Union members have called for the Government to impose financial penalties on Capita and award compensation to Civil Service Pension Scheme members, after its “disastrous performance” and “unacceptable” delays to payments.
The Prospect Union described this as “one of the biggest pension scandals this century” and called for immediate action, after thousands of members and their dependents have waited months to receive their pensions.
The calls were made at Prospect’s biennial conference in Brighton, where an emergency motion called for the union to continue lobbying for the recovery of the service provided to members, and to fight for appropriate compensation for both financial and non-financial losses.
The Union said it had seen numerous examples of the distress and inconvenience caused by outsourcing firm Capita’s maladministration. Capita is the administrator for the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
The motion called for the Cabinet Office to impose appropriate financial penalties that reflect the unprecedented scale of Capita’s failure. It also instructed the union to publish guidance for members on how to claim financial compensation for the detriment they suffered.
Prospect deputy general secretary, Steve Thomas says: “Capita’ s disastrous performance represents one of the biggest pension scandals in the UK this century. The scale and severity of the problems caused to members are unprecedented in Prospect’s experience.
“The priority must be to return service to an acceptable and sustained level of service, but it is also important to impose an appropriate financial penalty on Capita, both in terms of penalties under the contract and compensation to members, so they pay a price for their poor performance and members get some redress.”