Anneliese Midgley MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Apr 2026 · Pension Schemes · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s statement, especially the news of the termination of the Royal Mail pension scheme contract to Capita. As he knows, Capita’s management of the civil service pension scheme has been an absolute shambles. I have constituents who cannot meet their mortgage payments, are having to defer their retirements and are not receiving the compensation they deserve. This is one in a very long list of failures, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) outlined. Can the Minister explain why we keep awarding contracts to Capita, how it represents value for money for the taxpayer and how we are meeting our manifesto commitment of the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation?

• 19 Mar 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Capita’s management of the civil service pension scheme—the latest in a string of failures—is a total disaster. My constituents are dealing with errors and delays, and are struggling to make ends meet, yet we are rewarding Capita by handing it another multimillion-pound contract. Can we have a debate about preventing repeated awards to failing contractors, and upholding Labour’s manifesto commitment to the biggest insourcing programme in a generation?

• 4 Feb 2026 · Civil Service Pension Scheme: Administration · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. As so many colleagues have said, at the heart of this debate are people who have worked as public servants, many of them for decades. Everything that I am getting in my mailbox relates to hard-working people who have tried to do the right thing—it is just not fair, is it? I have constituents who are afraid of losing their homes because they cannot pay their mortgages, their credit card bills, or their electricity and gas bills. But herein lies a bigger issue, I think. It is on stuff like this that the public have lost faith in us, because it is not the first time that something like this has happened. There needs to be accountability. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson) said, Capita has a record of incompetence and crisis under its belt, including on public service pensions, so why was it awarded this contract? What advice was given to Tory Ministers, and by which officials, when the contract was awarded? What commitments has Capita given this Government about resources to clear the backlog, and what firm timelines has it given for that? Crucially, what will be the consequences if it does not hit those targets? Will it just get away with it, with a fine, a slap on the wrist or maybe a newspaper story? If this is not already failure, what constitutes failure? As I said at the start, at the heart of this situation are people’s lives. If the Government do not get to grips with it, we will be back here again, as my right hon. Friend said, and I can foresee an ITV series starring Toby Jones in a few years’ time. I thank the Government for the sticking plaster in the form of loans for those who need them most, but the taxpayer is once again stepping in because of failure, incompetence and maladministration. I urge the Cabinet Office to do the right thing and make sure that everything is done for people who have worked hard all their lives so that they get their pensions paid.