Thousands of retired civil servants continue to face late or missing pension payments as administrator Capita oversees a growing caseload.

The government outsourcing giant took over the civil service pension scheme in December 2025, taking an already considerable backlog of 86,000 cases to 120,000 by February 2026.

It admitted earlier this year that its handling of the 1.7 million-member scheme was “not good enough” amid scathing government scrutiny.

Capita’s contract to oversee the Royal Mail statutory pension scheme was terminated in April, with Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds saying that the group had “failed to deliver numerous milestones”.

In an update in July, he announced the launch of a Cabinet Office taskforce with over 140 staff to reunite civil servants with their pension pots.

An interest-free emergency loan was also introduced for those awaiting pension payments, worth up to £20,000 in the most severe cases. This is not compensation, and would be repaid through pension deductions.

This will not be funded with public money, Mr Thomas-Symonds added, pledging to recover “every single penny of these surge costs directly from Capita”.

The civil service pension scheme could also be a “prime candidate for insourcing in the future”, he added.

The government has also withheld £9.9 million in payments from Capita over its handling of the scheme.

A Capita spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the impact the service issues have had on members and recognise there is more to do to restore the service members should expect.”

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