Capita faces further backlash over civil service pension administration

The handling of a public sector pension backlog by Capita has come under further scrutiny, following the release of a BBC investigation into those impacted by the delays. People waiting for months for civil service pensions payments described being left “in tears” by the company’s dealings – while the government has since reiterated its plans to bring the administration back in-house.

Capita took over administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, which has about 1.7 million members, in December 2025. The £239 million contract was signed by the previous Conservative government, and saw Capita inherit a backlog of more than 86,000 cases. But by early February, Capita confirmed that backlog had risen to over 120,000 cases.

In response, the UK government introduced a recovery plan in February. Among the measures included were an emergency interest-free loan scheme was also introduced, and the deployment of 150 civil servants and 100 additional Capita staff to help prioritise urgent cases. Even so, many people waiting for civil service pensions have now described feeling “upset, frustrated and ignored”, while the backlog has continued to grow – and left some without payments for months.

Speaking to the BBC, a number of policy-holders came forward to tell their story – in the latest reputational blow to Capita. These include Anne Sinclaire, from Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire, who has been waiting six months for her widow’s pension from GCHQ in Cheltenham after her husband Brian died in March.

When Brian passed, Anne was told the full pension would continue to be paid for three months while paperwork was processed. Believing she would soon start receiving her widow’s pension, she “paid off the funeral which was £7,000, the memorial stone which was £800, thinking I was going to get some income.”

But when the money never arrived, the delay forced her to put off paying her credit card bills, leading to higher interest charges. And while she received a lump-sum payment into her bank account, after the BBC contacted Capita for comment, Anne said she has not received anything in writing explaining what she is owed.

Another widow interviewed was Sandy Blindell, from Gloucester. Before her husband Eric died in July 2025, “he wrote everything down,” explaining “what I’ve got to do and who I’ve got to contact and I did exactly what he told me to do”. But Sandy believes Eric would be “absolutely furious” given the service she received from Capita, who seemed as though “they weren’t bothered, I was just another one.”

Other criticisms in the article suggested Capita “have got telephone agents… just following scripts”, and that if anyone asks “a question that isn’t on their script they can’t answer”. Another case saw one woman told “you’re not bereaved” – something understood to be an extremely poorly phrased way to suggest they were not eligible for a widow’s pension.

Backlog

In July 2026, Capita first apologised for a raft of contract failures, linked to its handling of civil service pensions. The failures led to delays in administering the 1.7 million-member pension scheme, leaving thousands of civil servants awaiting payments and retirement quotes.

The consulting and outsourcing firm had failed to meet a deadline at the end of June, to deliver the terms of the £239 million pensions contract after missing earlier targets. At the time, the Cabinet Office confirmed the extent of the crisis, noting that more than 6,700 quotations for past retirement dates and 4,100 bereavement cases remain outstanding.

The situation led to a Parliamentary grilling, during which MPs questioned whether the firm views the government as a “cash cow to be milked to the point of dropping from exhaustion”, and ministers since noted the possibility of bringing the operation of Capita’s contract back into government management. And Capita also warned of a multi-million hit to its own earnings, as a result of the scandal.

Following the latest airing of criticism, the government has insisted plans to bring the pension scheme in-house are being worked up. Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson confirmed the government “intends to move forward the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.”

Meanwhile, a statement Capita noted, “Focus remains on working through outstanding cases. Despite the progress made, we recognise the service has not been good enough. We are sorry for the impact this has had.”