Capita secures £31 million UK health contact centre contract amid pension scheme controversy
The UK government has awarded Capita a £31 million deal to build and run a public-health contact centre, despite ongoing criticism of its handling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s executive agency, the UK Health Security Agency, has selected Capita to deliver a Single Service Centre that will handle routine public-health communications and surge capacity in a pandemic-scale event. The initial £31 million contract runs for three years from November, with the potential to expand to £350 million if a COVID-like crisis occurs. This award comes despite severe criticism of Capita’s performance on the Civil Service Pension Scheme, where the company missed service-restoration deadlines and faces a £10 million payment hold.
Capita previously won a seven-year, £239 million pension-administration contract in November 2023, which remains under dispute and subject to independent audit. The new contact centre will use Capita Connect, a cloud-based platform built on Amazon Web Services, and will be delivered in partnership with US-based customer-experience firm Foundever under a framework with a maximum value of £157.5 million per supplier.
Why it matters
The contract places a contested outsourcer at the core of the UK's pandemic response infrastructure.
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