Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Ms R.F writes: I retired from the Civil Service in February, after 26 years.
I gave the required four months notice and claimed my pension, but so far I have received no payment and nothing to say when I will start receiving it.
I have been trying constantly to contact the pension scheme by phone and email, but without getting anywhere.
Tony Hetherington replies: The Civil Service pension scheme is financed by the taxpayer and by contributions deducted from civil servants’ pay. It is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, headed by Pat McFadden MP. But the Government contracted out the running of the scheme to MyCSP Ltd – and this is where things have gone badly wrong.
You told me you contacted MyCSP when your first pension payment failed to arrive, but nobody could help you. You then contacted Equiniti, the American-owned financial services firm behind MyCSP, but they simply put your call through to MyCSP again, which put you on hold, with no pension, no advice, and no explanation.
Man at the top: The Cabinet Office in Whitehall is headed by Pat McFadden MP
I think politicians should be held responsible for the failures of companies they hire to carry out what would at one time have been public services. So, armed with your signed authority allowing me to make enquiries on your behalf, I by-passed MyCSP and went straight to the Cabinet Office. Two days later, your pension arrived.
This was excellent, but what had gone wrong in the first place, I asked? Was four months not long enough to allow for the start of your pension? And whether it was or not, why was nobody able to explain what was going on?
The Cabinet Office, like MyCSP itself, failed to offer any explanation. Officials there seemed to think once you got your pension, you and I would lose interest. Wrong! This is not a one-off incident. Your experience is symptomatic of what can happen when the Government pays an outside contractor to do its job and fails to keep hold of the reins as the contractor goes off course.
Who says so? The Government’s own National Audit Office (NAO) says so. It opened an investigation after seeing a sharp rise in complaints from Civil Service pensioners. Last year there were over 4,800 complaints, with the NAO identifying repeated failures by MyCSP to start pension payments on time. Some pensioners were waiting for months. And a spot check last November on how long it took MyCSP’s contact centre to answer the phone showed on average callers were forced to wait 24 minutes.
The NAO concluded: ‘Cabinet Office has been unable to hold the current pension scheme administrator, MyCSP, accountable for when performance has fallen below agreed service levels or incentivise improvement through its contract.’
There was really little reason for MyCSP to up its game. The Government had already decided in 2023 it would dump it in favour of Capita – but there are already signs tomorrow’s mess will be no better than today’s. Capita was due to take over the pension scheme in December this year, earning itself £239million to run it for the next seven years.
But Capita has already missed three deadlines in its transition work, so the takeover has been pushed back to next March at the earliest. It does not look as if Civil Service pensioners can count on a future that is any brighter than today’s failures.
WE’RE WATCHING YOU
A former Nasa scientist is facing prison after pleading guilty to a £1 million investment fraud.
John Burford, 85, who now lives in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, owned and ran Financial Trading Strategies Ltd.
He had worked at Nasa on a team to send men to Mars before he became a trading adviser in the US – but he had never been authorised to offer advice or manage funds in the UK.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that he had recruited more than 100 investors to his VIP Traders’ Club, and made more than £1 million from them which he used for ‘living expenses’. The FCA said he ‘repeatedly lied to investors’ and ‘hid the full extent’ of his losses. In December 2023 it put his company on its list of unauthorised firms, but no action was taken.
Last August I warned Burford was still breaking the law, but he was not charged until April.
He pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a later date. He faces an unlimited fine, and between his unlicensed business and fraud charge could be handed 12 years.
The FCA said: ‘Burford fleeced unwitting investors to enrich his life – not theirs.’
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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