From Angela MacDonald, Second Permanent Secretary
26 March 2026
Thank you for your continued forbearance as we work to restore the Civil Service Pension Scheme to the level of service that you all have the right to expect. Whilst we have been able to make a difference now to several thousand colleagues, its clear from the contact that I receive and the comments I see on internal and external media, that there remain many thousands who are still impacted and have yet to see any progress for them personally. There is still a lot of work to do, and me and my team remain totally focused on improving the position.
Since my last update, I can confirm that the average wait time in the contact centre was 2 minutes and 3 seconds, with 70% of calls answered in less than 30 seconds. Improvements are still needed to ensure calls are answered as per the agreed contractual rate but this is a much-improved picture.
We have been working on all aspects of the delivery, including bringing to a conclusion the quotations needed for several thousand colleagues going through the voluntary exit process.
For retirement quotes, I promised to be transparent about which quotations are being processed currently, and as a reminder, quotes are being processed in retirement date order. Capita is currently focused on the quotes they inherited from MyCSP, some 9,000 quotes, and the urgent cases that are coming through escalation. Only very limited work is being done on quotes submitted to Capita since 1st December 2025. Therefore, realistically, it will be some weeks yet before quote requests from the last 3 months will be actioned. We are still focused on clearing the work by the end of June, and I will now update you every two weeks on where we are.
With 21,000 quotations outstanding in total, I know that many of you are now being forced to make difficult choices, including working for longer. If you are unable to do that and if this results in financial hardship, please talk to your department about the support available.
We have about 730,000 pensions in payment, and these passed to Capita and continued in payment uninterrupted. We are reaching the time of year when we need to provide the annual uprating of the pension and provide P60s to those members. This is a substantial undertaking, and we are on track to complete that on time.
I promised that the update this week would focus on the capabilities of the Member Portal. The following digital enhancements are now live (or about to be) in the member portal or on the Civil Service Pensions website:
- Track My Case went live within the member portal on 18 March. This first iteration has been designed to allow members to view the status of their pension case online. This short video guides you through how it works. The functionality will improve over time and not all cases are online as yet.
- The Chatbot went live on the CS Pensions website on 20 March. The functionality appears on the bottom right corner of your screen. Use it to raise portal queries and be pointed in the right direction. Capita will continue to refine the chatbot's ability to answer member queries about various pensions related subject areas in the coming months. This short video gives you a quick demonstration of what the Chatbot offers.
- ‘Multi-stint members’ who have multiple service periods through different organisations will be able to register on the portal from the end of March. Around 120,000 members were previously locked out of their accounts. A small number of multi-stint members have raised the issue with Capita, you will be contacted by Capita to register with a personal email address and national insurance number. If you have problems registering or signing in, you should contact Capita using the Chatbot or contact us form via the website.
- Most 2024/25 Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) will be on the member portal by the end of March. This 2024/25 ABS is a simplified reproduction of the version created by the previous administrator. The figures reflect alpha pension benefits up to 31 March 2025. Sign in to your account to view or download.
If you are affected by the 2015 Remedy, your ABS will show an estimate of your benefits in alpha starting on 1 April 2022. Benefit Statements showing your legacy benefits in Classic, Classic plus, Premium or Nuvos (the roll back position up to 31 March 2022) will follow later in 2026. Members with Added Pension, EPA, Transfer In, Added Years, Divorce and/or Scheme Pays will need to wait a little longer. Earlier Annual Benefit Statements will also follow in due course.
With the addition of these services, it will be possible to do the following in the portal:
- Check and update contact details and preferences
- Check and update security settings
- View and update death benefit nomination(s)
- Active members can view their 2024/25 alpha Annual Benefit Statement
- Pensioner members can view payslips and P60s
- Pensioner members can also change bank details
- All members can send secure messages to Capita via their portal inbox
- All members can follow the progress of their case
Future work includes a new modeller, member App and further enhancements to Track My Case and the Chatbot. We will keep you informed as these are rolled out.
We are setting out our plans for the next 3 months now as we enter the second phase of the recovery. I will continue to write to you with updates on our progress.
Thank you for your patience while this work continues.
Angela MacDonald
Second Permanent Secretary, HMRC
