Serco shares crash as outsourcer loses role on nuclear weapons consortium November 2, 2020 Shares in Serco plummeted this morning after the outsourcing giant confirmed that the government had taken back management of its atomic weapons development facility. Shares dropped nearly 12 per cent as markets opened as traders digested the news. Yesterday Sky News reported that the government was due to announce that it would take over the [...]
Serco lifts annual outlook after Covid contract wins October 16, 2020 Serco (SRP) raised its full-year forecasts after contract extensions in the UK and cost-cutting measures boosted its third quarter results. In an unscheduled trading statement, the contractor said it had achieved strong revenue growth in the third quarter, with all regions performing better than expected. Serco said it had seen a strong performance in the [...]
Government paying test and trace consultants equivalent of £1.5m salary October 14, 2020 The UK government is paying some management consultants the equivalent of more than a million pounds a year to work on the coronavirus test and trace system that its own scientists have criticised. Some senior-ranking consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are being paid around £7,000 a day, Sky News reported. That would amount to [...]
Mitie-Interserve deal to face competition probe September 15, 2020 The UK’s competition watchdog today announced that it was launching an investigation into whether Mitie’s acquisition of fellow outsourcing giant Interserve’s facilities management business could damage competition. Back in June Mitie signed a £271m deal with its rival for the division, which will create a giant new entity with more than 80,000 employees. The move [...]
Three former G4S executives charged with multiple counts of fraud September 8, 2020 Three former executives of a division of outsourcing firm G4S have been charged with multiple offences in relation to a multi-year scheme to defraud the Ministry of Justice. Richard Morris, former managing director of G4S Care and Justice Services and two ex-directors of its electric monitoring – Mark Preston and James Jardine – appeared at [...]
Capita shares slide on coronavirus-triggered first-half loss August 18, 2020 Shares in outsourcer Capita fell more than 10 per cent today after it said it had fallen to a first-half loss because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The company said its turnaround planned had been torpedoed by the economic effects of the virus outbreak. Shares in Capita, which provides consulting and digital services [...]
NHS Test and Trace to cut 6,000 staff August 10, 2020 The government plans to cut 6,000 staff from the NHS Test and Trace scheme by the end of August, it said today. Those who are left — approximately 12,000 employees — will work alongside local public health teams to reach more people who could be infected and increase their contacts in communities. The tactic is [...]
Serco profit jumps on crisis demand but shares fall flat August 6, 2020 Outsourcing firm Serco said profit jumped 53 per cent in the first six months of the year, as demand for its services boomed during the coronavirus crisis. An additional need for the back office and IT services that Serco provides to the government offset the lack of demand for its transport and leisure services, the [...]
Test and trace programme breaks GDPR laws, government admits July 20, 2020 The NHS Test and Trace scheme that collects contact details of those who have been in close proximity to Covid-19 breaks data protection laws, the Department for Health and Social Care has admitted. Campaigners from the Open Rights Group (ORG) earlier this month threatened legal action against the department over claims the NHS programme has [...]
Coronavirus: NHS test and trace system fails to reach a quarter of cases July 2, 2020 A quarter of people in England testing positive with coronavirus is still not being reached by the government’s test and trace system, according to new figures. Figures from the Department of Health and Social Services show that only 75 per cent of the 6,183 people who tested positive for Covid-19, between 18 and 25 June, [...]