The scheme

The Civil Service Pension Scheme is a public service pension. It pays a promised pension at retirement based on length of service and salary.

The scheme has 1.7 million members as of 31 March 2025. Of these:

  • 740,944 were pensioners
  • 606,054 were active members making contributions to the scheme
  • 355,529 were deferred members. These members no longer make contributions to the scheme and the scheme does not yet pay them a pension.

The scheme has 299 employers, including 205 public sector organisations and 94 private sector employers.

Administering the scheme

The Cabinet Office outsources administration of the scheme.

The administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme transferred from MyCSP to Capita on 1 December 2025.

Prior to the transfer:

Following “unacceptable service levels” the government published details of its recovery plan on 9 February 2026.

Government response to the delays

In April 2026, the government announced that the contract for Capita to administer the new Royal Mail statutory pension scheme had been terminated following Capita’s failure to meet key transition milestones.

The government set out an update to the delays on 6 July 2026 which included information on the current backlog and how the government has intervened to support the scheme. In sum, the government said that Capita did not meet the end of June deadline to restore service levels as agreed, and that it was continuing to apply commercial pressure, including by withholding £9.9 million in payments. The government also said that it was exercising its right to deploy independent auditors to review the administration of the scheme, and that it would provide an update on the findings of the audit to Parliament in October.

On 9 September 2026, the government provided an update on Capita’s failure to meet its commitment to fully restore the scheme to contractual levels by the end of June. It said:

Following Capita’s failure to meet its commitment to fully restore the scheme to contractual levels by the end of June, Capita’s executive leadership set itself two targets: clearing stock cases by 1 September 2026 and processing cases within Key Performance Indicators from 30 September 2026.

Capita has reported meeting its self-imposed 1 September target across five priority areas: Bereavement, Death in Service, Ill Health Retirement, Retirement Payments, and Retirement Quotes, for cases it categorises as workable stock. While this step is noted, meeting a milestone on workable stock alone is not sufficient progress and does not constitute full service recovery. Overall performance remains unacceptable, and far too many scheme members continue to face uncertainty while waiting for their cases to be resolved. The Government continues to hold Capita firmly to account using all commercial levers available to it. I will also continue work on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.

Recovery plan and taskforce

The government published details of its recovery plan on 9 February 2026. The plan included three “sprints” each lasting three weeks.

  • Sprint 1 ran to 6 February 2026 and included a support loan scheme for people experiencing hardship. The loans are for £5,000 and up to £10,000 in exceptional circumstances on an interest free basis. The sprint also included the government and Capita mobilising additional surge teams.
  • Sprint 2 ran to 22 February 2026 and aimed to restore normal service levels for “the most critical cohorts: death-in-service cases and ill-health retirement cases by end February 2026.”
  • Sprint 3 ran to 20 March 2026 and aimed to resolve priority backlogs and ensure the system is prepared for long-term stability.

The government has published a number of updates regarding the progress of the recovery plan, it said that it was exercising its contractual rights to intervene by deploying independent auditors to review Capita’s systems and appointing a remedial advisor to enforce operational rectification.

The Civil Service Pensions Taskforce is also publishing regular updates. In its most recent update on 3 September 2026, Richard Vianello, Director, Civil Service Pensions said:

At the end of June, Capita had c4,000 quotations remaining in the backlog; c1,500 of these were ‘complex’. Capita committed to clearing the backlog within six weeks, and 3,087 quotes were issued by the end of August. I have asked for an update on the remaining c900 quotes and will share the timescales for clearing these with you in my next update.

Parliamentary activity

There have been a number of recent PQs on the issue.

Public Accounts Committee inquiry

The Public Accounts Committee has an ongoing inquiry into the Civil Service Pension Scheme. On 8 July 2026 the committee held a joint oral evidence session with the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee to take evidence from Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas Symonds MP, government officials, and Capita’s senior leadership.

Westminster Hall debate

There was a Westminster Hall debate on the administration of the civil service pension scheme on 4 February 2026. The minister, Anna Turley, said “This is a failure” and outlined the government’s recovery plan. The minister also urged Members of Parliament to raise constituency cases directly with the government.

Support for scheme members

The government is offering interest-free bridging loans for members who are struggling to access their pension. In an update from the Civil Service Pensions Taskforce on 28 May 2026, it was announced that the maximum loan amount would be increased to £20,000, available in exceptional circumstances.

The scheme publishes regular updates for members on the progress made in reducing the backlog.

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