NAO findings on MyCSP – no surprise to civil service specialists and managers

Stories detailing the hardship and distress caused to members of the civil service pension scheme by administration problems are upsetting, but not surprising, Prospect, the specialists’ union said today 

In a report published today, the government watchdog, the National Audit Office, gives examples of scheme members who were unable to make decisions about retirement, whose pensions were delayed for months, and in one case, a widow who was unable to pay funeral expenses because of delays.

The report outlines a litany of shocking failures in the administration of the scheme:

·       99,400 unanswered telephone calls from members in just six months

·       a backlog of 22,000 urgent cases by January 2015

·       77% of active member records contain inconsistencies or are inaccurate.

Garry Graham, Prospect deputy general secretary, said: “Unfortunately these stories will be all too familiar to Prospect members and representatives.

“Prospect experienced an unprecedented level of complaints from members about the scheme administrators, MyCSP, in autumn 2014.

“As a result we took the unusual step of writing to the minister for the Cabinet Office in January 2015 to ask him to step in to resolve the situation.

“The NAO reports that the Cabinet Office instructed the administrators to develop a plan to tackle the problems in January 2015 – but it should never have got to that stage.”

The report says the situation has improved since January 2015. It also outlines steps to improve the governance of the scheme that should result in better performance.

Graham added: “The situation may have improved since last year, but it is still not acceptable. Hundreds of members are contacting the scheme every month with serious problems.

“The NAO report contains useful recommendations for how the contract should be managed. But Prospect members want to see a root and branch overhaul of MyCSP’s processes and procedures to ensure they get things right.”

MyCSP was central government’s first mutual joint venture and was launched in 2012. Employees own 25%, Equiniti Group’s Paymaster business owns 51% and government 24%.

MyCSP was awarded the contract to administer the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in May 2012.

For further information contact:

Garry Graham   020 7902 6678 (w)   07713 511703 (m)  [email protected]

Marie McGrath   020 7902 6615 (w)                                    [email protected]