Thousands of retirees are being left without pension payments due to a backlog in the administration of public sector pensions by Capita, which took over the running of Civil Service pensions in 2025.
Alison Williams, 66, from Jarrow, retired from HMRC and has spent months chasing Capita for an update on her pension but has so far received no payments. The uncertainty has forced her husband to delay his retirement because the couple cannot risk losing their income.
Pensioners' struggles
Williams said: "For many affected pensioners this is not an administrative inconvenience. Pensions pay mortgages, rent, food bills and heating costs." She added that some people have delayed retirement, including her husband, because they cannot risk losing their salary while having no confidence that their pension will arrive when promised.
Lesley Virr, 61, from Cornwall, applied for her Department for Education pension last December but has not been paid. She said: "I believe they have all the information they need and I have chased as much as possible but they don't reply to anything. It feels like since the service was transferred to Capita in December there has just been a complete meltdown."
Backlog figures and government response
Andre Skeats, 67, from Sheffield, is due to retire in August and has worked and paid into her Civil Service pension for 27 years. She informed Capita in January but discovered her pension record has been wiped from the portal. She said: "After working for 50 years I was looking forward to finally retiring... I now face the prospect of retiring in a few weeks without my pension income."
The Public Accounts Committee questioned Capita chief executive Adolfo Hernandez last week. The Cabinet Office said more than 6,700 quotations for past retirement dates and 4,100 bereavement cases were outstanding on the scheme.
Paymaster General and Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has vowed to recover "every single penny" from Capita after the Government brought in a 140-strong team of civil servants to help clear the backlog. He told the committee the Cabinet Office was sanctioning Capita "every single month" while it is failing the terms of the contract, signed by the previous Conservative government in 2023.
Capita's apology
A Capita spokesperson said: "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 distress and inconvenience experienced by those members." The firm said it now has processes, automation and technology in place to work through the backlog.
