Denise Alton, 68, has been forced to delay her retirement from the Civil Service after not being able find out how much was in her pension.
The training manager said she is “heartbroken” over the decision that means travel plans with her husband have been put on hold.
Current and former civil servants have been left facing “unacceptable” delays in receiving their pension payments after management of the employer’s pension scheme was transferred to a new administration last month.
Control of the scheme’s administration switched to Capita last month after the previous administrator, MyCSP, came under fire for poor service.
Denise, from Derby, is one such story, having worked for the government for over 50 years.
She described the whole ordeal as a “nightmare”.
Denise decided in August last year she wanted to retire at the end of January 2026 and was due to receive her pension quote from MyCSP in November but never did.
She said she spent countless hours waiting in telephone queues to speak to someone at Capita but was continuously told by staff that there was a backlog and a timescale of when she would receive her quote could not be given.
It meant she is not sure of how much she has in her pension and cannot plan adequately to retire without that information.
Denise’s husband also worked for the Civil Service and retired in December but still has not had his pension finalised by the administrators.
They both had to consider the highly likely possibility their retirement income would come from just her state pension in the meantime if neither of them were able to make progress with Capita.
“I therefore made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw my resignation to provide us with an income that will at least meet the bills.”
Denise and her husband, who was a fraud investigation officer, were looking forward to their retirement and spending more time with each other, family and friends, adding: “We will never get this time back.”
The couple had to put their travel plans on hold, with no clear timeline of when she may be able to retire.
“I have two choices, submit my resignation now and hope that when my pension is due Capita can pay it without delay,” she explained, calling it a “massive risk”.
“Or I wait until Capita are known to be able to pay pensions on time, and must then give four months’ notice of my resignation resulting in a depressing extension to my working life and loss of precious time with family and friends.
“Both options are unbearable to consider.”
‘I’m having sleepless nights’
Stuart Nicol, 58, from Edinburgh has also felt financially squeezed after retiring last year from working in the Scottish parliament after nearly 24 years.
In September, Stuart was given a pension quote from MyCSP, which did not have the correct name on it and did not have the correct pension amount quoted.
He was quoted nearly £2,000 less than what both his payslip and pension benefit statement from last year stated.
Stuart raised the issue with MyCSP, who told him to still complete and return all the relevant documentation needed to begin processing his pension.
After submitting these documents, Stuart then began to chase the company for updates but had no luck.
Once administration switched to Capita, Stuart registered for the pension portal and filled out an online query form, laying out his issues.
He spent over two hours on the phone to Capita before being told a time frame could not be given for when his pension will be paid.
He said: “My savings are now almost fully used up and I am fast approaching the stage where I require my pension to meet my mortgage payments and other monthly household bills.”
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Stuart described the “sleepless nights” him and his wife have been having due to a lack of any timeline or communication from Capita.
“We are having to make financial decisions that are less than favourable, like starting a claim on a different, smaller pension that I had wanted to preserve until I am 60 just to get some income from April this year and having to using offset mortgage savings just to meet household bills,” he said.
Stuart contacted his local MP who received a response from Capita stating his lump sum would be released today but a timeline for finalising his pension benefits could not be given.
The email said: “Once this matter has been resolved, we will contact Stuart directly under separate cover and issue him with a finalisation statement confirming his entitlement within the scheme.
“We will also ensure that his monthly pension payments are finalised and that any arrears of pension are released.”
Stuart is feeling a slight sense of relief as the lump sum payment would take the immediate pressure off his financial situation.
Other former civil servants also cited a lack of clear communication from Capita, with many stating they were never told the pension scheme was to be transferred to a new provider.
“I only discovered [the switch] when one of my former colleagues decided to retire and tried to access the pension website, only to find that it no longer existed,” a retired civil servant said.
A spokesperson for Capita said: “At the time of contract signature, the volume of work in progress items left by the previous provider was agreed to be 37,000. Once we took over the scheme in December, however, we discovered that the backlog we were inheriting was in fact 86,000. As a result, we have experienced several times the normal volume of member queries since launch.
“Capita has over 500 full-time employees working to deliver the Civil Service Pension Scheme, an increase of 50 per cent on the previous provider. Since the start of December, payments of over £747m have been made. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our members.”
MyCSP has been contacted for comment.
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