Campaign to secure payments from Capita could see up to £400,000 awarded

 

Members of Unite who were former MoD firefighters have started receiving pensions and lump sum payments from Capita after the union took on the outsourcing giant.

 

Earlier this year Unite revealed how retired firefighters, who were responsible for tackling blazes on military bases, have been unable to access their full pension due to “numerous” blunders by the outsourcing group Capita.

 

Capita  has been recently awarded a 10 year contract to run the entirety of the civil service pension scheme, which has 1.6 million members. It is due to take over administration of the scheme in 2025 as part of its wider civil service pensions contract.

 

Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “It beggars belief that Capita, a company that has been shown to have bungled the management of pensions for 700 hard working firefighters, has now been rewarded with a green light to take over running all the pensions in the civil service next year.

 

“I'm delighted our members have got the money they are owed for a lifetime of service but this demonstrates what happens when outsourcing and cost-cutting are valued above people’s welfare.”

 

Capita won a £525m contract to run the Ministry of Defence’s fire and rescue service in 2019, renaming it the Defence Fire and Rescue Project (DFRP) after the privatisation.

 

Since then, some retired workers from the service and spouses of deceased pensioners have complained that their benefits have been miscalculated, reducing their payments, while others have been left waiting up to eight months for money they were owed. In some extreme cases workers were left without any pension payments.

 

Since Unite took up the fight our members are now starting to be paid their pension and lump sum with back dated payments. Due to delays some have received thousands of pounds in additional back payments while others have been compensated by Capita due to a Cabinet Office investigation finding Capita liable for the errors.

 

The compensation doesn’t affect their ability to seek further compensation and Unite members can contact the Pensions Ombudsman by forwarding the Cabinet Office findings and request they review it. 

 

Unite has 219 members who are getting their pensions corrected with the potential for over £400,000 being awarded after Unite's campaign to get members what they were rightfully owed.

 

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