A retired civil servant says he may be forced back into full-time work after being ordered to return £25,000 in pension overpayments that he received due to an administrative mistake dating back more than a decade. Derek Ritchie, 63, was told in March that his civil service pension had been miscalculated since 2014 and that he must repay the full amount, either upfront or through instalments. The notification came with an apology but no detailed explanation, and three months later he was threatened with legal action if he did not begin repayments.
Ritchie, whose name has been changed, said the sudden demand left him in financial and emotional distress. He was prescribed medication for depression and anxiety following the notification. “Over the last 11 years I’ve made decisions and plans based on the figures I was given,” he said. “I shall have to go back to work for years to pay this off.”
Wider Errors
Ritchie is one of hundreds of civil servants who have been told to repay overpayments caused by long-standing administrative errors. Some former staff have received demands to repay six-figure sums. The Public and Commercial Services Union said these failings show the risks of outsourcing pension management, calling for administration to return under direct government control.
MyCSP, the private company previously running civil service pensions, admitted in 2019 that it was trying to recover £2.7m from more than 2,000 pensioners after errors were uncovered. Ritchie’s case, however, was not identified at the time, and his overpayments increased from about £200 a year to as much as £4,000.
Income Cuts
Ritchie’s pension income has already been reduced by 13% a month. MyCSP told him an additional 15% would be deducted under a repayment plan. Pension schemes are legally required to recover overpayments even when members accepted them in good faith, although repayments may be reduced if severe hardship can be demonstrated.
Ritchie said the inflated pension estimate led him to take early retirement in 2014 when redundancy was offered at the Ministry of Defence. He has worked part-time since then and planned to retire fully in 2027. “I might have made very different financial decisions had I known,” he said.
Government Response
The Cabinet Office said it sympathised with Ritchie but must recover public money paid out in error. A spokesperson said the department applies guidelines designed to recover funds “with flexibility and the least burden possible.”
In October, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee criticised the Cabinet Office for poor oversight and described MyCSP’s performance as “unacceptable.” The report also raised concerns about transferring the £239m pension administration contract to Capita, suggesting the service may be better run in-house. Capita took over this week, amid wider scrutiny of its work on Teachers’ Pensions.
Capita said it brings improved technology, including AI tools, and decades of pension experience to modernise the service.
Unresolved Questions
Ritchie said he still has not been told how the miscalculation occurred and has no assurance that the revised figures are correct. “Government rules say a member should be put back in the position they would have been in had the error not occurred,” he said. “Unless they can give me back the last 11 years, they’ve left me in a nightmare with no way out.”
