The Prospect union has called for voluntary exit schemes in the civil service to be halted until the Civil Service Pension Scheme backlog of cases is cleared.
Prospect, which represents specialist, digital, technical and scientific officials in the civil service and wider public sector, said it is encountering “unprecedented numbers of unacceptable delays in payments to retired civil servants”.
The comments come six weeks after the transfer of the scheme form MyCSP to Capita on 1 December. Speaking to CSW, Steve Thomas, Prospect’s deputy general secretary, said more resources are needed so that “the backlog that has been passed to the new provider can be cleared by a reasonable deadline”.
In light of the current situation, Thomas said it “makes no sense to pile further work on the new administrator, so we are calling for voluntary exit schemes to be paused until the backlog is addressed.”
Prospect has also asked for unions to be given access to performance data so they can track progress in tackling the backlog.
Civil service chief operating officer Cat Little revealed last month that around 5,000 officials are expected to leave the civil service by the end of March under 36 voluntary exit schemes that are currently under way.
CSW understands the government has no plans to pause the voluntary exit schemes, which are focused on reducing administrative, back-office functions.
On 25 November, six days ahead of the transfer of the scheme to Capita, the outsourcing giant told MPs that it would have to handle an increased volume of voluntary exits, meaning processing pension calculations or requests for information “pertaining to voluntary exits for c.21,000 transactions”. Capita said it was putting in place a ringfenced team to deal with this increased demand.
In the letter to Public Accounts Committee, Ross Haynes, Capita's head of public affairs and government relations, also noted that the "work in progress backlog" left by MyCSP was more than double the previously agreed figure of 37,000 items at the time it signed the contract with the Cabinet Office. He said Capita had also been asked to take on around 132,000 complex McCloud judgment remediation cases.
Capita said taking on these three core areas of work, where members had experienced delays under MyCSP, “may take several months to resolve or vastly reduce back to expected levels and may even potentially lead to an initial spike in complaints given the long lead times that some members have experienced in advance of Capita taking over CSPS”.
An Equiniti spokesperson said MyCSP "worked closely with Capita and the Cabinet Office throughout the transition period ahead of the December 2025 cutover, including governance on handover arrangements and work in train".
"Throughout our tenure administering the scheme, MyCSP delivered consistently high service levels against agreed measures, while supporting the Cabinet Office through complex evolutions to the contract following government changes to public service pensions", they added.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "We have strong contractual levers in place to ensure Capita delivers, with strengthened controls over the scheme to ensure a better service for both members and taxpayers.
"This remains a complex programme, and the Cabinet Office will continue in close partnership with both Capita and the unions to ensure its success."