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Share of top-supplier spend going to Capita, Serco, Veolia, Biffa and Amey
Share of published top-supplier spend going to Capita, Serco, Veolia, Biffa and Amey
1.1%
About £696.4m on these five companies, out of £66.2bn in total top-supplier spend that councils have published.
Spend and number of councils for each of the Big Five, added up from published top supplier lists.
How we got this: we add up each council’s published top supplier list, then match names that start with one of the Big Five (after taking off common endings like “Ltd” or “plc”). Only spend that has been published is included — the full contracting picture is bigger.
Many public services are run by the same group of private companies. This card adds up each council's top supplier list, then shows what share of that spend goes to five well-known outsourcers.
Only spend that appears in each council's published top supplier list is counted. The full outsourcing picture is bigger — councils have thousands of contracts that do not make the top list.
Capita, Serco, Veolia, Biffa and Amey are the five private suppliers most often named when people talk about English council outsourcing. They run back-office, waste, roads and building contracts for many councils. Picking the same five for every council gives a fair, like-for-like share.
No. Councils only publish their biggest suppliers, so the real total is higher. This card shows the minimum that has been published.