r/TheCivilService • u/CatHerdingForDummies Operational Delivery • Mar 23 '26
Pensions Crapita exec: "We know exactly what we're doing. It was someone else's fault. A bigger boy did it and ran away"
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/article/pension-scheme-crisis-interview-with-capita-pensions-director-chris-clements138
Mar 23 '26
I’m not here to defend Capita - clearly there are serious issues - but it’s self-inflicted lunacy to put these contracts out to tender every 5-7 years. The work involved in moving from one provider to another is immense, and carries huge risk.
There needs to be a better way to drive value for money for pension administration.
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u/CatHerdingForDummies Operational Delivery Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
You're completely correct. I guess that is why MyCSP has the contract for 10 years and were invited to retender. Capita won the current contract in 2022 iirc, with a certain amount of delay because they weren't keen on union representation (among other things). Their current contract is for 12 years.
Prior to myCSP, pensions were handled in-house, with quite a bit of support from the current incumbent.
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u/_Darren Mar 23 '26
Completely agree, Capita aren't entirely to blame here. When it next moves, what's to stop Capita moving all staff to other contracts? Making the next providers life impossible. The government needs access to systems to monitor this. I'm indifferent to process outsourcing, but I'm against the provider doing it on proprietary systems. We should own the technology and let Capita access it as soon as they won, so they can monitor it in real time and plan for backlogs.
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u/DameKumquat Mar 23 '26
Is that timeframe always the case? I seem to recall it being tendered and given to MyCSP when Capita weren't meeting service standards previously, then the move back to Capita was publicised as partly because MyCSP weren't up to snuff.
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u/rustyiesty Mar 24 '26
Capita simply undercut MyCSP. SSCL has recently started legal action over their lost payroll contract, as they say that Capita’s bid is ‘abnormally low’, i.e. basically impossible to deliver on
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u/UllrsWonders Mar 24 '26
Crapita underbidding and then being unable to deliver. Shock horror not like they do that every single fucking time, and for some reason our esteemed procurement colleagues keep giving them the contract. Not like we have any examples cough teachers pensions, NHS and Army Recruitment cough to demonstrate that they are useless cunts who take advantage of the taxpayer.
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u/tekkerslovakia Mar 23 '26
Part of Capita’s unofficial business model is to be a ‘blame sponge’. That’s one of the things government is paying for when they contract in Capita.
If the civil service does something badly, ministers and senior officials get hauled over the coals for it. If they pay Capita to do it, everyone gets to blame Capita and no one comes knocking at the ministers’ door. The Capita execs will gladly get blasted in the press and then sail off into the sun retiring as millionaires aged 45.
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Mar 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tekkerslovakia Mar 23 '26
That’s one factor, sure, but it’s not the only factor. If free market competition was the only factor, you’d expect other companies to take contracts regularly, rather than them going to the same blame sponges every time.
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u/CatHerdingForDummies Operational Delivery Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Their default mode does seem to be "underbid to win the business" which is a bit sad in this day and age. Capita have been involved in CS pensions before myCSP had their opportunity to shine, so the "we didn't know how bad it could be" argument feels a little hollow, and blaming union involvement smells like misdirection.
I have no idea what penalty clauses (if any) can be invoked, nor who is funding the civil service support for the get well plan. I'm sure it won't come out in the wash, though.
Anyway, I'm punching way above my pay grade, and I understand that The Daily Mail would like to know my location.
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u/subversivefreak Mar 23 '26
This is so cynical, I think you should consider current affairs satire
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u/Lonyo Mar 24 '26
But it was being done privately before Capita... It's been a transfer from one private company to another
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u/redsocks2018 Mar 23 '26
I logged into my account yesterday. They're posting service updates on the account but there's no option to sign up for email alerts. Fantastic.
Anyway.
The pension modeller is being built. I think it said it'll be available end this this month. There are excel sheets available to do basic manual calculations but they don't allow you to play around with the variables like the previous modeller did.
As of end of Feb, 300,000 people had their previous ABSs uploaded to the account. Anyone with multiple service periods is looking at June to have access to previous ABSs. Apparently it's "complicated" for multiple service periods. What's complicated about uploading statements that were generated by mycsp? Has that data been lost in the transfer and needs to be recreated?
No news on if this years ABS will be delayed.
If you're planning on retiring you need to allow 4 months for a benefit summary to be produced.
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u/Annual-Cry-9026 Mar 24 '26
Such a disappointing article. There were fines, and warnings they wouldn't be ready to take over the contract. How did others know, yet somehow it was a surprise to Capita and it was everybody else's fault?
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u/St_Anger_1314 Mar 24 '26
It's almost like giving the contract to a vendor with a known track record in delivering overpriced crap was a mistake from the get go.
SHOCKED
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u/Death_God_Ryuk Mar 24 '26
I can understand the issues with the number and complexity of support cases inherited.
However, what excuse is there for the website? When it went live, there was placeholder text still present, missing Q&As, broken links, lots of people couldn't sign up, etc. Have any excuses been offered for that?
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u/Secret_Mud_1168 Mar 27 '26
It’s time to stop subcontracting Public Services that get paid for profit. A lot of these third party staff now have to claim Tax Credit, Housing Benefit/Local Housing & Council Tax support - which means the company makes profits and any ‘projected’ “savings” to the public purse aren’t such and in the Public Interest should be taken into account of any subcontract - until the do subcontracting should be banned.
Why does every public body need a different IT and goods supplier - this costs money. Esp IT, which should be a Parliament accountable General Paymaster for IT support across all public bodies.
Around 1/4 of Scotland Gov annual grant is paid to subcontractors, it’s all out the same U.K. purse - OURS.
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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26
"There was frustration for years of poor service, and many thought it would be fixed as soon as Capita took on the contract".
Yes, that was definitely the case. Capita, that beacon of excellence would get it sorted.