London, UK-based Capita plans to locate the work in Belfast and take on 260 of the BBC’s HR personnel and create 100 new jobs. Capita will provide services including payroll, recruitment and staff development to the BBC’s 25,500 employees and the contract will become operational in April this year, though it has yet to be signed. Capita said that the BBC expects to save over 50m pounds ($87m) over the life of the deal.
The BBC’s choice of Capita is a blow to the other two companies on the shortlist, Accenture and Xchanging. While Xchanging has not won a major HRO deal since BAE Systems in 2001, Accenture has experience in transforming the HR of UK public institutions through its work with BT Group since 2000, and has a number of major commercial sector HRO clients. Capita won out on its extensive UK public sector experience, and its broad range of HR services, which are provided by 2,200 HR professionals.
