Outsourcing services could help UK government save over £22 bn annually: study

24 Sep 2012

The UK government could save over £22 billion a year as it maintained standards by outsourcing public services, a research commissioned by the apex trade body Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed.

The government stood to save £22.6 billion by outsourcing more public sector services, research by Oxford Economics, reveals.

According to the research, the savings could come without hurting quality, with the opening up of more services to private sector competition.

According to CBI director, John Cridland, most public services were still state monopolised and it was time to open some of them to competition.

He cited school dinners and asked whether it was really necessary for three-quarters of all UK schools to be worrying about catering.

The report also claimed that 98 per cent of the management of social housing, and 86 per cent of prison management, was still being provided by the public sector rather than being contracted out to private sector firms.