Capita Scoops £1.1bn New Contracts as Rivals G4S and Serco Suffer

Capita said it secured £1.1bn in new work at the beginning of 2014 as it cashes in on the damaged reputations of two of its major rival outsourcing firms, G4S and Serco.

In a statement, Capita announced that it had won contracts to carry out work for Transport for London, Scottish Wide Area Network, John Lewis and the Ministry of Defence.

Both G4S and Serco were caught up in the electronic tagging scandal in 2013. Allegations emerged that the pair had overcharged the Ministry of Justice on their contracts to carry out the tagging of offenders, such as by invoicing for work that had never been carried out.

That included charging for the tagging of dead or already incarcerated offenders.

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating both firms, which have repaid millions of pounds to the taxpayer and invested millions more in "corporate renewal" programmes to restructure management and refresh the culture.

Capita was called upon by the government towards the end of 2013 to take over both of the contracts.

There was a temporary ban on both G4S and Serco winning public contracts until March 2014, when the government said it was convinced that both had begun to make the necessary changes to their companies in order to restore trust.

As a result, Serco issued a profit warning because of lower sales. And G4S saw its profit dented by the tagging scandal costs.