Lisa Blundell, a woman from Kirkby, has not received her civil service pension for eight months, leaving her to burn through her savings as the ongoing crisis continues to affect tens of thousands of people across the country. Despite battling daily to resolve the issue, she says she feels increasingly powerless to do anything about it.
No assurances on pension entitlement
The Civil Service Pension Scheme, which manages pensions for 1.7 million public sector workers, has been unable to provide lump sums or regular payments to thousands of people since Capita took over administration in December last year. The Liverpool ECHO first reported on the scale of the problems in February, including cases of people in Liverpool worried about losing their homes.
Capita was awarded the £239m contract by the previous Conservative government and has apologised to those affected, stating it inherited a backlog of approximately 86,000 cases. By February, the backlog had risen to more than 120,000 cases. The government introduced a recovery plan that month, deploying 150 civil servants and 100 additional Capita staff to help clear the backlog and prioritise urgent cases. About 4,000 emergency loans have been made to struggling members, but not everyone is eligible, including Lisa.
Eight months on, still no payment
Eight months later, tens of thousands of retiring civil servants have still not been paid. In August, six months after Lisa should have received her first payment, the ECHO reported that Capita had still not resolved her pension request, despite her submitting her official application in September 2025.
Lisa previously described the situation as an 'ongoing scandal', adding: "I worked for the civil service for 24 years [...] and retired in March this year. I'm now missing six months pension, and Capita cannot tell me when I will receive it either." She emailed a few weeks ago to confirm there has been very little progress and said she was now extremely worried about going into the winter without her pension income.
She added: "The heating and electricity bills are about to jump up during the colder months, and then there's all of the costs associated with Christmas. We've just had to tell people we won't be able to do very much this year as I still haven't been paid after all this time, and I'm just burning through savings now to get by."
Government response and political pressure
The Cabinet Office wrote to Lisa on October 7, responding to her complaint about Capita miscalculating the period of her entitlement. Capita had provided a quote that did not factor in approximately ten years of service and contributions. The government told Lisa it is taking the matter seriously, pointing to its recent record, including withholding £9.9m in contract payments to Capita and facilitating a Remedial Adviser appointed at Capita's expense.
Lisa said she appreciates the intervention and monitoring, but added: "It is another example of their 'can kicking'. They just need to work out a quote, they shouldn't need to investigate anything. [The assurance that] Capita will complete this at the earliest opportunity, considering this bizarre situation and past lack of speed, gives me no confidence."
Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley has been a vocal critic of Capita's performance. She raised the issue in the House of Commons on April 23, asking the Cabinet Office Minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, why Capita keeps securing contracts and when the government will fulfil its promise to insource some government contracts. Ms Midgley said: "Capita's management of the Civil Service pension scheme has been an absolute shambles. I've got constituents who can't meet their mortgage payments, who are having to defer their retirement, and who are not receiving the compensation that they deserve. It's one in a very long list of failures."
West Derby MP Ian Byrne led a debate in Parliament last month and said he was working with 35 people impacted by Capita's "failure". Commenting on three cases, he added: "David should be able to reduce his hours to care for his elderly parents. James should not fear losing his home. Karen should be not left without an income, spending hours chasing a pension." He continued: "Civil servants have served our country and our communities. They have paid into their pensions and planned their futures in good faith. They have kept their side of the bargain, Minister. It is time for the Government and the system for which it's responsible to keep theirs."
Capita and Cabinet Office statements
The ECHO reached out to Capita for an update on Lisa's case, but no response had been provided by the time of publication. A Cabinet Office spokesperson previously told us: "The service levels following the move to Capita have been completely unacceptable. A recovery plan is in place, but our immediate priority is to stabilise the service and give current and former Civil Servants the service they deserve."
A spokesperson for Capita provided a statement on August 13, stating: "We continue to work at pace to resolve the operational issues in collaboration with the Cabinet Office. Despite the progress made to date, we recognise the service has not been good enough, particularly for members waiting on bereavement, retirement, and quotation cases, and we are sorry for the impact this has had on those members."
