Was Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract a botch too far?

The government’s decision to terminate Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract exposed its error of judgement in relation to the botched civil service pension contract.

The Cabinet Office said it terminated Capita’s contract to administer the Royal Mail pension because of the outsourcing giant’s “failure to meet key delivery milestones”.

But this raises questions over Capita not meeting the same fate in relation to its botched takeover of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS).

In relation to the Royal Mail pension contract termination, Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds went further.

“Capita had an 18-month planning window to prepare for the transition,” he said. “They failed to deliver numerous milestones, including a failure to implement the required IT automation.

“The Cabinet Office repeatedly flagged delays in transition milestones,” said Thomas-Symonds.

The government had opportunities to be as decisive in relation to Capita’s takeover of the CSPS, but was not.