Steria Recruitment named as preferred bidder in £500m Civil Service offshoring deal
17 September 2013
Steria Recruitment has been named as the preferred bidder for a controversial deal that could see more than 1,000 Whitehall civil servants have their jobs offshored outside the UK.
Tue, 17 Sep 2013Steria has been named as the preferred bidder for a controversial deal that could see more than 1,000 Whitehall civil servants have their jobs offshored outside the UK.
According to the Financial Times, the deal which is aimed at shrinking the cost of central government will result in 1,200 back-office staff in three government departments – Work and Pensions, the Environment Agency, and Food and Rural Affairs – being transferred to a new company, called SSC.
This will be 75% owned by Steria, and 25% by the UK government. According to the FT, the contract is worth £500m over 10 years.
In a statement, Steria tells Recruiter: “Steria is pleased to have been selected by the Cabinet Office as preferred bidder to be their private sector partner in the Independent Shared Services Connected Joint Venture.
“This does not mean that a contract has been awarded and therefore it would not be appropriate for us to comment further while negotiations continue and details remain confidential for commercial reasons. An announcement will be made in due course.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson tells Recruiter: “The Civil Service is moving to be faster, smaller and more unified, and sharing services is a central part of this. The Next Generation Shared Services Strategy sets out a new model to share HR, procurement, finance and payroll functions with five centres instead of the current eight in order to deliver more efficient and cost-effective services.”
The main civil service union, The Public and Commercial Services Union, has expressed its opposition to the deal.
According to the Financial Times, the deal which is aimed at shrinking the cost of central government will result in 1,200 back-office staff in three government departments – Work and Pensions, the Environment Agency, and Food and Rural Affairs – being transferred to a new company, called SSC.
This will be 75% owned by Steria, and 25% by the UK government. According to the FT, the contract is worth £500m over 10 years.
In a statement, Steria tells Recruiter: “Steria is pleased to have been selected by the Cabinet Office as preferred bidder to be their private sector partner in the Independent Shared Services Connected Joint Venture.
“This does not mean that a contract has been awarded and therefore it would not be appropriate for us to comment further while negotiations continue and details remain confidential for commercial reasons. An announcement will be made in due course.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson tells Recruiter: “The Civil Service is moving to be faster, smaller and more unified, and sharing services is a central part of this. The Next Generation Shared Services Strategy sets out a new model to share HR, procurement, finance and payroll functions with five centres instead of the current eight in order to deliver more efficient and cost-effective services.”
The main civil service union, The Public and Commercial Services Union, has expressed its opposition to the deal.
