UK committee opens inquiry after thousands miss pensions

The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has opened an inquiry into the handover of the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita after thousands of retired public-sector workers were left unpaid. The Register said the committee launched the inquiry this week.

Capita took over administration from MyCSP in December under a ten-year, £239 million contract. The scheme manages pensions for 1.7 million people.

What the inquiry will examine

The committee will examine the scheme’s condition when Capita took over, the company’s performance and the effects on members. It will also scrutinize how the Cabinet Office oversaw the previous administration and the transition.

Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said Capita had repeatedly broken promises made in formal evidence sessions to address the problems. The committee had already questioned Capita leaders and Cabinet Office officials and ministers in three evidence sessions about the company’s work and the government’s response.

Capita said it inherited 132,100 complex cases needing remedial work and a backlog of work in progress that was more than double the 37,000 items recorded when it won the contract in 2023. The government withheld a £10 million (about $13.5 million) payment to Capita over the scheme’s problems.

The National Audit Office, a spending regulator, has opened a separate investigation. Its forthcoming report on the transfer to Capita will inform the committee’s inquiry.