Capita handed vital role in next pandemic despite civil service pension failures

Despite the outcry over Capita's performance on the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), the UK government has awarded the beleaguered outsourcer a £31 million contract to build a public health contact center that could be called upon during another pandemic.

The government estimates that a COVID-scale emergency could increase the center's total workload to £350 million.

Capita announced its contract with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care – to build and operate its Single Service Centre (SSC), an omnichannel contact center supporting the agency and other organizations.

Due to begin in November, the deal has an initial three-year term.

The award comes despite fierce criticism of Capita's performance running the CSPS.

Its began administering the scheme in December last year, after which The Register exclusively revealed problems with its online systems.

By March, it was clear the service was seriously failing, leaving some retired civil servants struggling to make ends meet.

Capita won the seven-year, £239 million contract to oversee the CSPS in November 2023.

The UK government has withheld £10 million in payments following the disastrous transfer of CSPS administration to Capita.

It remains in dispute with the outsourcer over further payment reductions and has called in an independent auditor.

In June, Capita missed a deadline to restore services to the required standard.

The following month, it told MPs that service would return to normal for all but the most complex cases by September.

UKHSA emerged from Public Health England in 2021 following criticism of its early handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

UKHSA plans for the SSC to handle routine public health services while being able to scale up during future health emergencies and other national incidents.