11/07/2023

Wincanton Plc Pension Scheme - Important information about your personal data

Capita provide administration services to the Wincanton Plc Pension Scheme. This update is about the recently reported Capita cyber incident when there was unauthorised access to Capita systems.

We have been informed by Capita that this incident likely involves the disclosure of personal data of a number of our members. We have already provided more specific information to our members that we understand are likely to have been directly impacted by the incident.

We take the protection of our members’ information very seriously and we are working with Capita, the Pensions Regulator, and the appropriate law enforcement bodies to investigate this occurrence. We are also in communication with Capita as they continue their investigations to make sure they are doing everything possible to secure their systems and stop this from happening again.

We are sorry for any distress this news may cause you. We wanted to take this chance to reassure you that we’re working very closely with Capita to minimise the impact on our members, and if there’s anything more you need to do, we’ll write to you and let you know.  

In the meantime, we can provide some assistance in supporting you to protect your information.

Steps you can take to protect your identity

• Beware of pension scams. This website has additional information: www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/how-avoid-pension-scams.
• Check your bank statement for any unusual payments that you do not recognise or if payments you are expecting are not received.
• Undertake a credit report check for newly opened accounts or credit searches that you do not recognise.
• If you use online services or telephone banking, always use strong passwords and consider changing them all now. Try to keep passwords at least eight characters long and use numbers, upper case, lower case and symbols. Avoid using words which may relate back to you (for example family member names or dates of birth).
• Never give out personal details over the phone unless you are sure who you are speaking to.
• Be careful who you share your personal information with. If someone calls you, please call them back on a number you know is from a true source.
• If you think you have been a victim of fraud you should report it to Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, their telephone number is 0300 123 2040. Further support can be found on Cifas’ website: www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/i-want-help-or-advice-on-scams.

The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights. Its website is a good source of more information about how to protect your personal data online when using computers and other devices:

ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online.

You can also find helpful guidance on the National Cyber Security Centre’s website: www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/data-breaches.

We are very sorry again that this incident happened and we thank you for your patience as we continue to work on resolving it. If you would like further information, you can call the contact centre helpline on 0800 2294005 or 020 8629 5979 (UK local number to call from overseas).

The Trustee of the Wincanton Plc Pension Scheme