Ann Davies

Diolch yn fawr, Ms Lewell; it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I thank the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing the debate. My corner of west Wales, Caerfyrddin, is no different. Multiple constituents have come to me with unacceptable experiences of trying to access their civil service pensions, as administered by Capita. Among them is Steve Dawkins, who retired this month after 24 years as a civil servant. Steve followed all the procedures and submitted his formal notice of retirement, but he has not received a formal acknowledgment of his pension claim, nor an indication of when his lump sum or monthly pension payments might be expected. His salary has stopped and he is not eligible for his state pension until September. I have sent a letter to Capita, outlining Steve’s case and urging action. I have had an acknowledgment but no action. Rhiannon Davies-Laughlin, another constituent, has contacted Capita multiple times to request pension details but has not received a response. She also requested an annual benefit statement and was told to wait to hear within 10 days. She never did. She had to resign from her job and was due to finish work yesterday. She was intending to retire, but still does not know her pension position. I have written to Capita; I have not received a response. We could go on to talk about many more cases, but we will finish with Sarah Rees. Last February, Sarah applied to receive her pension early because of ill health. That application was lost. The situation was similar to what the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) described. Sarah submitted the application again in July, and in November she was told that all the necessary paperwork had been received, but she did not hear back until last week. When I raised Sarah’s case during a business statement, it seemed to catch Capita’s attention, as Sarah has finally received a response, and a lump sum. But the sum was miscalculated, so I have had to write to Capita again, and you have guessed it: no response. This is just not good enough. It is inexcusable that more than 8,000 people who retired more than 12 months ago still have not received their pension payments. Retired and retiring civil servants left in this position should seek, and have, compensation. I join the PCS Union’s call for a bespoke compensation scheme that takes account of interest on overdue payments and the financial implications of delays, as well as the distress that this scandal has caused them. I urge the Minister and the Department, once the backlog of 90,000 cases is rectified, all pension payments have been issued and a compensation scheme has been set up, to act on the Public Accounts Committee’s report and consider bringing civil servants’ pensions back in-house to help prevent such a scandal from ever happening again.