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1. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sarah Edwards

   Performance of Royal Mail

   It is absolutely crucial that we explore all the potential solutions. Members have floated a number of potential solutions, and we need to know that whatever solution is found will deliver the best service for constituents. We have, for the first time in decades, a Government who have shown willing to stand up to the irresponsible chief executives who put individual profit over the people they serve—one example is taking action on water companies. Will the Minister commit to consulting on the regulatory changes needed to strengthen accountability at Royal Mail without waiting for Ofcom to request them? Will she ensure that Royal Mail meets directly with MPs to answer for its failures? My constituents cannot afford another year, month or week of missed appointments, lost opportunities and letters from loved ones that never arrive. Our postal workers work incredibly hard, but they cannot be left to feel that no help is coming. I look forward to the Minister setting out a plan to deliver genuine change and restore this vital service for the communities who depend on it.

   Hansard source
2. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sarah Edwards

   Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

   I thank my hon. Friend for making such an important speech on the incredible things that happen in Staffordshire. It is really important to our young people that the youth hubs that have been announced—one of them is in Tamworth—have a base and a home. That, though, is where Staffordshire county council has really failed in recent years when it could be leading the way. Does my hon. Friend think that Councillor Murray, the leader of Staffordshire county council, is asleep at the wheel and has possibly gone AWOL on this one? Does he agree that we really need to invest in young people?

   Hansard source
3. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sarah Edwards

   Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

   My hon. Friend has a whole bundle of letters. We regularly write to the county council, and I find that responses are sometimes received four to five months later. Is he having the same issue, not just in relation to roadworks, but in relation to young people and their special educational needs and disabilities situations? That is failure from the county council.

   Hansard source
4. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Samantha Niblett

   Performance of Royal Mail

   My hon. Friend’s leadership on this issue has been magnificent. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for calling this debate, which I am grateful to contribute to, albeit briefly. To hear my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) talk about, “It’ll be okay for Christmas,” and to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch talk about the low morale of workers within Royal Mail, does he agree that part of this debate this evening—we started on a good footing with my hon. Friend—is giving thanks to posties for their incredible hard work? That is not only because they work under incredibly hard circumstances, but because they are the heart of our communities, often noticing any differences. When they see a person who normally gets letters not answering the door, they often are the ones who raise the alarm in the local community.

   Hansard source
5. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Samantha Dixon

   Violence against Women and Girls

   13. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle violence against women and girls.

   Hansard source
6. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Samantha Dixon

   Violence against Women and Girls

   I pay tribute to Chester Women’s Aid, which continues to campaign hard for victims and survivors of domestic abuse in my constituency. Can the Minister update the House on the roll-out of the new domestic abuse protection orders, which enable support services to apply for a protective order on behalf of a survivor?

   Hansard source
7. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Samantha Dixon

   Performance of Royal Mail

   The hon. Gentleman talks eloquently about the effect of the poor service on our working and personal lives, but there is also an effect on our democracy. As next May’s local elections draw closer, voters will be watching their letterboxes for the arrival of their postal votes. In May 2025, some 2.4 million people—nearly one in five voters—registered for a postal vote, so I am seriously concerned about the impact of the service on the delivery of our democracy.

   Hansard source
8. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Civil Service Pensions

   I wish to provide the House with an update on the administration of the civil service pension scheme. I must declare my own interest as I hold a civil service pension with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. As we know, the previous Government awarded the contract to Capita in 2023. Earlier this year, in response to significant performance issues, the Government intervened to increase scrutiny and oversight of the scheme’s administration. Capita committed to recovery milestones for April and for June, both of which it failed to meet. In June, we exercised our contractual rights and mandated Capita to produce a rectification plan and—at Capita’s expense—appoint a remedial adviser to assess the plan. The Government also appointed an independent auditor to assess the effectiveness of Capita’s operational arrangements up to July. Capita committed to the House to deliver recovery milestones in September, which it states it has achieved. However, I want to be clear that that does not reflect members’ lived experience or my own correspondence. Those were self-imposed, self-determined and self-assured targets. Many hon. Members, unions and scheme members have written to me asking why, if Capita has met those targets, they still do not have their quote, their pension remains unpaid and they are struggling with no income despite years of commitment and public service. Building on the good work in holding Capita to account undertaken by my predecessors, my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) and my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Test (Satvir Kaur), I have taken further clear and definitive action to continue that work and ensure that Capita has its feet held to the fire. We have seen some small improvement on priority cases, with Capita now processing more than it receives, and I acknowledge that Capita staff on the ground are working hard in difficult conditions. We are also seeing some slow improvement on technology, with Capita confirming that increased volumes are being managed through automation. It is also rolling out new tools that allow eligible spouses and dependants to view pension payslips and make online inquiries. However, the question remains: why has it taken this scale of Government intervention to force Capita to act? Since taking up this role, I have met the CEO and his senior team twice, and on both occasions expressed in no uncertain terms my outrage at their performance throughout this contract. We were promised “the most AI-enabled Pensions service”. It is fair to say that Capita has comprehensively failed to deliver on that commitment. The progress overall has been abysmal. Complex issues remain unresolved for too long—1,800 cases for more than a year. Although some individuals have more than one case, too many members and family are still left waiting in limbo. The administration issues have also had a knock-on effect on the progress of Capita’s work on the McCloud remedy. I will update the House on that issue next month. The House will be aware that my predecessors rightly directed Capita to appoint a remedial adviser and Cabinet Office to appoint an independent auditor through the Government Internal Audit Agency. My officials have this month received the remedial advisory report and the auditor’s interim report, giving independent and objective perspectives. It will not shock this House that the independent adviser’s report clearly shows that Capita’s rectification planning was wholly insufficient, its technology was weak, and its ambition was falling well short of restoring the quality services that members deserve. Poor performance has been evident, but the reports now provide detailed and actionable recommendations, including a new recovery plan for the whole service, with a road map for technology and a focus on data. The remedial advisory report concluded that, in a service whose success firmly relied on automation, Capita did not deliver the promised technology, that it had not been applying the right techniques to understand demand, productivity and capacity, and that it had not put in place effective mechanisms to detect and escalate failure. Well, I have certainly detected a lot of failure, as have many in this House. For the sake of the dedicated people who are waiting for their pensions, we must not allow the service to fail them further. It is clear that Capita cannot do that on its own. A new plan is needed. I agreed with Capita executives that Cabinet Office officials would work with Capita to develop a credible, workable and realistic recovery plan for which Capita alone will be held to account. I can confirm that, for the first time, Cabinet Office officials now have full access to Capita systems and data. I have put in place expert teams to work alongside Capita to agree priorities, improve quality and processes, and ensure that pensions are paid correctly. The new recovery plan is made up of five workstreams. The first three workstreams look at cases of differing levels of complexity, the fourth ensures that significant exercises such as the McCloud remedy are not overlooked, and the fifth, on technology, tackles issues around infrastructure that support delivery. We will require Capita to evidence its focus on fixing complex cases, ensuring that this plan makes the difference that Capita’s original plan could not. Capita has committed that every member with a complex case will be written to in the next month, ensuring that they understand where they are in the system and how they will be supported. Old cases will no longer be allowed to sit on backlogs without progress. Any stuck quote or payment will be actively managed through revised complex case management. Capita’s new plans will be further supported by challenge and advice from a new group of senior experts, drawn from across the civil service and led by the Cabinet Office. These problems were not created by civil servants, but it will be through the expertise, commitment and perseverance of the civil service that operational delivery is supported and we shape the solutions with Capita. Capita must be open and transparent. We will be publishing fortnightly scheme updates on the pension scheme website, with the number of outstanding complex cases broken down by age, the service levels for straightforward cases and the number of other tasks that are outstanding. We will do so until performance has been stabilised. I want to be clear that while we are leaning in with expertise, Capita remains absolutely accountable for service delivery. It will need to deliver its contractual obligations and pay for its failures. We will continue to apply commercial levers to recover costs incurred, including holding back nearly £10 million of statements. Throughout this crisis, hon. Members have shown why they and their teams are so valued by their constituents. To support that, we have delivered over 1,300 surgeries for more than 320 MPs. I will provide further updates on the progress of our recovery plan in the coming months. In addition to the immediate ongoing recovery plan, I want to update the House on the longer-term strategy for the scheme. Following our previous commitments to Parliament, my officials have led an extensive programme of engagement with trade unions, practitioners and experts. The evidence from those sessions was clear: restoring operational resilience and member trust must be the approach. I have instructed my officials to evaluate the viability of a range of future delivery options, including insourcing all core business operations. There are a number of different insourcing models in operation across the public sector that we will learn from, and we will consider which is the best approach to take for the civil service pension scheme and all the other schemes that it interacts with. Once those assessments are complete, I will return to the House to provide a further update, but in the here and now, Capita must deliver. This Government inherited a broken, outsourced administration. We cannot replace a complex pension operation overnight, but let me be clear: this Government will hold Capita to account and continue to apply the most stringent commercial levers, and we will not rest until every civil servant receives the pension they are entitled to. I commend this statement to the House.

   Hansard source
9. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Civil Service Pensions

   I thank the Opposition spokesperson for his questions. Let me start by saying that I am not making excuses for Capita, and I am not here to defend its triaging of workable or unworkable cases. I made it very clear to the Capita CEO when I met him on two occasions that I do not recognise those categories—it is either done or it is not, frankly. I will not make excuses for that. In relation to the cases of bereaved families, particularly the families of those who have died under the age of 75, the Cabinet Office has identified that a very small number are at the 18-month point. There is huge focus on ensuring that those cases are resolved before the two-year point, and we will continue to do that with any cases that might fall into that bracket, so that we do not find ourselves in a position where anyone would end up paying tax as a result of having to wait two years for these pension issues to be resolved. In relation to the casework surgeries, I understand that sometimes the answers people get back are not satisfactory, and that is because Capita’s performance overall is not satisfactory. All the casework surgeries can do is let people know where they are in the system. For a lot of people, that is not good. We are continuing to work to improve the service through the rectification plan. Over time, that should mean that people have a better experience with casework surgeries—as, frankly, the answers should be getting better. I think this rectification plan will be different from previous plans that Capita has set out because this time the Cabinet Office has access to all the data and to the Capita systems. It has taken the advice of the remedial adviser and worked alongside Capita to help produce this rectification plan, meaning that it is of a better quality. We can now hold Capita to account in relation to that plan, using its systems and using the numbers and data in the correct way, and we will not be quoting things like “unworkable cases” or having all sorts of different triaging mechanisms that make no sense to anybody else. On the “go live” issues referenced by the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood), by November 2025 assessments indicated that Capita had made significant progress since the Public Accounts Committee hearing in July. The only alternative would have been extending the contract with the incumbent, MyCSP, but anyone who had any involvement with MyCSP would have known it was equally abysmal. The comparative risk assessment conducted in October 2025 concluded that an extension would have been commercially and operationally unacceptable, and presented a significantly greater risk than transitioning. Let me gently say that if, in the 14 years prior, the Conservative party had not stripped our public services to the point where we were reliant on companies like Capita all the time, we might have found ourselves in a different position. On the question of other contracts in the future, the hon. Gentleman rightly identified that the Procurement Act 2023 will allow Government Departments to look at previous poor performance. It would not be right for me to comment at this time on whether anyone is subject to, or being looked at in relation to, debarment. Finally, as with any contract of this size, the Cabinet Office always has contingency plans in place should they be required.

   Hansard source
10. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I will indeed be holding Capita’s feet to the fire every single step of the way on the rectification plan. Now that we have access to the Capita systems, we will be able to track its progress every single day, as I know Cabinet Office officials are doing. As I said in the statement, we will be publishing figures every two weeks so that people can see for themselves how Capita is performing. If it is not up to scratch, I will return to the House.

    Hansard source
11. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear about the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituent, Diane. It is just one of many, many cases that we have heard about where the outcome is totally unacceptable. The Chief Whip was on the phone to me this morning about her constituent, Lisa, who is also facing similar problems in getting anything out of Capita. The hon. Lady asked what I am doing to make sure that Capita lives up to its promises on the most recent rectification plan. As I said, Cabinet Office officials are now in the Capita systems every single day, which has given us the ability to challenge the organisation in a way that we have not been able to do before. If we do not start to see progress each fortnight, as we publish those results, I will have the Capita CEO back in and I will continue to hold Capita’s feet to the fire. All options remain on the table contractually. It is in Capita’s interest, frankly, to pull its socks up and do a better job. On debarment, I really cannot comment on anyone that may or may not be subject to consideration or investigation under the Procurement Act. However, I think that most hon. Members would recognise that Capita has done a pretty poor job. It is not its first rodeo either—I will leave that there. I will take away the hon. Lady’s point about inflation-linking and write to her, and I am happy to meet her to discuss it further.

    Hansard source
12. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    In terms of the timelines, I do not want to set a date here today and end up with there being disappointment. However, now that the figures are going to be released every fortnight, if we do not start to see pretty rapid improvement over the next month, I will come back to this House and explain the next steps that might be taken.

    Hansard source
13. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I thank the hon. Member for meeting me last week to discuss this really important issue. The relatively small figure of around 10 that I gave to him is in relation to a very specific category of families who are at or beyond the 18-month point. Cabinet Office officials are working to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible, but if it ends up looking like the rectification plan is not going fast enough and more people will fall into scope, I will of course take further action. I have also liaised with His Majesty’s Treasury on this issue.

    Hansard source
14. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    Due to some commercial and legal sensitivities, we will not be able to publish the Grant Thornton report. However, we will make it confidentially available to the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. I will work with the trade unions on any future plans that we might have for the scheme, and I am happy to work further with the PCS parliamentary group. The Synergy contract did not fall in the remit of the Cabinet Office—it was with the Department for Work and Pensions—but I am sure that my right hon. Friend’s comments have been heard.

    Hansard source
15. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    Of course, the contract and the procurement were done under the last Government. In relation to accountability, the immediate priority for me and the Cabinet Office is getting this crisis resolved and making sure that all constituents get the pensions they should have. There will of course be lessons learned, and I will look into that personally, but the priority at the minute is getting people their pensions.

    Hansard source
16. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent, which is particularly terrible. I encourage him to write to me about it, so that I can look into it. As for bringing the scheme back in house, we are looking at all the different in-house options at the minute; we have a team doing that. We are working with the trade unions and other experts on it, but I am really clear that Capita needs to clean up this mess; it will not be the UK taxpayer who pays to do it. We will make sure that we recoup any costs of the additional support that we have provided.

    Hansard source
17. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to learn of the terrible experience of the hon. Member’s constituent; there are many more like it. If she would like to write to me about that, I would be happy to look into it. I will continue to hold Capita to account. We have withheld nearly £10 million of contractual payments, and Capita is voluntarily invoicing a 10% reduction in its fee until the service is restored to an appropriate level.

    Hansard source
18. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I agree with my hon. Friend that Capita’s performance has been absolutely abysmal. There are no excuses for it, and I will make no excuses for it and its terrible performance. I have more confidence in the rectification plan I outlined today, purely because of the involvement that Cabinet Office officials and experts have had in it, and because they now have access to the Capita systems and data, which they did not have before. That will allow us to properly hold it to account. On bringing the scheme in house, it is a manifesto commitment that we will have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation. I am committed to that, as is everyone on the Labour Benches. I will continue to update the House on progress made on this policy.

    Hansard source
19. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I thank the right hon. Member for meeting me recently and raising her constituency cases. I will ensure that I identify those four cases, follow them up personally, and get back to her as soon as possible. I am sorry to hear that she struggled to get an appointment at the surgeries. I will work with my officials to see if there is any way that we can increase capacity, so that everyone can get the appointment that they need.

    Hansard source
20. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I thank my right hon. Friend for his question, for all the work he did up to the summer on appointing the remedial advisers, and for all the help he has given me since. I will absolutely make sure that the right preparation work is done on any insourcing options, so that when people in the civil service retire, they can have confidence that the scheme we end up choosing is the right one for them.

    Hansard source
21. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I do not accept at all that this is not a meaningful plan. I set out in some detail the measures and the resources that the Cabinet Office is putting in to get this whole process back on track, so that it delivers for scheme members. Many former colleagues of mine have been affected. Everybody is working night and day to try to rectify the situation. As I said, we are looking at all options for insourcing, but we do not want to do anything that will bring further disruption for scheme members. Everything we do must be member-led and in their interests, but of course we are looking at all the options. Significant work is going into contingency planning and future options for the civil service pension scheme.

    Hansard source
22. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent. It is absolutely disgraceful that they have been treated that way by Capita. If she could write to me with the details of that case, I am happy to look at it, and to see if there is any further assistance that I can provide.

    Hansard source
23. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I believe that Cabinet Office officials are now working in lockstep with Capita to ensure that it delivers against the new rectification plan, which was recommended by the remedial adviser. As I have said, we will be able to see on a fortnightly basis how Capita is doing in bringing down the case numbers, and that should give some indication of the service recovery level. If it is not up to scratch—we will know whether that is the case in the coming weeks—I will of course update the House on any further action that we can take to improve the service.

    Hansard source
24. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent. There are no excuses for that. According to the deadlines that Capita sets itself, the case should have been resolved by now. If my hon. Friend will write to me, I will take it up with the chief operating officer of Capita. I would be happy to have a further conversation with my hon. Friend about what we are considering in respect of compensation, but the Pensions Ombudsman is obviously aware of what is happening with Capita, and a number of people will want compensation for their loss of income and the impact that has had on their life.

    Hansard source
25. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    If the hon. Member writes to me with the details of that case, I will look at it myself and ensure that it is passed to my private office as well. I am sorry to say that this is the experience of many scheme members because of the failure of Capita. It is not acceptable, and we are working day and night to ensure that Capita is held to account and the service is improved.

    Hansard source
26. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I will continue to challenge Capita about that. I have already done so, particularly in relation to correspondence from Members to which its responses have not been acceptable. If my hon. Friend will write to me about any specific cases, in particular the one that he has mentioned, I will happily put that in front of Capita myself.

    Hansard source
27. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I set out in my statement how we are taking responsibility, holding Capita to account and ensuring that it fulfils its contractual obligations. For legal and commercial reasons, I cannot discuss other Government contracts in the House right now, or who might be subject to debarment under the new procurement law—I made that clear in response to earlier questions. We are now moving to a member-led approach and dealing with the most complex cases first. We will be able to see that on the fortnightly update to the website, where members will be able to see cases going down. We will mark progress against that by looking at the cases on the website and the updates that Capita sends me, and by seeing the improvements. If those improvements do not start to materialise in the coming weeks, I will return to the House with what further actions we may take.

    Hansard source
28. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    We have already withheld nearly £10 million in contractual payments, and Capita is voluntarily taking 10% less in its monthly payments. On bringing the service in-house, it is important that we get this right, do it at the right time and ensure that we pick the best model for the scheme, so that service members do not have to suffer any further. We are liaising with trade unions, pension experts and others to look at the options for different types of models, and I will return to the House when I have further updates on that.

    Hansard source
29. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    We are committed to ensuring that no member is left financially worse off, and Capita has committed to paying interest on late payments. All complaints will be handled with reference to the Pensions Ombudsman standards. Compensation can be awarded following investigation under the internal dispute resolution procedure—first by Capita and then by the Cabinet Office. If members are not satisfied, they can then refer to the Pensions Ombudsman. On tax, it is difficult to comment on individual cases. If the hon. Gentleman is aware of a specific case and would like to raise it with me, I will liaise with His Majesty’s Treasury to ensure that no one is negatively impacted.

    Hansard source
30. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    The Cabinet Office is leaning in, but I want to be absolutely clear that Capita is still responsible for the contract and is still accountable for the delivery of any rectification plan. All options remain on the table and, as I have said, we are looking at different in-house models for this scheme, in line with our manifesto commitment to have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.

    Hansard source
31. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I thank the hon. Member for raising her constituent’s case, and I am sorry to hear of Ann’s experience under Capita’s own self-imposed deadline. That case should have been resolved by now, and if the hon. Member wants to write to me about it, if she has not done so already, I will ensure that it is looked at. On further contracts for Capita, this Government brought in the Procurement Act 2023, which allows us to consider poor performance in giving out other contracts. As I have said, I cannot discuss whether Capita, or any other organisation, is subject to an investigation or anything in relation to debarment, but there is now a lever at the Government’s disposal.

    Hansard source
32. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear about the experience that my hon. Friend’s constituent has had, as have the constituents of so many in this House. On compensation, as I have set out, we are absolutely determined that no member will be worse off as a result of Capita’s failure. The Government are determined to recoup every single penny we have had to spend helping Capita to resolve the failures, which it should have been able to do itself. On her constituents being able to claim compensation, I will come back to this House at a later date once we have this under control, and I will be happy to answer further questions on that. However, as I have set out, complaints will be handled in reference to the Pension Ombudsman standards.

    Hansard source
33. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    There is a focus on complex cases, but alongside that Capita is working to do incoming cases on a live basis, particularly those relatively easy to resolve. It is actually processing more cases than it is getting in, but because of the significant backlog and the high number of complex cases, it still will not feel like a good service to many members.

    Hansard source
34. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I thank my hon. Friend for raising his constituent’s case. As I said in my statement, I will come back to the House in the next month or so to give an update on the McCloud remedy. Capita has completed the discovery phase, but due to delays and the identified complexities in the remaining cohorts, it is not clear whether the initial date is achievable. I will come back and update the House on what more we will be doing to ensure that his constituents and others get the pension they are entitled to.

    Hansard source
35. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear of Elizabeth’s experience. It is totally unacceptable, as are so many of the cases that we have heard about today—and so many that we will not hear about, too. As the hon. Member will know, the Cabinet Office supplied nearly 150 staff in a surge team to help support Capita in processing the backlog. We also now have senior Cabinet Office officials working every single day with Capita to ensure that it is dealing with the complex cases that need serious expertise to be processed. We will continue to support Capita in any way we can. The remedial report noted that the technology let Capita down in a big way. It has now put some further resource and money into the technology, so automation should help process some cases faster. The biggest learning from the report is that while Capita said it would be an AI-enabled pension scheme, that just was not the reality.

    Hansard source
36. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear of the experience that my hon. Friend’s constituents have had. It is totally unacceptable, and Capita has been totally unacceptable. As I said in my statement, its performance has been utterly abysmal, and those at Capita should hang their heads in shame at how they have treated dedicated public servants in this country. I will take up the issue that he raises with my officials to ensure that we are improving that part of the service, so that his constituents can get the correct quotes that they need.

    Hansard source
37. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I agree with the hon. Member. I am not a tech expert, but I certainly know there is nothing AI about the system that Capita has been using. It is totally unacceptable that Capita suggested that the system would be AI, when clearly it was not ready to take on this level of automation. The technology was not available to Capita at the time. Cabinet Office officials are working on the Capita systems day in, day out to make sure that we are holding Capita to account and challenging it. As I have said, there have been some improvements to the technology, and I have told Capita that those improvements need to continue. Whatever it is putting in, there is more it can do, and I continue to tell Capita representatives that every time I meet them. As far as I am concerned, things will never be good enough until every single person affected has the pension that they should have and the compensation to which they are entitled.

    Hansard source
38. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I share my hon. Friend’s disgust. I will look into that case to ensure that Capita finds the paperwork, or if it must be re-sent, that it is actioned immediately. As my hon. Friend said, it is indicative of Capita’s total and utter incompetence. We need to bear in mind that this is why it is important that we stick to our manifesto commitment to have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.

    Hansard source
39. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I am sorry to hear that the hon. and learned Member has not had a reply from the Cabinet Office; I will chase that as a priority when I leave the Chamber. I receive correspondence daily from Members across the House and I get on with them as quickly as possible, so I am unsure why something sent on 26 August has not come to me yet. I will chase that immediately. According to Capita’s own deadline, the case the hon. Member describes is something that should have been resolved by 1 September, so when I receive the correspondence, I will ensure that it is chased appropriately.

    Hansard source
40. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

    Civil Service Pensions

    I agree with my hon. Friend: Capita has been abysmal, as I have said a few times now. It is for that reason that my predecessors in the role held back nearly £10 million in contractual payments to Capita—a move that I supported. Capita, on a voluntary basis, is now receiving 10% less on its monthly payments because it recognises that its service is wholly inadequate. All other options remain on the table. I will monitor the outcome of the new rectification plan on a fortnightly basis and return to this House if it is not good enough.

    Hansard source