the scheme\u2019s administration, which is due to complete in December. Capita was awarded the contract in late 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little told members of parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee that she believed Capita had \u201cprobably underestimated some of the complexity of the transition\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Little said there would be a \u201cgo\/no go moment\u201d in September when the Cabinet Office would decide whether the transfer to Capita would proceed as planned towards completion in December. She added that the fallback option would be for the scheme\u2019s administration to \u201ccontinue as it is today\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a letter sent to Little earlier this week, seen by\u00a0CSW, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said the union has \u201cdeveloped grave concerns about the lack of meaningful progress in Capita\u2019s readiness for the transition\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n The readiness of a new IT platform for the scheme is one of the union’s key concerns. Heathcote said the Cabinet Office had told civil service unions that consideration is being given to \u201ctemporarily closing down\u201d the Civil Service Pension Portal as a stop-gap measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n The PCS boss said such a move was certain to \u201cresult in a massive spike in scheme members\u2019 queries\u201d being lodged via other channels.\u00a0<\/p>\n PCS has also said that if the transfer of administration to Capita goes ahead, there will be a pause of at least a month in the calculation of so-called McCloud Remedy choices for retired scheme members, which is part of the fallout from botched reforms to public-sector pensions 10 years ago<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPCS are firmly of the view that the very integrity of the administration of the CSPS is now at risk,\u201d Heathcote wrote to Little.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said that the way forward for the scheme was to end the era of administration-outsourcing and bring it back into civil service control.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we recognise that given where we are, developing an in-house IT platform is not a practical option; but what very clearly is an option is to bring the current physical administration of the work in-house,\u201d she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnder these circumstances the scheme management regains direct control of the workforce administering the scheme; including the level of training and resource deployed in that administration \u2013 something that has clearly been consistently lacking, under the current contract.\u201d<\/p>\n