Capita Group

Capita Group Plc

Type	Public (LSE: CPI)
Founded	1984
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Eric Walters (Chairman) Paul Pindar (Chief Executive) Simon Pilling (Executive Director)
Industry	Business Process Outsourcing
Products	BPO & service transformation Back office administration Customer service Finance & treasury Claims & policy administration HR, staff support & training ICT & software Corporate services Advisory services Property & infrastructure Offshore/near shore solutions
Revenue	£2,441.4 million (2008)
Operating income	£320.9 million (2008)
Net income	£165.8 million (2008)
Employees	36,000 (2008)
Website	www.capita.co.uk

Capita (LSE: CPI) is a British company with its headquarters in London which specialises in business process outsourcing, having clients in central and local government, and in the private sector. It has had a full listing on the London Stock Exchange since 1991 and has been a member of the FTSE 100 since 2004 when it replaced GKN^[1].

History

Capita was formed in 1984 as a division of CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy). It became an independent company with 33 staff as a result of a management buy-out in 1987, and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1991.

In March 2006 Executive Chairman Rod Aldridge OBE resigned in the aftermath of claims that contracts awarded to the Group were influenced by his loan of £1 million to the Labour Party. Aldridge resigned saying that he denied the claims, but to avoid any lingering doubts about it, he was leaving the company. Aldridge is a life-long Labour supporter, and had overseen the company's growth from a small company in 1997 (when Labour came to power) to a FTSE 100 member in 2006.^[2]

In February 2007, a Capita office in Victoria, London was subject to a letter bomb attack. One person was injured.^[3]

On October 2nd 2009, Capita announced plans to move its main operations from London to Leeds.^[4][5][6]

Operations

Capita works across eight markets, being local government, central government, education, transport, health, life and pensions, insurance, and other private sector organisations (including financial services). Examples include television licence fee a contract won from the Post Office for the BBC; management of call centres for many government initiatives such as the London congestion charge (although this has recently transferred to IBM); and provision of IT services, including web hosting and helpdesk support, to many county and city councils, many LEAs, the Driving Standards Agency and the National Rail (NCCA).

Capita manage the Criminal Records Bureau for the Home Office. In 2002, when mandatory CRB-vetting of all workers with children was brought in, a large number of teachers were temporarily unable to work after Capita's systems had difficulty with the workload and were subsequently overwhelmed, meaning that the start of the academic year was delayed in places. Poor systems specifications and last-minute changes in government policy by the then Secretary of State for Education, Estelle Morris are believed to be major causes for these delays.^[7]

Capita Financial Administrators (CFA), was recently fined £300,000 for having poor anti-fraud controls by the Financial Services Authority.^[8]

With the impending change in the law that will allow commercial companies to offer legal services, Capita are now looking to get into this market with its formation of Optima Legal Services.^[9]

Capita also provide outsourced HR and Recruitment services for the BBC, though heavily criticised for transferring 260 jobs from London to Belfast^[10]. The contract came into effect on 1 April 2006.

Property, Engineering & infrastructure services are provided under the Capita Symonds brand.

Education services

• SIMS.net - Schools Information Management Software a Management information system used in 95% of primary and secondary schools across the country to record many aspects of student data.^[11] In March 2009, Capita SIMS was said to be responsible for sending a truancy warning notice to the family of a Cheshire school student who had died two months before.^[12]

• Individual Learning Account - A £290million scheme intended to give financial support to adult learners that was opened in 2000 and scrapped in 2001 following widespread and massive fraud.^[13]

• Connexions Card - A £109million scheme that involved issuing 16 to 19 year olds with smart cards that recorded their lesson attendance and rewarded them with discounts on consumer goods. It ran from 2002 until it was terminated in 2006 owing to lack of uptake.^[14]

• Education Maintenance Allowance for the Learning and Skills Council^[15]

Financial performance

The Company's results are as follows:

Media profile

Capita is a frequent target of the satirical magazine Private Eye due to its alleged record of incompetence and impropriety.^[16][17][18]

Senior management

Paul Pindar joined Capita in 1987, he has been chief executive since 1999. For this role he is paid £375,000 salary and £525,000 bonus, giving a total annual compensation of £900,000.^[19]

References

1. ^ "Capita set for return to FTSE 100". BBC News website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3788737.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
2. ^ "Capita boss quits over Blair loan". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4836024.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
3. ^ Woman hurt in letter bomb blast BBC News, February 2007
4. ^ Jobs boost as Capita looks North Yorkshire Post, 2 October 2009
5. ^ Capita Financial's London staff placed in consultation process FT Advisor, 30 September 2009
6. ^ FTSE 100 financial group in Yorkshire move The Business Desk, 2 October 2009
7. ^ "History of checks U-turns". BBC News website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2237173.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
8. ^ Capita Financial fined for Fraud accessed 26/05/06)
9. ^ Capita Annual Report 2006
10. ^ "Unions threaten strikes over BBC's HR outsourcing deal". Personnel Today website. http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2006/02/21/34048/unions-threaten-strikes-over-bbcs-hr-outsourcing-deal.html. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
11. ^ Supplier feels the hand of Becta Guardian, 4 October 2005
12. ^ Dead girl given truancy warning BBC News website, 25 March 2009
13. ^ Schools scandal hits Capita accessed 26/05/06
14. ^ Evaluation of Connexions Card
15. ^ Liberata axed from school grant contract IT Pro, 19 November 2008
16. ^ Workers Liberty
17. ^ Nanny knows best
18. ^ Why it is called...
19. ^ "Paul Pindar: Executive Profile & Biography". BusinessWeek. McGraw-Hill. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=2989726&ric=CPI.L. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 

Companies portal