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

johnnyfreedosh

Computers down / fire alarms going off etc all excuses or they don't even bother with an excuse and just hang up.   

horsewithnoname

johnnyfreedosh said:

Computers down / fire alarms going off etc all excuses or they don't even bother with an excuse and just hang up.   

Some phone providers cut you off automatically after a set amount of time, so it could be that. 

daisy_1571

Mobiles are generally limited to 2 hours

oldchick

I retired at end of Oct last year. I had returned my completed options form to MyCSP which they received on 2 Oct - so far so good! Had an email on 10 Nov informing me of a miscalculation in my figures and that my pension would be approx £2400 pa less than quoted!!! I requested updated figures immediately along with an explanation? 7 phone calls and 5 escalations later I still haven't had new figures and no pension payments - 3 months without my pension! Last call last week told my case was top priority and aiming to get sorted asap - still nothing it's like banging head against brick wall, an utter shambles and can't see me getting anything any time soon 

notapottop_ssin

oldchick said:

I retired at end of Oct last year. I had returned my completed options form to MyCSP which they received on 2 Oct - so far so good! Had an email on 10 Nov informing me of a miscalculation in my figures and that my pension would be approx £2400 pa less than quoted!!! I requested updated figures immediately along with an explanation? 7 phone calls and 5 escalations later I still haven't had new figures and no pension payments - 3 months without my pension! Last call last week told my case was top priority and aiming to get sorted asap - still nothing it's like banging head against brick wall, an utter shambles and can't see me getting anything any time soon 

Same boat as you oldchick i wrote to Local MP, permanent sec, head of HR, and more, all with same promises, nothing, apparently 90,000 cases left sitting there when MyCSP handed over to Capita, because of industrial action at MyCSP then Capita not having the infrastructure to deal with backlog along with all new applications.  

What__A_Shower

oldchick said:

I retired at end of Oct last year. I had returned my completed options form to MyCSP which they received on 2 Oct - so far so good! Had an email on 10 Nov informing me of a miscalculation in my figures and that my pension would be approx £2400 pa less than quoted!!! I requested updated figures immediately along with an explanation? 7 phone calls and 5 escalations later I still haven't had new figures and no pension payments - 3 months without my pension! Last call last week told my case was top priority and aiming to get sorted asap - still nothing it's like banging head against brick wall, an utter shambles and can't see me getting anything any time soon 

Same here, retired 3 weeks ago, all paperwork was returned way back in October and as of today I have absolutely no idea when I can expect my lump sum or my pension payment. Can't face another 3 hour wait on the "helpline" just to be told it's with finalisation team and that they are unable to give any idea of time frame!
I have now sent my MP a detailed letter outlining my complaint and listing all the attempts I have made to get some action. I don't expect this to have any great effect but I don't know what else to try. 

ljayljay

From the Capita website...

6. What can I do if I have submitted an online query but haven’t heard back?

• If you have made an enquiry though the portal and you still haven’t heard from us after 10 working days, we sincerely apologise.

Think I submitted my query almost 40 WD's ago. As they are clearly unable to meet the 10 day deadline why don't they just change the message in their auto response? At least this would reduce the duplicate follow up messages & telephone calls clogging up an already shambolic service.

Plus stating that they 'apologise' without providing a meaningful revised resolution timeframe is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Golactico

I'm so sorry to read about the awful start to retired life that many ex Civil Servants are experiencing. To try to say something positive, I think all the MP contacts etc are making a difference. The recent BBC online news article seemed to prompt a second, follow up email from my MP confirming that she is still pursuing this with Cabinet Office and promising to get in touch again soon. If, as someone has suggested, the matter is featured on the One Show this week, that might serve to shift it up the Government priority list too.

Bullhorn

I'll try to keep it short 🤣

I'm a deferred member. After 15 years working as a Prison Officer, I left in 2003. In June 2025 I sent all relevant documentation to MyCSP without any trouble and within no time, I received a letter saying my pension lump sum would be £28750 and I would receive a yearly amount of £9500. I was told I would be paid on my 60th birthday in December 2025. I rang up MyCSP, and the phone was answered almost immediately. Furthermore, I was told everything was in place and sorted, and I had nothing else to do, I would receive my pension lump sum in December and my monthly payment of £799 would be paid a month in arrears.

After reading an article in the Guardian in December and having to rejoin the CSP members portal and finding it didn't have the information it had before Capita took over, and it didn't really work, alarm bells began! I then read about two hundred comments that had been written in a single day beneath the article in horror. Nearly every comment was someone complaining about Capita and the complete mess they had made.

I rang Capita on the 2nd January and was told my pension was waiting to be sorted by the finalization team. I told the Capita representative there should be no sorting to do, it was sorted in June, and I had the paperwork to prove it. I was told there was nothing I could do other than wait, and there was no date they could give to let me know when I would receive my pension.

It is now over a month since I should have received my £28750 lump sum, and I'm still waiting.

It is a few days over the day I should have received my monthly payment.

I had an email from Capita four days ago saying I had said I was in a civil relationship and I needed to send my certificate in before my pension could be finalized (there was an email address included to send this to), but if this was incorrect let them know by replying to the email.

I'm not sure why I need to send in a certificate, it shouldn't come into me getting my pension, and if it is needed, why wasn't I told this back in June? There has been seven months to sort this out. As it happens, I'm not in a civil partnership as we have not had a ceremony and I don't have a certificate, so I replied to the email only to find out two days later that I had replied to a no reply address. There was no mention in the email that I should not reply directly to the person who had emailed me. When I discovered this, I resent my email to the email address included in the original message, letting Capita know I didn't have a certificate. This was the email address given for me to send my certificate to, it didn't say it was an email to let them know I was single but as there was no other address, I assumed this email was for anything to do with my case.

I received a no response email from Capita this morning in reply to my email, this is it…

Dear Sirs,

Unfortunately, we have not been able to progress your request due to the following reason

•          Our system doesn’t support the format you have used

Please re submit the request to the following email address:

EmployerRequests@civilservicepensionscheme .org.uk

If using a password, please use CSPS1225 and ensure you only include 1 member’s details on your request. We cannot accept multiple member requests on the same email.

Kind regards

I have now written another email and sent it to this email address above but i'm not holding out much hope as to be honest, the email above doesn't really make any sense and the email address they have given, EmployerRequests obviously isn't correct for an individual attempting to sort out their pension. Shall I say again that my pension was sorted out last June and i was told I had nothing else to do, I would receive my pension on December.

I wrote to my MP seventeen days ago and heard nothing. I rewrote to her again today.

PensionsStuff

Where's capita administering this from?

Seeing a lot of movement in my network pensions recruiters on LinkedIn for immediate start permanent or temp administrators linked to a Leeds office , maybe capita.. could be a coincidence