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

ShottsBA

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144036#Comment_82144036

I tried contacting the Cabinet Office, Mr Vianello's office among others without making any progress, which again, adds to the frustration. My previous department have also been chasing.

I remember the priority given to an MP enquiry when I got any, but Capita aren't fazed by our elected members any more than they are by the average punters.

All courses of action are futile. Except I once called the bereavement line to jump the call queue. Imagine pretending to be dead to get a response!

ljayljay

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144036#Comment_82144036

Posts on here are maybe anecdotal, plus some of us could just be the unlucky ones.

However, the total silence on applications that went in months & even a year ago is quite unbelievable.

Would be good if someone, maybe one of the Civil Service unions, co-ordinated an independent list for applicants to report their experiences. This may also help to check if the data Capita are supplying for the task updates are actually valid.

Yorkie1

If you were in a union before retirement, it would be worth contacting them - or at least looking at their website. I know that my union is compiling information and takes it to meetings.

Universidad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144154#Comment_82144154

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to be bad enough at something that the general secretary of a trade union is openly sympathetic to the employer's position. That aside, the point is sound - we're not getting out of this crisis by starting again from the ground up. Even if that's where we are in ten years, that's ten years of pensioners who can't wait.

ljayljay

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144300#Comment_82144300

Thanks, although I left my employer 6 years ago, so am now a deferred pensioner.

However, having looked at the union website I now realise I could, & assumedly still can, become an Associate Retired Member for a nominal amount. I may consider that as it could be useful, plus they have a number of benefits as follows

• Legal assistance and advice
• Professional advice service
• Financial services
• Updates on the civil service pension scheme
• Opportunity to join the 1st Class credit union
• Assistance through the PCS benevolent fund
• Helplines for legal, medical, debt, domestic violence, and breast cancer advice
• Holiday and travel club
• PCS+ travel insurance
• Shopping discounts
• Free will service
• PCS Plus savings and ideas for free time.
• Up in ARMs (ARMs Journal)
• PCS People.

ljayljay

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144493#Comment_82144493

I also found info below which, if nothing else, is another avenue to report the issues & frustrations faced personally.

Advice for members

You can email your MP using our quick tool to ask them to intervene in this crisis. You can also ask your MP to challenge the awarding of the Synergy payroll and HR contract to Capita.

PCS has secured a commitment that Capita will prioritise cases escalated on behalf of members. Scheme members should therefore continue to escalate cases through pensions@pcs.org.uk 

Members should also register for the member portal and use the complaints procedure. PCS members can also email us at editor@pcs.org.uk if you have delayed your retirement because of the pensions crisis.

horsewithnoname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144154#Comment_82144154

I don’t imagine anyone thinks it can be bought back in house overnight, but ultimately yes, it should be, for future pensioners. Obviously it won’t help the poor souls currently caught up in this catastrophe, nothing short of a magic wand could! MPs pensions should have the same admins as the rest of the public servants. I guarantee this would never have happened if that were the case 🙄

hugheskevi

I thought it was just me, maybe I'd forgotten how to count since January. The figures quoted by Mr Vianello don't seem to add up. For a variety of reasons I've been escalated and prioritised until my nose bleeds, I'm sure my case isn't complex, but I still seem to be within the residual group that's heard nothing.

The update has now been amended so that everything sums to the total.

The main change was to the number of payments more than 100 days old, which has changed significantly from 775 (previously incorrectly shown as a total of 511) to 240. No reason for this revision of figures has been provided. Some of the other figures changed very slightly.

WorryPot

On the 24th August I sent the following message via the 'Contact us' facility on the Cabinet Office web site:

.....

FAO Richard Vianello - Civil Service Pensions Director

Dear Richard,

Firstly, thank you for all the work you have so far done regarding Capita's Civil Service Pensions scandal.

Appreciating your immediate focus is on clearing the terrible backlog of current claims, may I please ask you to provide regular updates on the following:

- ABS requests for 'Deferred' members, who have requested them.  I have requested mine some time ago.  This is still marked in the Secure Portal as 'In Progress'..... being totally ignored.

- A real 'Track My Case' facility, which actually provides useful information.  The current effort is just a registration tool, providing zero details.

- Portal functionality, which was promised.  The old (MyCSP) facility provided 'time in service' details such as start and finish dates.  Also, latest pension figures.

- Call Centre wait times based on 'real' (Cabinet Office verified) data.  Not the fictional figures provided by Capita.

- Other contractual functionality.  What ever happened to the promised Phone App etc?

Please Richard.  Everyone will benefit from this information. This regularly updated information would certainly reduce the amount of individual Call Centre enquiries.

I look forward to your positive response...and thank you.

Today I received a reply basically saying that without me providing my personal details and pension references, "Capita is unable to identify my pension record". Hmmm ???? Maybe it is me but it does not sound like the Cabinet Office actually bothered reading my message. They definitely did not pass it on to Richard Vianello, nor his team.

ShottsBA

"Retirement quotes

Of the c4,000 quotes which were outstanding at the end of June, 240 remain in the backlog."

Does this mean only 240 quotes remain outstanding? How unlucky are we?

I feel like the man in a diving suit running the London Marathon!