The civil service’s biggest union has “grave concerns” about the looming change of administration for the Civil Service Pension Scheme – and in particular the readiness of new provider Capita.
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.
In June, the National Audit Office published a withering report on MyCSP’s administration of the scheme – which has 1.7 million members. The public spending watchdog added that Capita had already missed key milestones for its takeover of the scheme’s administration, which is due to complete in December. Capita was awarded the contract in late 2023.
Last month, Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little told members of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that she believed Capita had “probably underestimated some of the complexity of the transition”.
Little said there would be a “go/no go moment” 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’s administration to “continue as it is today”.
In a letter sent to Little earlier this week, seen by CSW, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said the union has “developed grave concerns about the lack of meaningful progress in Capita’s readiness for the transition”.
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 “temporarily closing down” the Civil Service Pension Portal as a stop-gap measure.
The PCS boss said such a move was certain to “result in a massive spike in scheme members’ queries” being lodged via other channels.
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.
“PCS are firmly of the view that the very integrity of the administration of the CSPS is now at risk,” Heathcote wrote to Little.
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.
“Obviously, 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,” she said.
“Under 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 – something that has clearly been consistently lacking, under the current contract.”
PCS is currently in dispute with MyCSP over a lack of recognition for the union in the TUPE process for the switch to Capita.
Heathcote said it “goes without saying” that the union would bring the dispute to an end if scheme administration was brought back in-house.
CSW sought a Cabinet Office response to Heathcote’s letter.
A spokesperson said: “All services must represent value for money and deliver. The Cabinet Office recently re-procured the Civil Service Pension Scheme administration and estimates it will save £83m through innovation and automation over the life of the contract.”
A Capita spokesperson said: “Capita is proud to be working in partnership with the Cabinet Office to modernise the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme from December 2025, and we are on track to deliver enhanced, innovative services, and tailored experiences for members when the contract starts.”
The company added that from March next year, when the new CSPS service is live, “further enhancements” would be deployed, including technology-enabled processes and a new member application.
The firm declined to directly address PCS’s call for the scheme’s administration to be brought back in-house.
MyCSP said in a statement that it had delivered “consistently high service levels” throughout the duration of its CSPS contract, including over the last five weeks.
“We are proud to have served civil service members over the last 13 years and remain fully focused on delivering the best possible and safest administration service during the transition period,” the statement added.
This story was updated at 17:20 on 8 August 2025 to include comments from MyCSP