New Capita-run Civil Service Pension Scheme - problems (what a surprise!)

daisy_1571

Compared to the disruption of changing providers, from the first of it being known staff retention gets harder, the actual transfer of work possibly physical work sites, definitely computer systems, new log ins, new ways of seeing data which can bring up issues that aren't found until years later for example missing data etc and etc and etc - id have thought if you only have a choice of two - stay with the one that's doing it. If there isn't much in it, its no big difference. If there's a lot in it you've got to ask what on earth would one do differently to the other to save money.

hugheskevi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172557#Comment_82172557

Back when the contract was announced, Capita put out the obligatory Press Release.

In all the media at that time, Capita was at pains to emphasise "generative AI." Despite this presumably being a defining factor within their bid, I have yet to see any evidence of what that really means in practice, where it has been deployed, and what impact it has had - which is odd given that was the thing that Capita led with at contract announcement.

Given the amount of talk of transforming the member experience, I found it astonishing that the member portal was so bodged. On day 1 it was a complete dog's breakfast, and 10 months on it still is pretty much useless with unreliable log-in, issues around uploading documents, issues about Capita systems being able to read uploaded documents, no response to any questions submitted, we still await a retirement modeller, and there is ineffective case tracking.

Other than serving as a home for Benefit Statements and lump sum nominations, the member portal has little relevance or use to members. Perhaps that was what was generated by AI, it is hard to envisage any human wanting to take credit for it.

horsewithnoname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172470#Comment_82172470

yes I know. The real problem is that it was farmed out to the cheapest bidder in the first place.

Universidad

I can think of two or three places generative AI could have been used.

It could have been used to code the portal itself. This seems moderately likely. Now to be clear, Gen AI is actually pretty good at creating solid code, in the hands of experienced coders. It is better than most novices, unless placed in the hands of a novice, where it can compound their inexperience. My guess would be that they employed cheap, entry level coders to lean on the AI.

They could also have used AI to code some of the back end stuff that we don't interact with. I'm not saying AI generated our ABSs, but it could have generated the code that was used to do it. Specific repeated issues with things like EPA tend to suggest procedural glitches somewhere. Either way nobody is hand generating hundreds of thousands of ABS documents, so the question is whether the program that does that was written by people, or machines.

Finally, they could be using gen AI to facilitate responses to customer queries, but this seems less likely, as it would be better than what we have been seeing.

george_jetson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172587#Comment_82172587

This is what I find baffling. I have never logged into the website on my first attempt. Even now many months on I have to request 2 sometimes 3 SMS codes. I don’t have this issue with any other company, even my local record shop a small business manages to log me in easily and securely. Why do Capita struggle to get even the basics right?

MouldyOldDough

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82164588#Comment_82164588

I think that it means Classic Ill health Preserved Pension ?

MouldyOldDough

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172695#Comment_82172695

I used to be able to log in for 16 years but now I have been unable to do so - even using the password reminder fails as does creating a new account !

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82173411#Comment_82173411

To be fair, password reset option never worked with myCSP either so it alwas needed a call to reset.

indiasign

Coverage of Capita on the BBC again today on Morning Live. It’s concentrating on bereavement cases, but still getting the issue out there.

WorryPot

Letter from Sally Jameson MP, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, relating to tax treatment of lump sum death benefits under the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), 19 October 2026.

Found under Correspondence.