The Cabinet Office has issued an update on the Civil Service Pension Scheme, which has suffered from technical issues since its takeover by Capita at the beginning of this month.
The outsourcing giant formally took over the Cabinet Office contract for the pension scheme on Monday 1 December, launching a new website and portal on the same day.
Members of the scheme were asked to create a new account to access the portal, but many reported being unable to sign in to due to technical errors on the website. On 4 December, Capita said it had fixed the “teething problems”. However, many readers have been in touch with CSW since then to highlight issues with the website and portal.
These include continued problems registering on the website and long waits on the phone to get through to an adviser, as well as a broken feedback form. Those who have managed to register have reported that key information, such as years of pension service and beneficiaries details, is either missing or incorrect.
In a statement to CSW, sent yesterday afternoon, Capita said it had inherited a "significant backlog" from the previous provider and experienced "several times the normal volume of contacts since launch."
The firm said it has over 500 full time employees working to deliver the CSPS, "an increase of 50% on the previous provider".
Cabinet Office ministers gave an update on the transition on Monday after being asked by Green Party MP Sian Berry in a parliamentary question sent on 9 December what steps they are taking to monitor the performance of the handover of the new Civil Service Pension Scheme contract to Capita. Berry asked for details “including monitoring and taking action on missed payments to new pensioners and reported errors in the new online portal”.
Responding on Monday, Cabinet Office minister Anna Turley said MyCSP continued to make payments up to and including 1 December, with Capita assuming control of the payroll from 2 December and continuing to pay pensioners continuously in line with contractual requirements.
She said the Cabinet Office is monitoring Capita’s services through “Early Life Support” in December, which “involves Capita providing regular updates across different workstreams, offering quick issue resolution and performance monitoring to ensure stability”.
“Once this is completed early in 2026, phase two will progress which is Capita increasing the functionality and automation within the portal which will increase the member self serve options,” Turley added. “The Cabinet Office will monitor this period for approximately six months.”
On the issues members have faced, Turley said: “An issue was identified with the new scheme website shortly after launch that caused the website and portal to run slowly.
“Capita immediately identified the issue and worked with Microsoft to rectify the issue. By 4 December, the website was considerably improved and we now have 37,000 members registered on the member portal as of 5 December.”
In a further update to CSW, a Capita spokesperson confirmed there are now more than 70,000 members registered on the site and said registrations “continue to increase rapidly”.
They added: “We are proud to have been chosen to deliver the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), supporting more than 1.5 million current and former public servants. The service went live on 1 December as part of the largest ever on time transition of a public sector pension scheme in the UK."