Unions deliver pension petition to Downing Street

A petition calling to bring the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme back in-house has been delivered to Downing Street, with over 14,000 people backing the campaign. The petition was organised jointly by the trade union Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services union.

Capita took over the administration of the scheme from MyCSP in December 2025, but problems with delayed pension payments and outstanding cases predated the transfer. At the end of June, more than 6,700 quotations for past retirement dates remained outstanding, alongside over 4,100 unresolved bereavement cases.

The government has withheld almost £10 million of contractual payments from Capita and announced plans to bring in independent auditors and a remedial adviser to drive improvements. Hardship loans have also been provided to members affected by delayed payments, and over 140 additional staff have been deployed to support the service.

Capita acknowledged in July that its service had “not been good enough”, particularly for bereavement, retirement, and quotation cases, and apologised to affected members. Prospect deputy general secretary Steve Thomas said that bringing the contract in-house is the “only long-term solution” that will work for scheme members and taxpayers.

Civil Service chief operating officer Cat Little has said that the government is considering how scheme members could best be served in the long term, including the potential insourcing of administration. Prospect is also pressing the government to formally confirm which Cabinet Office minister has responsibility for civil service pensions, as no minister has been formally assigned the brief since the new prime minister took office.

Thomas has called on the prime minister to act immediately to confirm the Minister responsible, so that they can work together to hold Capita to account.

Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services union will continue to push for improvements in the administration of the scheme. They are seeking a solution that will provide better services to scheme members. Steve Thomas and Cat Little are key figures in this process, with Thomas advocating for the contract to be brought in-house and Little considering the potential insourcing of administration.