Date: Wednesday 30th June 2010

Business process outsourcing (BPO) – broadly, the delivery of business functions by external agencies – is not a new phenomenon in the public sector. GPs, the mainstay of primary healthcare, have always been private operators contracted by the state. Many social care, drug treatment, local authority and prison services are provided by private and voluntary sector organisations, and in recent years outsourcing has expanded rapidly in fields such as back office functions, health, youth offending and support for the unemployed.

However, as the government’s efficiency drive gives way to real, substantial cuts in public budgets, departments may be set to move outsourcing to a whole new level. We are likely to see greater outsourcing both of back office functions – potentially including the administration of benefits, courts services and departmental corporate services – and even of frontline operations such as probation services.

Download the write-up of the discussion (PDF)

Last updated 681 days ago by Civil Service Live