Civil servants in the Government Actuary’s Department are being brought in to help fix the trickiest cases in the Civil Service Pension Scheme backlog.
In the latest update on the recovery of the pensions crisis, Cabinet Office civil service pensions director Richard Vianello said he had agreed with Capita that the Government Actuary’s Department will “deploy a number of colleagues to help work through some of the very oldest, and most complex, cases”.
“Some of these were old at the point of transfer from MyCSP (the previous administrator) and it is not right that members have been waiting so long – in some instances for several years," Vianello said. "We will work with Capita to put these right and into payment as soon as possible."
The GAD provides actuarial advice and support to the government and public sector in relation to financial risk affecting areas such as pension valuations, insurance and social security.
Vianello said he has also asked Capita to share details of ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases that are more than 150 days old "to understand why Capita is unable to make the required payments to members and their families, i.e. what information is missing, at what stage in Capita’s process have they become stuck at and why".
He said once these complex cases are complete and in payment, he will ask Capita to share information about member cases that are over 100 days old.
In the update, Vianello also gave more details on the numbers of old cases and whether Capita has all the necessary information to put these into payment or it needs further information from a third party – either the member, their representative or an employer.
Here are the figures:
- Bereavement – Capita has 1,082 cases which are over 100 days old and Capita has all the necessary information to put these into payment; and 779 member cases over 100 days old which awaiting a third-party response for further information. This makes a total of 1,861 bereavement cases over 100 days old.
- Death in service – Capita is managing 45 cases which are over 100 days old and has all the information needed to calculate the award and make the payment. There are a further 242 cases over 100 days where Capita is awaiting information from a third party (287 in total).
- Ill health retirement – Six cases are over 100 days old where Capita is able to start making payments; 12 are with a third party for further information (18 in total).
- Retirement payments – 68 member cases are over 100 days where Capita has all the information needed to make payments; 267 member cases are with a third party and need additional information before a payment can be set up and paid (335 in total).
- Total cases over 100 days old – 2,501 (of which Capita has all the necessary information to put 1,201 into payment)
Vianello his next update will set out when Capita expects to make the payments for applications for which it has complete data.
The Cabinet Office director also shared the latest information on work to speed up ID verification. He said the department has now agreed that Capita can start to use credit referencing agencies, which "will make the end-to-end journey smoother and considerably faster for the vast majority of members who have been waiting patiently for their payment(s)".
And he said Capita has implemented a bulk processing tool that "speeds up the processing of retirement quotes, retirement payments and bereavement cases". Vianello said around 4,800 cases had gone through bulk processing in the previous week and been paid as per their entitlement.
Vianello also explained what the creation of the One Gov Delivery Agency – which will manage operational services at arm’s length, including pensions – will mean for the contract.
"The contract does not change; however, we are building the capability and capacity within the One Gov Delivery Agency to be able to provide a greater depth of quality assurance, with direct access to data," Vianello said. "We are also using operational delivery expertise to ensure processes are as efficient as possible."
Finally, Vianello said 2026 annual benefit statements will start being loaded onto the member portal next week.