Advice & support

FDA response to pensions crisis

return to pensions

We continue to support members and push for improved service levels following period of unprecedented issues

Our members expect an immediate improvement in service from the administrator following years of failures of MyCSP, which only got worse after the transfer.

However, members are not affected by a single issue, which has complicated the recovery. The Recovery Taskforce has had to deploy strict prioritisation in respect of what is tackled first with financial hardship, death in service and ill-health retirement cases taking precedent. The next priority is to issue all retirement quotes they have received, in order of date of retirement.

Therefore if your issue can wait e.g. inaccurate data on a statement when you are 10 years away from retirement, it is recommended that you wait to create your case on the Secure Mailbox until after July 2026.

Members with existing issues or complaints logged earlier with MyCSP did transfer to Capita for resolution. These included those raised with the FDA where a case had been escalated and no response had been received before the transfer date. These ongoing issues have been prioritised by Capita following the transfer but may not be answered with the speed expected.

The FDA has been highly active and increasingly forceful in response to Capita’s failings. Its actions on behalf of members include:

  • Intensive lobbying of the Cabinet Office – The FDA has maintained very regular engagement with the Cabinet Office, raising systemic failures and pressing for rapid and sustained improvements in service performance. The union has repeatedly highlighted the impact on members who cannot make informed retirement decisions due to missing or delayed pension information.
  • Direct engagement with Capita – The FDA secured Capita’s attendance at the final 2025 cross‑stakeholder meeting, providing an opportunity to convey directly the detrimental effects of service failures on members’ retirement planning. The FDA emphasised the need for faster and more robust solutions as poor service continued into early 2026.
  • Securing new escalation mechanisms – The union negotiated a dedicated escalation route to Capita for cases with immediate financial implications—particularly urgent pension payment delays. This route is heavily used due to the high volume of unresolved cases but remains essential for prioritising hardship cases.
  • Coordinated cross-union and cross-department action – The FDA is working collaboratively with government departments, employers, and other civil service unions to raise concerns about Capita’s slow processing, particularly during ongoing reorganisations and voluntary exit schemes. The FDA co‑signed a joint union letter to the Cabinet Office, demanding answers on Capita’s ability to clear its backlog of nearly 90,000 cases and calling for a firm, unequivocal deadline for clearing outstanding work.
  • Individual case advocacy for members – A guide for FDA members on the hardship loan available to pensioners and partial retirees, not in receipt of their pension, has been provided to assist in claiming from their current or former employer. The FDA continues to encourage affected members to report issues through its dedicated support channel, strengthening the union’s ability to evidence operational failings.
  • Public pressure through media – The FDA has used civil service and national news outlets to highlight the scale of issues our members face.

Taken together, this multi‑layered strategy is seeing steady restoration of service levels, whilst protecting Civil Service Pension Scheme members from the financial and personal harm caused by Capita’s administration failures. Our advocacy has been vital in securing hardship loans and interest on delayed payments for members.

The next step is for Capita and the Cabinet Office to deliver a service that exceeds expectations in the near future.

We will continue to use our collective influence by holding the Cabinet Office and Capita to account, ensuring the scheme’s service levels, service quality and accuracy improve so that members have the information they need to make important life decisions.

Bridging loans guidance

After lobbying the Cabinet Office to address financial hardship caused by Capita because of failures to process retirement applications, the FDA was encouraged by the speed of setting up  bridging loans. These are available to members who have partially retired or retired since 1 January 2025 and are awaiting pension benefits. The loan is interest-free and capped at £5,000, in the first instance. Members apply for these loans via the HR and Finance functions of their employer/former employer. Repayment of the loan will not commence until after the member has received their pension arrears. Read our full guidance on bridging loans.

Pension arrears and tax guidance

Following concerns raised by members still waiting to receive their pension and lump sum where applicable, the FDA sought clarification on the treatment of income tax when arrears of pension are part paid in the wrong tax year.

We are pleased to offer an FDA guide for those who find that their arrears of pension, that should have been received between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, have resulted in them being pushed into a higher marginal tax rate. The guide is available to download on the FDA member portal.


The guide also has a model letter that you can use if affected to send to HMRC as the tax reallocation will only be undertaken when you request it.

2015 (McCloud) Remedy and Capita

In our engagement with the Cabinet Office, we have also pushed for progress on the 2015 (McCloud) Remedy, as many FDA members in partial or full retirement await their Immediate Choice Remediable Service Statements.

This work was supposed to have been concluded by MyCSP at the end of March 2025 but that failed to happen so the Cabinet Office agreed an extension to 31 March 2027, with the payment of interest for those affected.  

As Capita had not been contracted to undertake this work, we understand that work to deliver the 2015 (McCloud) Remedy is on hold during the Taskforce Recovery period, but we will continue to push for further details when we next meet the Cabinet Office and an update will be issued to members.

Get in touch

We continue to rely on members providing their service feedback by sending emails to the FDA Pensions mailbox to help us collate and articulate incidents of poor service quality.

To help us categorise your correspondence better, please use the appropriate themed email link below to report your concerns: