Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Outsourcing firm Interserve in rescue talks.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...-new-contracts

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Capita next...

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

If the foundations are made of sand rather then hard rock the outcome is pretty predictable.

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

I fear that may be wishful thinking. I wonder who would employ a knuckle dragging TVL Bozo?

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

I think that we as a society are overcomplicating things because it appears cheaper. I say appears because if you look purely at normal outgoings , it is cheaper, but most people don't bother the factor in the costs of either not having the work done, or employing people (or a competing company) if the company providing your service goes t*ts up. It's also introducing more stuff to potentially go wrong.

For example, a school has a need for cleaning staff. These staff are a fixed cost, and will need storage space and equipment, all of which must be budgeted for. OK, so an outside cleaning firm will provide their own equipment, their own staff if the staff are based centrally, can service several schools with the same equipment and staff. Fair enough. That is cheaper. What if the company goes bankrupt? The school still needs cleaning, and it's unlikely the school will have the budget required for cleaners and equipment, even if they have the space required for storage. At least if the school goes bankrupt, they won't need any cleaners anyway.

I work in IT, and we are doing the same with systems, except it's worse because when you outsource a company critical system, you introduce not only the potential problems of what happens if the company hosting your critical system(s) goes bankrupt, but also miles of communications infrastructure than can go wrong, potentially taking out important systems for days. Most companies are unlikely to survive long without their critical IT systems.

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

The problem with outsourcing (especially IT) is that people think they are discharging the responsibility and oversight of the work being done, when in fact they are only outsourcing the transactional element of the work.

When it goes wrong, it’s still their responsibility, not the outsourcers (although the outsourcer gets the blame/a good kicking).

You can’t outsource a problem, it just ends up costing you more in the end.

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

And it seems HMG has not learned anything from the Carillion collapse at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ing-unions-say

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Makes you wonder how much the 'backhander' was . . and who to ;)

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Being a intelligent man l will leave that to your imagination.;)

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Well no one in Whitehall apparently reads Private Eye because if they did maybe,possibly they could count up how many times Carillion,GS4 and Capita have appeared for providing seriously poor service over and over and over again. So one has to wonder just who does benefit from this government/civil service inability to find anyone remotely good at the jobs provided.

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

3 months on and the dance continues . . Interserve: Key UK contractor faces crunch vote on rescue plan

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47575123


General Secretary of the RMT Union, Mick Cash, said bringing the contracts in-house would "avoid a repeat of the Carillion chaos."

"‎Once again we see the reality of bandit capitalism and its toxic impact on our public services. The time has come to end this obsession with the private sector speculators and return to the principles of public services run and owned by the public, free from this corrosive nonsense," he said.

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

No surprise at all sadly Carth.:rolleyes:

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Yep, I sometimes wonder about the people that 'invest' in these things . . and whos money they are investing.

I hope it isn't part of my pension plan that's going down that hole . .

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

The die is cast now...

https://www.theguardian.com/business...deal?CMP=fb_gu

Re: Carillion Crisis
 

Interserve given 'public contracts worth £660m in run-up to collapse'

https://www.theguardian.com/business...up-to-collapse