Earlier in the year we you, asked our members, to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences of contacting MyCSP. And over a thousand of you did, the responses were collated into a report and submitted to the Public Accounts Committee, who used our submission, along with those from Capita plc, and PCS union when compiling their report.
Below is the summary and six key reccommendations, or you can download and read the report in full here.
REPORT SUMMARY
As of 31 March 2024, the Civil Service Pension Scheme (the Scheme) had 1.7 million members, both current and former civil servants, with a total liability for future pension benefits of £189 billion. It is an unfunded defined benefit scheme. MyCSP administers the Scheme on behalf of the Cabinet Office under a contract that was first agreed in 2012, a contract costing £238 million since 2016.
The 2018 McCloud judgment found that the 2015 government pensions reforms discriminated against ounger members of public service pension schemes. In response, the government created the ‘Remedy’ programme to implement remedies to all affected members across the public sector. The Cabinet Office has spent an additional £31.7 million funding MyCSP to implement remedies to around 416,000 affected scheme members.
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Scheme to Capita in November 2023, meaning that since December 2023 there has been a transition period in progress, with Capita confirmed to take over administration of the Scheme in December 2025. The total value of the new contract is £239 million for seven years with an option to extend for a further three.
Recommendations
- The Cabinet Office should explain in its Treasury Minute response how it has assured itself that there will be sufficient resources available to administer the scheme from 1 December 2025 if:
- the promised transition to Capita’s IT platform occurs as planned; and
- if that transition does not occur as planned.
- The Cabinet Office should set out in its Treasury Minute response its plan for dealing with the remaining members who are drawing their pension and affected by Remedy. That plan should include how it intends to communicate to members when they can expect to receive information allowing them to make their choices.
- The Cabinet Office should set out in its Treasury Minute response:
- how it intends to ensure that it has appropriate commercial capacity and contract management skills such that it can hold the administrator to account; and
- what measures it intends to put in place to ensure adequate customer service from suppliers in the transition period between contracts.
- The Cabinet Office should set out in its Treasury Minute response what its approach is to ensure that suppliers that it contracts with are committed to giving adequate recognition to the voice of employees, for example, through union recognition.
- The Cabinet Office needs to fully develop contingency plans should Capita be unable to take over the administration on 1 December 2025.
The Cabinet Office should write to the Committee with an update on the transition plans immediately following the decision on whether to go ahead with the transition. - The Cabinet Office should set out in its Treasury Minute response its overall commercial strategy for pension administration including consideration of the benefits and costs of administering the scheme in-house.
