as lse srp industry government services founded 1929 headquarters hook hampshire england united kingdom key people sir roy gardner chairman rupert soames ceo revenue 3 177.0 million 2015 1 operating income 3.7 million 2015 1 net income 153.1 million 2015 1 number of employees 100 000 2015 2 website www.serco.com serco group plc is a british outsourcing company based in hook hampshire . 3 it operates public and private transport and traffic control aviation military weapons detention centres call centres prisons and schools on behalf of its customers . serco has been involved in a variety of controversies having a history of problems failures fatal errors and overcharging . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . serco operates in continental europe the middle east the asia pacific region and north america but the majority of its turnover comes from the uk . contents 1 history 2 uk operations 2.1 state security 2.2 transport 2.3 science 2.4 prisons and justice 2.5 defence 2.6 aviation 2.7 health 2.8 education 2.9 leisure 2.10 information technology 2.11 waste 3 outside the uk 3.1 drivers licensing 3.2 health in the united states 3.3 prisons and justice 3.4 transport 4 references 5 external links history edit serco was founded in 1929 as rca services limited a united kingdom division of the radio corporation of america and initially provided services to the cinema industry . 4 it changed its name to serco in 1987 and has been a london stock exchange listed company since 1988 . 4 on 29 december 2008 serco acquired si international . 5 in november 2014 its share price which stood at 674p before the taxpayer scandal broke in 2013 collapsed to 218.7 p after four profit warnings . the new chief executive rupert soames sold off scores of divisions . he said the company was suffering from ministers improved ability at driving a bargain and claimed that the government has got much more adept at writing contracts and transferring risk to the private sector . 6 on 17 november 2014 it was announced that alastair lyons would resign from his position as chairman of serco . 7 lyons referred to operational mis steps for which he took ultimate responsibility but said he had not been forced out . 8 serco made a loss of 991 million in 2014 reducing to a loss of 69.4 million in 2015 . 9 sir roy gardner was appointed as non executive chairman on 28 may 2015 he is also a senior adviser to credit suisse group ag . 10 uk operations edit state security edit serco as well as its rival g4s was accused of overcharging the ministry of justice on its contract to tag offenders . the firm issued a profit warning for 2014 as a result of the costs of becoming embroiled in an electronic tagging scandal . serco repaid 68.5 million to the government for its overcharging on the contract . 11 in may 2014 a survation poll for campaign group we own it found that 63 % of respondents thought serco should be banned from bidding for any new public contracts after the firm was investigated for overcharging on government contracts . 12 we own it held a protest outside the company s annual general meeting on 8 may called sick of serco . the group brought sick bags and proposed a public service users bill that would provide better more transparently run services . serco operates the national border targeting centre for uk visas and immigration and provides the carrier gateway the interface between carriers and the agency . 13 transport edit serco speed camera serco operates the santander cycles scheme 14 for transport for london and the northlink ferries northern isles lifeline ferry service in scotland . 15 serco also has a joint venture with abellio the international arm of dutch national rail operator nederlandse spoorwegen to operate passenger trains in the uk . serco abellio has a 25 year concession for merseyrail in liverpool until 2028 and operated the northern rail franchise from december 2004 until march 2016 . 16 serco s home affairs division run by tom riall also operates speed camera systems throughout the uk and designs writes and tests the software that controls the matrix message signs signals emergency roadside telephones sos and traffic monitoring on england s motorway network including the national traffic control centre . 17 it previously operated the docklands light railway . 18 on 31 march 2015 serco commenced a 15 year contract to operate the caledonian sleeper between london and scotland . 19 science edit serco managed the uk s national physical laboratory until 2015 20 and also provides it services industrial support and cryogenic operations support and maintenance at cern . 21 serco also was part of a consortium running the national nuclear laboratory under contract until october 2013 . 22 prisons and justice edit a serco van in britain serco supplies electronic tagging devices for offenders and asylum seekers . 23 it runs four prisons a young offenders institution and a secure training centre . 24 it has also operated two immigration removal centres since 2007 . 25 26 serco is also responsible for the contracted out court escort services in the south east area formerly a role undertaken by hm prison service . 27 in september 2013 serco was accused of extensive sexual abuse coverups of immigrants at yarl s wood immigration removal centre prison in bedfordshire england 28 in august 2014 serco was criticised for using immigrant detainees as cheap labour with some being paid as little as 1 per hour . 29 the decision to give the firm a new 70 million eight year contract to run yarl s wood has been criticised . natasha walter of women for refugee women said serco is clearly unfit to manage a centre where vulnerable women are held and it is unacceptable the government continues to entrust serco with the safety of women who are survivors of sexual violence . 30 defence edit serco held defence contracts in 2004 including the uk government s contract for the maintenance of the uk ballistic missile early warning system at raf fylingdales ; 31 contracts are also held for the operation and maintenance of raf brize norton 32 raf halton 33 and raf northolt 33 in the uk and raf ascension island in the mid atlantic . 33 serco also provides support services to garrisons in australia . 34 serco also manages many aspects of operations at the defence college of management and technology in shrivenham . 35 serco is one of three partners in the consortium which manages the atomic weapons establishment . 36 serco also has a 15 year contract worth 400 million to provide facilities management services to the defence science and technology laboratory dstl . 37 serco marine services is responsible for fleet support at the three main uk naval bases hmnb portsmouth hmnb devonport and hmnb clyde . 38 aviation edit serco provides air traffic control services at international airports in the united arab emirates 39 and at some smaller airports in the united states and canada . 40 41 starting in 2004 serco had a 5m a year contract from the us government to manage airports in iraq for 18 months . 42 serco also operate scatsta airport on shetland . 43 in june 2010 serco signed a 4 million contract to operate all air traffic control services for coventry airport . 44 health edit serco provide facilities management services at the norfolk and norwich university hospital 45 leicester royal infirmary 46 wishaw general hospital 47 and at plymouth s derriford hospital . 48 the company had the contract for out of hours gp services in cornwall from which it withdrew in december 2013 after the company left the county short of doctors . the company also said it would stop running braintree hospital in essex as it pulled out of managing gp services and large hospitals . 49 in health services serco s difficulties include the poor handling of pathology labs and fatal errors in patient records . at st thomas hospital the increase in the number of clinical incidents arising from serco non clinical management has resulted in patients receiving incorrect and infected blood as well as patients suffering kidney damage due to serco providing incorrect data used for medical calculations . 50 a serco employee later revealed that the company had falsified 252 reports to the national health service regarding serco health services in cornwall . 51 it emerged in november 2013 serco which won a contract for suffolk community healthcare in 2012 had 72 vacancies after earlier cutting 137 posts . problems identified by ipswich and east suffolk clinical commissioning group include staff capacity skill mix workload succession planning and morale training communication mobile working care co ordination centre processes incidents and near miss incidents . 52 in april 2014 serco revealed that it would lose almost 18 million on three of its nhs contracts . the firm has made provisions for losses in its braintree and cornwall contracts which were cancelled early . it has also made provisions for losses in its contract for services in suffolk . the company claims it will take longer to deliver the operational efficiencies it hoped for despite saying in may 2013 that it expected to make a profit on the three year 140 million contract for community services . 53 it said that staff had not recorded activity accurately on the electronic health record and that activity had increased significantly during the course of the contract . 54 in august 2014 it was reported that the company had decided to withdraw from the clinical health services market in the uk after a review of the cost of delivering improved service levels and meeting the performance requirements of several existing contracts . 55 education edit serco held a ten year contract with bradford city council between 2001 and 2011 to manage and operate the local education authority 56 providing education support services to the city s schools . this period was marked with real problems according to senior council officials and was taken back in house by the local authority after this period . 57 serco similarly manages and operates walsall 58 and stoke on trent local education authorities . 59 serco is one of ofsted s three regional inspection service providers responsible for school inspections in the english midlands . 60 leisure edit serco operates a number of leisure centres across the uk including wet n wild and the manchester aquatics centre the aquatic venue for the 2002 commonwealth games in manchester . 61 information technology edit serco also administers a number of publicly funded websites in the uk including the business link website . 62 it presently runs the it infrastructure for the london borough of southwark winning the five year tender in 2007 . 63 waste edit serco operates waste collection services for local councils . 64 outside the uk edit drivers licensing edit serco through a purpose made division serco des holds a ten year 114 million contract with the province of ontario to operate the province s drivetest driver examination centres . these tests include vision road and knowledge tests for all persons seeking to become a licensed automobile driver in the province . 40 health in the united states edit in july 2013 serco was awarded a 1.25 billion contract to manage the implementation of the patient protection and affordable care act . 65 prisons and justice edit serco runs partly privatised h nfeld prison in hesse germany . 66 in australia serco runs acacia prison in western australia 67 and borallon correctional facility in queensland 68 as well as the national contract for immigration detention centres including christmas island and the villawood detention centre in sydney . 69 70 the union of christmas island workers highlighted the