The Cabinet Office building on Whitehall (Photo: iStock). Capita is working closely with the Cabinet Office and HMRC to resolve issues with the CSPS as a 'matter of urgency'
Capita has issued an update for Civil Service Pensions Scheme (CSPS) members, apologising for challenges they have experienced since the firm took over the administration of the scheme in December.
In an update published on its website on Friday (23 January), the firm said many members were currently experiencing "challenges" with the CSPS - adding it was sorry for any delays and frustration this had caused and setting out what it was doing to put things right.
Capita said it had taken over the administration of the CSPS on 1 December but noted it had inherited a "significant volume" of outstanding work from the previous provider, including a backlog of 86,000 work in progress cases.
It said that, as a result of this, there had been serious issues affecting members' ability to access some services, including delays to pension quotes and payments for newly retired members, long waits on customer service calls, and difficulties accessing the portal.
Capita said it was doing everything it could to reduce this backlog and resume normal service levels, and was currently working closely with the Cabinet Office and HMRC, to resolve these issues as a matter of urgency.
The firm said it had taken immediate steps to strengthen the service – noting that dedicated teams were in place to work specifically on inherited cases to reduce waiting times as quickly as possible.
It added it was prioritising cases where there were bereavements, members going into retirement and hardship situations.
Capita said it was also increasing capacity – noting it had over 500 full-time equivalent colleagues working on CSPS and adding that, across January and February, it was increasing resources to handle more cases and deliver better response times at the contact centre.
The firm said it expected to restore service levels for the most urgent cases by the end of February, before full recovery of the remaining priority cases.
Capita said that, as it worked through longstanding cases, members were likely to experience slower response times.
And it encouraged members with less to raise an online enquiry via the scheme's pension portal – allowing it to prioritise urgent cases through its telephone helpline.
In a statement, Capita said: "We know that delays are worrying for members. We take this responsibility and each case very seriously and are working closely with the Cabinet Office and HMRC to deliver the standard of service that members rightly expect, and we will continue to provide clear, timely updates as our work progresses. Once again, we sincerely apologise to those experiencing difficulties and are very grateful for your patience."
