From Angela MacDonald, Second Permanent Secretary at HMRC
27 February 2026
As I mentioned in my message earlier this month, as the lead for the Civil Service Pensions Taskforce, working alongside the scheme administrators, Capita, I’m committed to providing you with clear, factual, and regular updates on the work being done to try and resolve the current service issues with Civil Service Pensions.
Although there is still a great deal of work to do, we’ve moved things forward in several areas over the last two weeks and below is an update on some of the milestones I set out in my last update.
Our immediate priority was to resolve the outstanding death in service and ill health retirement cases, and we have made positive progress in this area.
By the end of this week, Capita will have settled, or done everything currently possible, on the death in service cases. Some of these cases are waiting for paperwork or decisions from members before they can be settled, and everything that can be done has been done for these members and their families. We should be in the same position with ill-health retirement cases by next week. If you are affected by this but have not heard from Capita by the end of next week then please get in touch with your HR team so that we can investigate further.
We’ve also made significant progress on call waiting times, with 93% of calls being answered in less than 30 seconds by the middle of this week. Capita is committed to keeping wait times low, especially while we address this backlog, so please avoid calling unless it’s essential.
While we carry on with the work to ensure everyone can access the portal and continue to tackle the backlog of unread correspondence, we are also thinking ahead to the next set of priorities, which includes those of you waiting for a pension quotation and those of you planning to retire in the coming months.
I’ve set out below where we are currently and what we are looking to tackle next.
Thank you for your understanding while this work continues.
Angela MacDonald
Second Permanent Secretary, HMRC
Civil Service Pensions progress update
1. Call volumes
We know call waiting times have been unacceptably long. Two weeks ago the average wait time for callers was around 2 hours, with only priority cases being answered in less than five minutes.
What’s been done:
With additional helpline advisers now in place, call response times have reduced significantly.
99% of calls are now being answered. This is a significant increase from last month when only 27% of calls were answered.
As of Wednesday 25 February, 93% of calls were answered within 30 seconds.
As Capita continues to improve performance, please still avoid calling unless it is essential, so resources can be focused on urgent cases.
2. Backlog of cases
We understand that many of you are concerned about the backlog of cases and when your case will be processed, particularly those of you who are waiting to receive your pension payments.
What’s been done:
Capita previously committed to prioritising death in service and ill-health retirement cases and resolving these by the end of February. On working through those cases it has become apparent that there are decisions and paperwork needed from members before some cases can be completed. By the end of February Capita plans to either have settled all death in service cases or have done everything it's possible to do whilst waiting for members to respond. We hope to have achieved the same for ill-health retirement cases by week ending 6 March 2026.
At the beginning of this week there were 8,153 members who had received a quote and were waiting for their pension payments. In some of these cases members had opted out of a lump sum or Capita required additional documentation to process the pension.
Capita committed to making sure that all members who have submitted their forms and have received their pension quote, receive their lump sum, and in some instances 70% of their arrears, by the end of February. We are still on track for this with over 4,000 of the 6,078 outstanding lump sums and arrears having been paid by the beginning of this week. Outstanding pension arrears will be paid within the next 8 weeks.
Interest will be paid on delayed sums. More information can be found on the Civil Service Pensions website.
3. Emails
We know that many of you are still waiting for responses to emails, which Capita have been working through.
What’s been done:
When Capita took over the administration of the scheme there were around 15,000 unread emails to work through.
A surge team has been put in place to help clear these with the aim of ensuring that there are no urgent cases in the backlog that require immediate action. We expect all these emails to have been opened and reviewed by the end of this week.
Many of the emails relate to administrative updates, such as a change in name or address. After cross-checking we’ve identified that some of the more urgent issues have since been submitted as complaints and are being processed via other routes. We will now work through the contacts and take any action as needed.
4. Pension quotations
We know many of you have requested pension quotes and there are currently around 14,000 existing quote requests to be completed. Some of these are from before Capita took over administration of the scheme on 1 December.
If you have already submitted a quotation request, you can help us to manage this most effectively by registering on the portal. This will speed up our ability to communicate with you. We know that there are a number of members with multiple periods of service who have not been able register on the portal so far. We continue to work to resolve this and we will communicate by phone or post to any impacted member.
What we are doing and actions we need you to take:
We are reviewing the quickest way to reduce the backlog.
If you submitted your request for a quote after 1 December 2025, please do not take any action. Capita will be in touch as soon as possible and we will let you know in our next update in two weeks when you can expect to hear.
If you submitted your request for a quote before 1 December 2025, Capita will write to you by 10 April 2026. You will be contacted via the portal, if you are registered, or if not then via your postal address. Capita will check if you are planning to progress, if your circumstances remain unchanged and gather any further information they require to progress your quote. If Capita doesn’t hear from you within two months after they have written to you, your case will be closed and you will need to make a new request if you need a quote. Please respond as quickly as possible.
If you submitted a request for a quote before 1 January 2025, we ask that you contact Capita on the portal and submit a ‘contact us’ form to confirm you still wish to proceed. You will need to be registered on the portal to do this. Capita will then contact you to progress your quote. If you don’t contact Capita by Friday 3 April 2026, your case will be closed and you will need to make a new request if you require a quote. If you are having issues accessing the portal please contact Capita directly.
We are working with Capita to make commitments on when all outstanding quotations will be provided and we will share more in our next update. We know colleagues who are planning their future retirements will also want to know more. Again, our aim is to provide further information as we progress through March.
5. Retirement modeller
You have told us you need access to a retirement modeller to help plan for different retirement scenarios.
What we are doing:
A new retirement modeller will be available on the member portal by the end of March.
This tool will help you explore different retirement options and understand how changes - such as how adjusting your retirement age - could affect your pension benefits.
Next steps:
In our next update we will:
provide further details on how Capita are progressing with pension payments
give details on the work Capita is doing to add further functionality and data onto the portal
let you know the latest position on the backlog of pension quotations and what you can expect if you submitted your request for a quote after 1 December 2025 or are yet to submit your request.
