Company overseeing Royal Mail pension faces increased scrutiny

[RobertT]

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/business ... 2682487099

CAPITA has been put into special measures after poor performance overseeing the Royal Mail pension scheme.

The outsourcer was moved into a “stabilisation plan” – meaning civil servants are giving its work extra scrutiny – after it missed targets at call centres which deal with complaints and queries over the service’s £49bn pension scheme.

A surge in the number of workers retiring during Covid, coupled with a backlog of cases, left Capita unable to resolve scheme members’ issues as fast as required.

Government contract data from last year show that Capita was inadequate on key metrics throughout 2020.

Performance is not expected to return to normal until September this year, Whitehall sources said.

The failure was seized on by Labour, which is seeking to use allegations of poor government outsourcing decisions to improve its poll ratings.

Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, said: “This is yet more evidence that the Conservatives’ ideological obsession with outsourcing is bad news for the British taxpayer and bad news for all of us who rely on our public services.

“In no other walk of life would this kind of shocking failure be rewarded with more money. Instead of outsourcing and selling off every part of the public realm that they can get their hands on the Government should focus on delivering for the public interest.”

A Capita spokesman said: “This is a large and complex contract which has been made more challenging as a result of the pressures of the Covid pandemic.

“We continue to work to improve the service we deliver and create better outcomes for scheme members.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Key performance indicators are included as part of government contracts to make sure public services are delivered in the efficient manner that the public would expect.

“We have regular conversations with all suppliers to make sure they meet these standards and work with them to remedy any issues as quickly as possible.

“We expect this service to be consistently achieving KPIs in the coming months.”

[tractorboy2]

Well , I am 60 in November and have heard diddly squat from them. A mate of mine is 60 in September and he has had nothing either.

[NWpostie]

Run by staff who don't care and only interested in doing as little as possible.

[Woody Guthrie]

I think it's more to do with being run by a company trying to squeeze as much profit out of the contract as possible by investing as little resources into the operation as they can get away with.

It's kind of how outsourcing works, there's been plenty examples in the past from Carrilion to G4.

Outsourcing "inefficient" public services just to hand them over to even more inefficient private sector firms has been one of the biggest scams of the last 30 years. There's nothing capitalism likes more than suckling at the government's teat and they call themselves wealth creators.

[Steve_claret]

They were useless well before the pandemic so don't let them use that as an excuse.

[heapsy]

I know of several people from Manchester mail centre, one I actually know personally, who haven't got their NRA60 pensions. Complete shambles. As I've said before, people need to get on the backs of their MPs. Lobby the pensions Minister and generally kick off. A media campaign might be worth starting.

[fly-catchers]

More bad press for Capita!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09mr819

[Steve_claret]

I know of several people from Manchester mail centre, one I actually know personally, who haven't got their NRA60 pensions. Complete shambles. As I've said before, people need to get on the backs of their MPs. Lobby the pensions Minister and generally kick off. A media campaign might be worth starting.

My NRA60 pension was paid 3 months late last year. Not a major disaster to me as I am still working and don't rely on it but it was a massive inconvenience at the time having to keep pushing them every step of the way. I can fully understand people who are not pension savvy struggling to get to grips with Capitas incompetence but under no circumstances should you not get paid what you are rightfully due.

[TheStrangler]

Worse still , I can't even log on to their site now to check my details!

[Aquarius]

How much of a saving is there from Capita compared to having everything under one roof run by RM pensions service - the Gov wanted to save taxpayer money but have just created an additional mess

[RobertT]

How much of a saving is there from Capita compared to having everything under one roof run by RM pensions service - the Gov wanted to save taxpayer money but have just created an additional mess

Savings of £1.3 Million per year: viewtopic.php?p=820465#p820465