Doncaster MP welcomes termination of Royal Mail pension contract

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https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/ne ... ct-8297175

A Doncaster MP has welcomed the news that the Government has terminated a Royal Mail pension scheme contract.

Sally Jameson, Labour MP for Doncaster Central, has backed the government over its decision to end the new Royal Mail statutory pension scheme contract with Capita.

In 2024, Capita won a bid to renew its contract to administer the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme for six years from 2026, with an option to extend for a further two years.

The company was given an 18-month window to prepare for the transition but failed to deliver numerous milestones, including failing to implement required IT automation.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for the Cabinet Office, told MPs last week he was ending the Royal Mail contract with Capita due to “a failure to meet critical transition milestones and a lack of confidence in Capita’s ability to implement and transition to the new operating model in a timely fashion.”

Ms Jameson said: “This was not Capita’s first rodeo; it has been on the failure train many times before.

“I welcome the government’s action to terminate the Royal Mail statutory pension scheme contract.

“I will continue to raise in Parliament Captia’s appalling handling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme contract as I believe further action may still be required.”

Termination of Capita’s contract to administer Royal Mail pensions comes months after they took over the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, from MyCSP, in December 2025.

Since then, pension scheme members have been unable to log into their accounts, access pension information and unable to draw down pension payments.

On raising this matter in Parliament, Ms Jameson said: “Capita’s handling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme has been absolutely abysmal.

“I have constituents in the Prison Service and across the whole civil service who have had their life devastated because of the financial consequences.

“Capita has huge resources of people and money, and it should have known what it was letting itself in for when it took on the contract. It should have known how bad MyCSP was and how bad the backlog was, and if it could not do the job, it should not have taken on the contract.”

Minister Thomas-Symonds updated MPs that, to mitigate the impact on those Civil Service Pension Scheme members affected, the Government has provided more than £7.2 million in interest‑free transitional support loans to over 1,300 members.

It has also established a specialist pensions recovery taskforce to take strategic oversight of the scheme’s management.

This taskforce is supporting Capita to clear its backlog and has already contributed to a significant reduction in telephone wait times.