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The UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) is investigating Capita’s takeover of Civil Service Pension Scheme administration from MyCSP and the service members have received since. The inquiry will examine whether the transition was ready, how service problems affected members, and how the Cabinet Office oversaw the contract. It will not decide individual pension calculations or entitlements.
What happened when Capita took over civil service pensions?
Capita took over administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme from MyCSP on 1 December 2025 under a seven-year contract worth £239 million. The NAO says the change followed a two-year transition period, but service levels were repeatedly missed. Members struggled to get information needed to plan retirement, and some people due to retire had to change plans after payments did not arrive on time. (National Audit Office investigation notice)
The scheme’s administration is the subject of the inquiry; the NAO has not yet published findings on why the problems occurred or who was responsible for particular failures.
What is the NAO investigating?
The investigation is focused on three connected areas, rather than individual pension awards:
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- Readiness for go-live: how the transfer from MyCSP to Capita was prepared and whether the service was ready when Capita took over.
- Service and member experience: service delivery since the transfer and the effect on scheme members, including delays and difficulty obtaining information.
- Cabinet Office oversight: how the department oversaw the transfer and the contract before and after the change.
The NAO’s notice sets out the investigation’s scope and background, not its conclusions. Its eventual report may establish what happened across the administration and oversight of the scheme; the notice does not indicate that it will settle a member’s personal calculation. (NAO investigation notice)
Why are some civil service pension cases delayed?
The NAO describes repeated missed service levels after the transfer and says members faced difficulty obtaining information and, in some cases, late retirement payments. That establishes the reported service problems, but the inquiry is intended to examine the transition and subsequent delivery; its notice does not identify a final, comprehensive cause.
At a Public Accounts Committee hearing on 26 March 2026, Capita Managing Director Chris Clements said the company inherited 89,000 cases on 1 December, including 13,000 that had been waiting more than a year. He also said Capita received 25,000 calls in its first week, against an expectation of 7,000 or 8,000. These are figures given by Capita’s witness to the committee, not independently stated NAO findings. (Public Accounts Committee evidence, 26 March 2026)
What have the Cabinet Office and Capita said?
The government’s September 2026 assessment
In a written statement to Parliament on 9 September 2026, Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Sally Jameson said Capita had failed to meet its commitment to restore the scheme fully to contractual levels by the end of June. Capita subsequently set targets to clear workable stock cases in five priority areas by 1 September and to process cases within key performance indicators from 30 September. The Cabinet Office said Capita reported meeting the 1 September target for workable stock in those areas, while stressing that this was not full service recovery. Jameson said overall performance remained unacceptable and the government continued to hold Capita to account. (Sally Jameson’s written statement, 9 September 2026)
Jameson’s assessment was: “Overall performance remains unacceptable, and far too many scheme members continue to face uncertainty while waiting for their cases to be resolved.”
Capita’s October 2026 response
In a statement dated 2 October 2026, Capita said it would cooperate with the NAO, the Cabinet Office and other stakeholders. The company described operational progress in August and September and said it was introducing more automation and stronger governance. It also acknowledged that service remained below the standards expected by scheme members and government. Those descriptions of progress and remediation are Capita’s statements, not findings by the NAO. (Capita statement, 2 October 2026)
Capita said: “Capita accepts that performance remains below the standards that scheme members and the Government rightly expect.”
What help is available if a pension payment is delayed?
For an individual case, contact the pension administrator. The NAO’s investigation is about the administration and its oversight; it cannot determine whether a particular person is owed a payment, calculate an individual pension, or resolve a case on a member’s behalf. (NAO investigation notice)
The NAO reported that transitional support loans totalling £22.1 million had been paid to more than 3,900 members by August 2026. This is a dated aggregate figure reported by the NAO, not a statement that every affected member qualifies for a loan or that the amount is a pension payment. (NAO, 2026)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How large is the scheme, and what does the background show?
The NAO’s June 2025 report said the Civil Service Pension Scheme had 1.7 million current and former members and £189 billion in future pension liabilities as of 31 March 2024. Those figures describe the scheme at that date; they are not a 2026 membership count. The same report recorded 4,780 complaints in 2024–25. (NAO report, June 2025)
At the scale of a large public-service scheme, delays can disrupt retirement planning and access to information for many people. The NAO investigation is intended to assess how the transition and service performed, and whether Cabinet Office oversight was effective; its conclusions remain outstanding.
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- It can examine whether the transfer was ready to go live, how administration and member experience changed after 1 December 2025, and how the Cabinet Office oversaw the arrangement.
- It cannot determine an individual’s pension calculation or entitlement. Members seeking answers about their own payment or case must contact the administrator.
- It has not yet concluded which factors caused the service failures or whether the remedial steps will restore performance. The NAO notice describes scope, while the government and Capita statements reflect their respective positions.
The NAO’s June 2025 report page also links to a hard-copy purchase option on Amazon UK; that is optional further reading, not a separate account of the current investigation. (NAO report page)
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