Britain’s Debate Over Outsourcing Services Heats Up
After decades of farming out government jobs, opposition to the idea is growing.
A sign with the name of liquidated British company Carillion is lowered after being taken down from a construction crane on a building site in the City of London on Jan. 23, 2018.
Photographer: Daniel Sorabji/AFP/Getty Images
Last New Year’s Eve, the U.K.’s Cabinet Office got an urgent request from Carillion Plc. The provider of critical services to the government needed an injection of as much as £350 million ($458 million) to avoid going under. Prime Minister Theresa May faced a lose-lose decision: Giving Carillion money would reward a company that had repeatedly misrepresented the dire state of its finances. But if she let it go down, hospital sheets might not be laundered, school kids could go hungry, and army barracks might not be swept.
May soon decided that with the disastrous optics of a bailout, there would be no cash for Carillion, and the company filed for liquidation on Jan. 15. The government had to scramble to find service personnel, almost 3,000 people lost their jobs, and 30,000 Carillion suppliers and subcontractors were left with £2 billion in unpaid bills.