Wednesday, March 31, 2010

What exactly is Serco?

Serco is one of a new breed of company that could be termed a ‘public sector corporation’ as approximately 98% of its turnover and revenue are derived from contracts outsourced by public bodies. These projects include operating speed cameras, electronically tagging offenders and running the Manchester Metrolink. Serco has governmental links at the highest level.ii It is involved in controversial PFIschemes, and has PFI, PPP and joint venture contracts with the MoD, Home Office and Department of Transport. It even runs airports in Iraq for the US and has counter-terrorist contracts including detecting radiological substances coming into the UK. Serco’s revenue in 2005 was £2.26bn, up 38% from the previous year, with profit before tax up 28.5%.