The UK’s largest outsourcing groups have historically shrugged off high-profile public sector failures as fresh government contracts kept flowing. Capita’s (CPI) mishandling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), however, is starting to look like more than just another bump in the road.
Just a couple of months after taking over the pension scheme in December, Capita called in the government, which provided hundreds of additional staff to tackle a growing backlog of around 120,000 unresolved cases. The situation has left some former civil servants unable to access their pensions, including terminally ill members who died before receiving their payouts.
Capita has since come under fire from MPs and ministers, who have blocked payments after the company missed several improvement deadlines and failed to deliver promised technology upgrades.