Widow 'distressed' by firm's nine-month delay to husband's pension

Kay Donald's husband Barry died suddenly almost nine months ago – but she says problems with his pension are stopping her from moving on.

Her family is among thousands who have experienced delays after outsourcing firm Capita took over administration of the civil service pension scheme.

Kay, who has not received any payments since Barry's death, says she has been left distressed and feels like those at the company "don't seem to care".

Capita apologised for the "worry and frustration" being caused by delays and said it was working to establish normal service levels.

Barry Donald died last October, just a week before the couple's 34th wedding anniversary.

Kay, 62, had been watching TV at the couple's home in Glasgow while Barry was doing some DIY in the hall.

When she went to bed, she found her husband lying dead behind the front door. She tried to resuscitate him but it was too late.

Barry, 63, had worked at Social Security Scotland – the government agency which manages devolved benefits - for the last five years.

Before that he spent 26 years working for Asda.

Kay said Barry's employers were very helpful after his death, sending flowers and condolences – as well as the forms she needed to begin the process of accessing his pension.

She sent these off in October, along with all the documentation which had been asked for – but has still not received anything.

"I have phoned umpteen times, I've emailed, I have written letters of complaint," she said.

"I've been constant with them, I've got my MSP onto them, I've got my solicitor onto them. It's just very frustrating."

Capita took over the Civil Service Pension Scheme - which has about 1.7 million members - in December last year, after winning the contract in 2023.

BBC Scotland has previously highlighted how thousands of people have been unable to access their lump-sum payments or ongoing pension income due to problems with the company's systems.

Kay said Capita had asked her to send documents which were not required.

And she said the ongoing problems were preventing her from moving on.

"I have terrible days, but I have a lot of good days as well. But my terrible days tend to be with the pressure of having to chase this up again," said Kay.

"Or they've said they'll escalate it to a manager, again, and it never happens and I never hear back from them other than to say: 'Send me this, get me this'.

Kay felt she was being treated like she was making a fraudulent claim.

"I'm really not," she said. "It's death in service. And they just don't seem to care really. It's like they've got no conscience at all.

"Nothing seems to be working. It's distressing.

"It might just be they're just overwhelmed, I don't know. But they're not as overwhelmed as we are as a family. We can't get moving on while this is still ongoing."

Kay is not the only person to have experienced problems with the pension process after a loved one's death.

Elaine Muirhead, from Bishopbriggs, was a grandmother who loved spending time with her family and grandchildren.

She loved her job with the government's employability service Fair Start Scotland, helping people to find suitable work and to develop their careers.

She died suddenly in early December last year at the age of 55.

Her family say their grief and upset was compounded by their attempts to settle Elaine's estate, principally her civil service pension.

Her daughter Rachel Shankland, 28, said she contacted Capita on numerous occasions.

She sent on the information which had been requested in late December, but when she phoned for an update was told that Capita would also require a letter of representation from a solicitor.

Rachel's lawyer was confused about why this would be needed. She called Capita again, and a different agent told her it was not required – and that they did not know why someone would have asked for it.

"This could have cost us solicitor and court fees for something that we did not need," said Rachel.

The family also received incorrect information about how to make a complaint and on another occasion were sent a form for another family with the same surname.

The family finally received a payout last Thursday, but with no paperwork to go along with it - and no sign of the ongoing pension payments due to Rachel's stepfather.

Capita officially took over the £239m contract to run the Civil Service Pension Scheme six months ago.

With more than 1.7 million members, the scheme is one of the largest in the UK.

The warnings proved to be correct.

Almost immediately after the takeover, scheme members began reporting problems with accessing the new online portal, long waits on the phone to speak to customer service advisers, and lump sum payments and ongoing pensions not being received.

People who had carefully planned their retirement, and had expected to clear mortgage debt or car finance, were left with no lump sum and no income.

Some were forced to take on jobs after retirement just to survive, while others chose to delay or defer retirement until the mess was closer to being resolved.

'Distressing and unacceptable'

Capita said it had inherited a backlog of more than 86,000 cases rather than the 37,000 it had expected. By early February, that backlog had risen to over 120,000 cases.

The UK government introduced a recovery plan in February. This included 150 government staff and 100 extra Capita staff being drafted in to prioritise the most urgent cases, and an emergency interest-free loan scheme.

Appearing before the public accounts committee that same month, Capita bosses apologised for the problems and promised to resolve urgent and sensitive cases by the end of March.

In April, Capita apologised following a data breach, where 138 members' details were accessible online.

The company's contract to run the Royal Mail pension scheme was terminated later that month.

Paymaster general Nick Symonds said Capita had failed to meet "critical transition milestones" and that there was "a lack of confidence in its ability to implement and transition to the new operating model in a timely fashion".

Symonds also criticised Capita's handling of the civil service pension scheme, saying it had "fallen far short of the required standard".

He said stories of members missing mortgage payments and falling into hardship were "distressing and entirely unacceptable".

"No-one should have to face such financial anxiety after a lifetime of dedicated public service," he added.

Capita said it was continuing to work with the Cabinet Office to establish normal service levels.

"Additional trained resource remains in place, and our focus is on ensuring members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme receive the service they expect and deserve," said a spokesperson.

"We are sorry for the worry and frustration these delays are causing."