Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 29 June 2026.
Satvir Kaur
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and Gov.uk.
Capita is under a firm mandate to restore full service delivery to standard contractual levels by the end of June 2026. We are actively exploring the use of all available commercial and contractual levers and continue to withhold milestone payments for missed transition deliverables. All options remain on the table if they fail to meet the June deadline.
The Cabinet Office keeps the adequacy of funding and resourcing for the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme under continuous review, including the resources specific to handling complaints and compensation payments.
In respect of complaints and compensation payments, Capita has increased its workforce circa 140 staff and is now operating with 50% more resources than the previous administrator. Alongside this Capita has brought in additional support from third parties to assist in automation of calculations and additional functionality that is anticipated to increase the overall processing that will increase the output and clear any historical cases. Capita continues to deliver the monthly pension payments to over 730,000 members who have retired.
Senior leaders across Capita and the Cabinet Office are working closely to resolve current issues through provision of additional support from the Civil Service. The focus is on identifying the main causes of delays and moving pension administration to a stable position, which includes having adequate resources to effectively and promptly handle complaints and any compensation due.
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
Siân Berry
Green Spokesperson (Justice), Green Spokesperson (Transport), Green Spokesperson (Work and Pensions), Green Spokesperson (Democratic Standards), Green Spokesperson (Home), Green Party Chief Whip