Capita will continue to run Primary Care Support England (PCSE) for another three years after agreeing an extension to its contract.
PCSE, which handles back-office functions for GPs such as administration of pensions and transfer of medical records, has been provided by the company Capita since 2015.
Today the provider of business process services announced a three-year extension of the contract and said that the first 18 months, beginning from September this year, will be worth £82.5m.
The BMA pensions committee said the extension was ‘extremely concerning’ since Capita’s handling of PCSE has ‘already inflicted serious damage’.
GPs have experienced numerous problems with Capita’s performance, such as delays with the processing of their pensions at the start of retirement, a data breach caused by a cyber-attack, and reports of ‘missing’ GP pension records.
According to Capita, the last 18 months of the three-year contract extension will be a ‘transition assistance period’, and it also referred to NHS England as its ‘successor body’.
However, when asked by Pulse if this meant that at the end of the three years all responsibilities would be transferred to NHS England, the company refused to respond.
Pulse has contacted NHS England for comment.
In 2022, Capita won a three-year extension until 31 August 2024 which was worth £94m. But following this, Pulse reported that NHS England was considering splitting up PCSE into separate units when the contract came up for re-procurement in 2025.
When taking on legal services to aid with this re-procurement, NHSE indicated that primary care support services may not be provided by a single company from 2025.
In a statement today, the company said: ‘Capita announces today it has agreed a three-year extension to continue to deliver the Primary Care Support England (PCSE) service on behalf of NHS England (NHSE), from 1 September 2025.
‘The first 18 months of the contract extension is worth £82.5 million and will be followed by a further 18-month transition assistance period.
‘Over the extension period, Capita will continue to work closely with NHSE, its successor body, and other stakeholders to find opportunities to further improve the service and maintain high standards of quality and delivery.’
BMA pensions committee deputy chair and GP pensions lead Dr Krishan Aggarwal pointed to a recent Freedom of Information response which found that over 18,000 GPs across England ‘do not currently have an up-to-date pension record’.
He added: ‘That’s not just an administrative issue; it’s a significant threat to their job planning, tax planning, retirement planning, financial security and their wellbeing.
‘Capita’s handling of PCSE has already inflicted serious damage – creating anxiety, stress, financial risk, and undermining confidence in the NHS pension.
‘The knock-on effects have been considerable, with many GPs reluctant to take on additional sessions or responsibilities, worried they could be penalised by unforeseen tax bills due to inaccurate or missing records.
‘This is a clear and sustained failure by Capita in delivering PCSE, and it is unacceptable that so many pension records remain in disarray.
‘The Government must now take urgent and direct action to ensure all GP pension records are made accurate and up to date, and to restore trust in a system that underpins the financial future of thousands of doctors. GPs deserve better than continued uncertainty and neglect.’
Capita chief executive officer Richard Holroyd said: ‘For the past decade we have delivered complex digital transformation projects, driven efficiencies and reduced costs for the NHS, as well as modernising primary care support services through the launch of the self-serve PCSE Online portal, which provides transparency, data validation and automation.’
A major Pulse investigation in 2022 revealed the scale of issues faced by GPs because of Capita’s poor administration.
They REALLY hate GPs don’t they?!