public sector
After CEO promised 'flagship use-case' for AI, retired scheme members still struggling to make ends meet, MPs hear
The UK government has withheld £10 million in payments to tech and business process outsourcing biz Capita following the disastrous takeover of the Civil Service pensions scheme (CSPS). The penalties (£9.9 million) in the £239 million contract relate to the transition from the earlier scheme provider to the Capita service. Since the service went live in December last year, Capita has continued to miss the majority of its KPIs and is locked in a dispute with the government over further penalties, MPs heard yesterday. The outsourcing giant apologized for its performance to MPs in the meeting, which can be viewed here. Capita had promised to use AI to help automate the administration of the 1.7-million member pensions scheme. But after The Register revealed its troubled launch in December last year, the performance has continued to hit the lives of civil servants waiting for their pensions, some of whom have been “left struggling to make ends meet at a pivotable point in their life, causing them significant distress and anxiety,” according to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.
