Aim of departure is to 'refresh relations with central government' after company was accused of overcharging taxpayers
The UK boss of Serco has left the troubled outsourcing company as it tries to rebuild relations with the government, which has accused it of overcharging taxpayers.
The embattled group announced on Thursday that Jeremy Stafford, the head of UK and western Europe since March last year, had left with immediate effect. Stafford's departure follows the shock resignation last month of the group chief executive, Chris Hyman.
Stafford told MPs in April that Serco makes about £2.4bn a year from its work for the UK public sector, which includes running prisons, medical services, railways and defence contracts. The government is its biggest customer and provides about a quarter of total revenues.
The company's reputation has been battered since 10 July when the government accused it and rival outsourcer G4S of charging to electronically tag offenders who were in fact dead or in prison. The Cabinet Office has barred both companies from bidding for new state contracts while it reviews their operations and has ordered them to clean up their businesses.
In a statement, Serco said: "For the last four months Serco has been working hard to refresh its relationship with central government in the UK. As a result, Serco and Jeremy Stafford … have concluded that a change in the senior leadership of our UK & Europe division would accelerate and consolidate that process."
The scandal has battered Serco's financial performance and share price. It issued a warning to investors last week, admitting that profits would be hit for the next two years. Serco's shares have fallen by more than a third since the government made its accusations, and it was ejected from the FTSE100 in September.
The Serious Fraud Office announced earlier this year that it had opened a criminal investigation into the tagging affair. The Guardian also revealed that Serco falsified data when reporting its performance on an NHS contract in Cornwall. Serco had undercut the local GP co-operative, but then left the county short of GPs.
Stafford has been on leave since the start of October. A spokesman declined to comment on the reason for his absence or whether he had been in to work before deciding to quit. Serco is now left looking for a permanent group chief executive and with a stand-in running its biggest division. Andrew White, chief operating officer of the UK business, will take over from Stafford for the time being.
To complicate matters further, the company is splitting the UK arm into central government work and other UK services including for the private sector and local government. It has pledged to appoint a boss for the central government division from outside the company.
The Serco spokesman declined to comment on whether Stafford would get a pay-off. If he is paid a year's notice he will receive £325,000. He revealed the figure to MPs in April and said his target bonus was 50% of salary.
Stafford joined Serco in 2009 and rose quickly through the ranks to head its most important business within three years. Before arriving at Serco he worked for an information technology company and spent 15 years at BT.
Serco and G4S have now both lost their group and UK bosses in the last six months.
Nick Buckles, G4S's former chief executive, who was already under pressure over botched security for the London Olympics, left in May, soon after the government's concerns over tagging first emerged, and G4S's UK chief quit last month.
A Cabinet Office spokesman declined to say whether the government had discussed Stafford's departure with Serco. When Hyman left, the government said it approved of his departure. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said recently he wants Serco and G4S to recover so that they can carry out government work. Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
The UK boss of Serco has left the troubled outsourcing company as it tries to rebuild relations with the government, which has accused it of overcharging taxpayers.
The embattled group announced on Thursday that Jeremy Stafford, the head of UK and western Europe since March last year, had left with immediate effect. Stafford's departure follows the shock resignation last month of the group chief executive, Chris Hyman.
Stafford told MPs in April that Serco makes about £2.4bn a year from its work for the UK public sector, which includes running prisons, medical services, railways and defence contracts. The government is its biggest customer and provides about a quarter of total revenues.
The company's reputation has been battered since 10 July when the government accused it and rival outsourcer G4S of charging to electronically tag offenders who were in fact dead or in prison. The Cabinet Office has barred both companies from bidding for new state contracts while it reviews their operations and has ordered them to clean up their businesses.
In a statement, Serco said: "For the last four months Serco has been working hard to refresh its relationship with central government in the UK. As a result, Serco and Jeremy Stafford … have concluded that a change in the senior leadership of our UK & Europe division would accelerate and consolidate that process."
The scandal has battered Serco's financial performance and share price. It issued a warning to investors last week, admitting that profits would be hit for the next two years. Serco's shares have fallen by more than a third since the government made its accusations, and it was ejected from the FTSE100 in September.
The Serious Fraud Office announced earlier this year that it had opened a criminal investigation into the tagging affair. The Guardian also revealed that Serco falsified data when reporting its performance on an NHS contract in Cornwall. Serco had undercut the local GP co-operative, but then left the county short of GPs.
Stafford has been on leave since the start of October. A spokesman declined to comment on the reason for his absence or whether he had been in to work before deciding to quit. Serco is now left looking for a permanent group chief executive and with a stand-in running its biggest division. Andrew White, chief operating officer of the UK business, will take over from Stafford for the time being.
To complicate matters further, the company is splitting the UK arm into central government work and other UK services including for the private sector and local government. It has pledged to appoint a boss for the central government division from outside the company.
The Serco spokesman declined to comment on whether Stafford would get a pay-off. If he is paid a year's notice he will receive £325,000. He revealed the figure to MPs in April and said his target bonus was 50% of salary.
Stafford joined Serco in 2009 and rose quickly through the ranks to head its most important business within three years. Before arriving at Serco he worked for an information technology company and spent 15 years at BT.
Serco and G4S have now both lost their group and UK bosses in the last six months.
Nick Buckles, G4S's former chief executive, who was already under pressure over botched security for the London Olympics, left in May, soon after the government's concerns over tagging first emerged, and G4S's UK chief quit last month.
A Cabinet Office spokesman declined to say whether the government had discussed Stafford's departure with Serco. When Hyman left, the government said it approved of his departure. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said recently he wants Serco and G4S to recover so that they can carry out government work. Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.