Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have their (a) payroll and (ii) pensions managed by private limited company Shared Services Connected Ltd; what was the cost to the public purse of using this company in (i) 2020-21 (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23; and whether he plans to take steps to administer the payroll and pensions of all civil servants in-house.

Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) services are provided to approximately 260,000 civil servants across the Health and Safety Executive, Office for Nuclear Regulation, Ministry of Justice, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and Cabinet Office. SSCL costs for all Independent Shared Services Centre Two (ISSC2) departments in calendar year 2020 were £171m and for calendar year 2021 were £206m. This change was due to a surge of short term and catch up volumes as a result of the COVID pandemic and project start ups.

2022 calendar year costs have not yet been published. SSCL are contracted to perform as-is services until October 2025. Future service provision, beyond this date, is currently being considered for the whole of the civil service.

This system saves duplication of effort across government departments, enabling them to focus work and resources on the British people’s priorities.

The costs stated are for all services provided by SSCL which include HR, Finance, Recruitment and Procurement Services. Across all streams, they process approximately 6 million transactions per annum.