Correspondence

Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update - 9 February 2026

Published 9 February 2026

Rapid action has been taken to address the unacceptable service levels experienced by members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Recognising that administrative delays have caused genuine distress to members, particularly those dealing with bereavement or ill health, an expert recovery taskforce was stood up to work alongside the Cabinet Office and Capita in an intensive partnership, to ensure the service is restored to normal service levels as soon as possible. The Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary has treated this issue as a priority and has intervened directly to ensure it is resolved as a matter of urgency, providing the resources required. This recovery effort is being led by  Angela MacDonald, Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary at HMRC, and Chris Clements, Managing Director of Capita Pension Solutions to ensure it has the necessary leadership.

The recovery effort is being delivered through a cycle of three-week sprints. Although the sprints will be agile and iterative in their nature, they will ensure remedial activity is appropriately prioritised and robust longer-term foundations are laid to restore levels to an acceptable service as quickly as possible.

We have factored Voluntary Exit Schemes into the recovery plan, given how important these are to those who have made important life decisions, and to support departments in driving forward their reform plans to improve public service delivery..

Sprint 1 (concluded on 6 February)

• established a shared data baseline and initiated the triage of the most sensitive cases, putting in place a clear prioritisation framework.  
• implementation of a transition support loan scheme to prevent people experiencing hardship.  The scheme is being administered through departments with payments already reaching those affected.  The loans are for £5,000 (and up to £10,000 in exceptional circumstances) and are being offered on an interest free basis.
• mobilised a 150-person Government surge team, which is actively clearing unread correspondence and increasing processing capacity.  
• Capita have mobilised a 100-person surge team alongside this.
• improvement in call handling: percentage of calls answered has increased to 34%, alongside a notable reduction in the call abandonment rate to 66% as of late January.

Sprint 2 (now underway, runs until 22 February)

• aim for restoration of normal service levels for the most critical cohorts: death-in-service cases and ill-health retirement cases by end February 2026.
• comprehensive review of all technical interfaces and data protocols to fortify the scheme’s long-term resilience. 
• This involves daily technical stand-ups and rigorous security assessments to ensure that the transition to a steady state is built on a foundation of absolute accuracy and data integrity. 

Sprint 3 (2 March to 20 March)

• drive the final resolution of priority backlogs and ensure the system is prepared for long-term stability. 
• identify and cement improvements to return all aspects of the service to standard contractual levels by June 2026 (recognising the backlog will be incrementally reduced leading up to this point).

We will finalise the next phase of the recovery project during Sprint 3, allowing us to pivot quickly and maintain momentum in an agile environment. We will continue to publish regular updates.