Public sector recruiter the Capita Group has acquired Cedar HR Software for £15m on a debt free, cash free basis.

Cedar, which provides HR management software to UK policing, will become part of Capita’s secure information services business.

Cedar made a pro forma operating profit for its financial year to 28 February 2011 of £2m on turnover of £6.2m.

Andy Parker, joint chief operating officer of the Capita Group says: “This acquisition adds both innovation and breadth to our solutions for police forces. It will allow us to offer a full, end to end, back office solution integrating payroll, rostering and scheduling, finance and procurement; in essence a platform for transformation in what is an important new market for Capita.

“Given the challenges the sector faces, we believe our offering will provide police forces with real opportunities to drive down costs, improve services to citizens and accelerate their transformational journey.”