Kay Donald lost her husband Barry last September – but nearly nine months later, she says problems with his pension are stopping her from moving on. The 62-year-old, who has not received any payments since Barry's death, told BBC Scotland she feels the company “don’t seem to care”. Her family is among thousands experiencing delays after outsourcing firm Capita took over administration of the civil service pension scheme.
Barry Donald died suddenly just a week before the couple’s 34th wedding anniversary. Kay had been watching TV at their home in Glasgow while Barry was doing DIY in the hall. When she went to bed, she found her husband lying dead behind the front door. She tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. Barry, 63, had worked at Social Security Scotland for the last five years, and before that spent 26 years at Asda.
“Widow Kay Donald has received no pension payments nine months after her husband's death due to Capita delays.”
Kay said Barry’s employers were very helpful after his death, sending flowers and condolences – as well as the forms she needed to begin the process of accessing his pension. She sent these off in October, along with all the documentation asked for, but has still received nothing. “I have phoned umpteen times, I’ve emailed, I have written letters of complaint,” she said. “I’ve been constant with them, I’ve got my MSP onto them, I’ve got my solicitor onto them. It’s just very frustrating.”
Capita took over the Civil Service Pension Scheme – which has about 1.7 million members – in December last year, after winning the contract in 2023. BBC Scotland has previously highlighted how thousands of people have been unable to access their lump-sum payments or ongoing pension income due to problems with the company’s systems. Kay said Capita had asked her to send documents which were not required, and that the ongoing problems were preventing her from moving on.
“I have terrible days, but I have a lot of good days as well. But my terrible days tend to be with the pressure of having to chase this up again,” said Kay. “Or they’ve said they’ll escalate it to a manager, again, and it never happens and I never hear back from them other than to say: ‘Send me this, get me this’.” She felt she was being treated as if she were making a fraudulent claim. “I’m really not. It’s death in service. And they just don’t seem to care really. It’s like they’ve got no conscience at all. Nothing seems to be working. It’s distressing. It might just be they’re just overwhelmed…” Capita apologised for the “worry and frustration” being caused by delays and said it was working to establish normal service levels.