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

Nevertoo99

This is far worse than I feared, so people are waiting months to be paid their pension? It’s absolutely scandulous. I am due to partially retire in March and I am really worried now, I won’t be able to manage on my reduced income alone, with no idea of when the pension will be actually paid.  I’ve had an update from my employer basically acknowledging that I won’t be paid on time and even worse I can’t start the escalation process to ensure I do get paid on time, until after I not paid.  I can’t believe this has been allowed to happen in the civil service, what a way to treat people. I wonder if the people responsible would be ok with receiving half their pay, and whistle for the rest, we’ll pay you when we can. 

NormalNorman

I'm not due to claim for a few years but say I lost my job and decided to start the pension slightly earlier. It's really worrying that option isn't viable at short notice.

tiredoffighting66

Like a few others due to partially retire in March. New pensions portal has my name address nino marital status and my 2 beneficiaries and NOTHING else. I rang the helpline at 8.30am no.41 in the queue and got through 2 hours+ later to be told they have a Service Level Agreement that quotes are sent out 6-8 weeks and as I wasn't at the 6 week date they couldn't escalate it. He also said they hope to have the backlog cleared by the end of February (didn't say which year!). I have been in contact with my MP who was contacting them yesterday. I feel totally let down anxious and stressed that this has been allowed to happen - never mind the financial trauma this is causing. There are atleast 2 other MOS in my office who have received no communications and are retiring in March. Probably have to stay FT longer but I'm done working FT after 33+ years service so not sure how I'm going to manage it. ANY good news stories or updates anyone will give us some hope .......plleeaaaasssssseeeee

johnnyfreedosh

Been following this with interest.......

My story.  Retired on 1st Dec (great timing).

Had previously returned my signed quote to MyCSP in middle of October - well within timescales.  All systems go, or so I thought.

Dec past by - no lump sum.  Numerous calls to Capita met with indifference and statements like "it's with the finilisation team" but no real definite answer as to what's going on and when will I get my lump sum.  As we know phone calls take an age to actually speak with someone.  Portal just nonsense - still shows me as of today as an active member !!!!!!!!

Start of January I contacted my union (I was smart enough to keep my subs active after retiring).  They got back to me within a day and said they would escalate my case.  One week later (9th Jan) my lump sum just randomly landed in my bank account.  Mega relief!!!!.  Amount as per quote.   I had no letters/ emails (and still haven't ) to say it was arriving on that date.
 Union input may or may not have had influence but I personally believe it did.

However as off today I have still not received my 1st pension payment (due 2nd Jan) - portal still gibberish and no response to any of my previous secure messages.

For me receiving my lump sum will keep the wolves from the door and has eased a lot of stress I was having over all this. 

I hopefully will get my pension soon (who knows)

If you have recently retired and still waiting I recommend getting on to your union as they (I believe) have some influence.

Before I retired it never crossed my mind that there would be delays and assumed (wrongly) that all would be smooth.


It is a scandal and horrible how Capita treat people.   Work all your life and have to almost beg for what you are rightly entitled to.  Good people being treated with so much indifference is just so wrong.

Good luck to everyone still waiting on payment.

tiredoffighting66

johnnyfreedosh said:

Been following this with interest.......

My story.  Retired on 1st Dec (great timing).

Had previously returned my signed quote to MyCSP in middle of October - well within timescales.  All systems go, or so I thought.

Dec past by - no lump sum.  Numerous calls to Capita met with indifference and statements like "it's with the finilisation team" but no real definite answer as to what's going on and when will I get my lump sum.  As we know phone calls take an age to actually speak with someone.  Portal just nonsense - still shows me as of today as an active member !!!!!!!!

Start of January I contacted my union (I was smart enough to keep my subs active after retiring).  They got back to me within a day and said they would escalate my case.  One week later (9th Jan) my lump sum just randomly landed in my bank account.  Mega relief!!!!.  Amount as per quote.   I had no letters/ emails (and still haven't ) to say it was arriving on that date.
 Union input may or may not have had influence but I personally believe it did.

However as off today I have still not received my 1st pension payment (due 2nd Jan) - portal still gibberish and no response to any of my previous secure messages.

For me receiving my lump sum will keep the wolves from the door and has eased a lot of stress I was having over all this. 

I hopefully will get my pension soon (who knows)

If you have recently retired and still waiting I recommend getting on to your union as they (I believe) have some influence.

Before I retired it never crossed my mind that there would be delays and assumed (wrongly) that all would be smooth.


It is a scandal and horrible how Capita treat people.   Work all your life and have to almost beg for what you are rightly entitled to.  Good people being treated with so much indifference is just so wrong.

Good luck to everyone still waiting on payment.

Soooo pleased youve got something to help you through and it was what you were expecting lump sum wise. Will be on to my union in the morning 

notapottop_ssin

I am in the same boat after 38 years of service, been waiting 8 mths to get this sorted, 4.5 hours waiting on a call last week to be told nothing, false promises, not one response to my emails nothing, i could swear but it wont get me anywhere. its a debacle, will there be compensation????? i doubt it. Anyone know of a good legal representative, as i want reparation. I do hope that no one passes away over the stress being caused by this mess!!!!

johnnyfreedosh

notapottop_ssin said:

I am in the same boat after 38 years of service, been waiting 8 mths to get this sorted, 4.5 hours waiting on a call last week to be told nothing, false promises, not one response to my emails nothing, i could swear but it wont get me anywhere. its a debacle, will there be compensation????? i doubt it. Anyone know of a good legal representative, as i want reparation. I do hope that no one passes away over the stress being caused by this mess!!!!

Have MyCSP or Capita ever told you reason for excessive delay.  8 months is a crazy long time,  predominantly when MyCSP where running the show.

 Has it been 8 months with zero correspondence?  If so that's scandalous.  Hope you get it sorted soon.

m_c_s

johnnyfreedosh said:

notapottop_ssin said:

I am in the same boat after 38 years of service, been waiting 8 mths to get this sorted, 4.5 hours waiting on a call last week to be told nothing, false promises, not one response to my emails nothing, i could swear but it wont get me anywhere. its a debacle, will there be compensation????? i doubt it. Anyone know of a good legal representative, as i want reparation. I do hope that no one passes away over the stress being caused by this mess!!!!

Have MyCSP or Capita ever told you reason for excessive delay.  8 months is a crazy long time,  predominantly when MyCSP where running the show.

 Has it been 8 months with zero correspondence?  If so that's scandalous.  Hope you get it sorted soon.

The PCS (Publics and Commercial Services) union members went on strike for 6 months last year over union recognition and TUPE issues with MyCSP. That had a big impact and caused a lot of delays over the Summer. Even before Capita took over there were 1or 2 hour queues on the phone in August last year. The same MyCSP staff are probably still there but now employed by Capita so the backlog, mainly due to industrial action, will take a long time to work through.
The PCS union last year said the initial 16 weeks of strike action taken had caused significant disruption to MyCSP operations, leading to a growing backlog of cases. The union then went on to extend the strike up until the end of November.
The issues with the Capita taking over and the poor implementation of their new website is somewhat separate. 
There does seem to be a lot misinformation being reported blaming both the backlog and the website issues solely on Capita; this clearly is not the case. 

johnnyfreedosh

Yes we know previous administration MyCSP had problems but what is clear is the lack of honest information that Capita give out to members (or lack of)......If they where upfront about the situation and communicated with those recently retired (or about to retire) and awaiting payment they may get a semblance of respect.

Radio silence from Capita does nothing to aliviate worry & stress.  

I had to chase MyCSP every step of the way to even get my quote (it was like pulling teeth) and then when I phoned Capita for the first time a week after my retirement date to enquire about my lump sum they knew nothing and started the "list" of excuses  aka migration of data delays- portal problems etc etc all of which I became accustomed to throughout December.

As a footnote a colleague of mine retired 2 months before me and got his lump sum and pension on time which in a way lulled me into a false sense that all would be a bed of roses....seems a bit like pot luck.

daisy_1571

'Radio silence from Capita does nothing to aliviate worry & stress'


And leads to more calls which slows things down for everyone.   If we were able to see a daily update that said "we are working on paperwork received xx/xx/xx  and we know about the missing data problems,  the estimated timescale for seeing data populated on accounts is xx/xx/xx" it might take half the people off the phones each day letting others with different queries through quicker. 

I'm always in favour of seeing the information, even if its not what I want to see ie they are working on paperwork received 5 months before I know my paperwork went in, at least I could follow the updates and wait my turn.  I never understand the radio silence.  Thats partly what gets folk so annoyed