The UK government has admitted that retired civil servants have been seriously let down by the outsourcing of the Civil Service Pension Scheme to private firm Capita, with some pensioners and bereaved relatives waiting up to a year for payments. Thousands have faced financial hardship as a result, including a 98-year-old widow who nearly required a family bailout and a young widow forced onto universal credit (a UK state welfare benefit) after delays in receiving an £86,000 death-in-service payment. The Cabinet Office has now announced it is actively planning to bring the scheme back under government control, calling Capita's performance "completely unacceptable" after the company repeatedly missed recovery targets — a striking reversal for a £239m contract that was awarded despite Capita having previously lost pension contracts with Teachers' Pensions and the Royal Mail.