Serco Group plc is a British multinational defence, health, space, justice, migration, customer services, and transport company.

[5] The company operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and Hong Kong, and North America.

[8] Serco underwent a corporate renewal programme during the 2010s, created in collaboration with the United Kingdom government, which overhauled the management of contracts and commercial auditing.

In 1960, it was awarded the contract to design, install, and maintain the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, including ongoing facility management such as cleaning, transport, and logistical stores.

"[13] During 1984, RCA Services was awarded the Ministry of Defence's first outsourcing contract, under which it managed warehousing using the knowledge of staff who had completed similar work at RAF Flyingdales.

[10] By 1990s, Serco had expanded from the United Kingdom and Europe, developing a global presence with major activities in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

[13] Soames stated that Serco was suffering from ministers’ improved ability at driving a bargain, and claimed that "the Government has got much more adept at writing contracts and transferring risk to the private sector".

[24] In August 2022, Serco announced that it would distribute £9 million in one-off payments to about 45,000 non-management staff as the firm lifted its profit guidance and dividend;[25] this amount equated to around £200 for each of its 45,000 workers.

[28] The MoD extended Serco's contract in October 2022 for a further three years, under which the company provides maintenance, repair, and operational services for the radar in Yorkshire, England.

[36] Serco is a major subcontractor to Airbus Defence and Space on the Skynet military communications satellites under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract.

[38] In November 2022, the MoD awarded Serco a £200 million follow-on contract, lasting 27 months, to provide marine services for the Royal Navy.

During December 2022, Serco signed a three-year contract extension valued at £50 million to continue maintaining and distributing the bikes, including the newly introduced e-Bikes.

[55][56] Serco's Home Affairs division operates speed camera systems throughout the UK and, until November 2013,[57] designed, wrote and tested the software that controls the matrix message signs, signals, emergency roadside telephones (SOS) and traffic monitoring on England's motorway network including, until 2011,[58] the National Traffic Control Centre.

[66] Serco was part of a consortium called Trusted Borders,[67] led by Raytheon Systems Limited, to put in place e-Borders under a contract awarded by the UK Home Office in 2007.

[81] In September 2013, Serco was accused of an extensive cover-up over sexual abuse at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire, England.

"[84] During 2019, a fine of £19.2 million was imposed on Serco following delayed legal action started in 2013 for fraud and false accounting over its electronic tagging service for the Ministry of Justice.

"[86] During April 2021, the charged ex-directors of firm's subsidiary were cleared of fraud and false accounting,[87] primarily due to the SFO having failed to disclose certain documents to the defense, resulting in issues that, according to the judge, "undermine the process of disclosure to the extent that the trial cannot safely and fairly proceed until they have been remedied".

[91] In December 2024, Serco was accused of failing to tag 77 year old climate protestor Gaie Delap after her release on licence from HMP Peterborough, resulting in her being recalled to custody.

[92][93] In January 2025, Delap discovered that she would have to serve a further 20 days in prison, the amount of time Serco had previously spent unsuccessfully trying to find a suitable bracelet.

[94][95] During August 2018, it was disclosed that Serco had been planning to evict asylum seekers in Glasgow before their appeal procedure was completed; the legality of such actions under Scottish law was questioned by lawyers.

[100] That same year, a Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Refugee Council showed that Serco had been charged nearly £3 million by the Home Office for repeatedly breaching its contract to house asylum seekers in Glasgow and Northern Ireland.

Serco claimed it would take longer to deliver the operational efficiencies it hoped for, despite stating in May 2013 that it expected to make a profit on the three-year, £140 million contract for community services.

[115] According to senior council officials, this period was marked with "real problems" and management was taken back in house by the local authority after the contract's end-date.

[119] Serco Leisure Operating Ltd works with clients throughout the UK, running gyms, swimming pools, cycle hire schemes and National Sports Centres.

[132] In 2022, Serco was selected by the United States's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the first generation No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS).

[137] The New Zealand government did not accept that this was a failure of governmental contracting and oversight; it brought in correctional officers from afar to provide adequate staffing at Mount Eden, and had spent NZ$2 million by December 2016 housing up to 40 of them in Auckland hotels.

[139] During March 2022, Te Ao Māori News reported that prisoners at Auckland South Corrections Facility in Wiri were experiencing unliveable conditions, including the denial of prison visits, unjustified lockdowns, lack of access to medical care, and insufficient safeguards against COVID-19; Te Ao reported that these conditions had led to two suicides within the space of five months.

Ombudsman Allan Asher stated "In the first week of June when I visited Christmas Island, more than 30 incidents of self-harm by detainees held there were reported".

[165][166] With its subsidiaries ORS and European Homecare, Serco operates a total of 130 refugee accommodations in Germany and is by far the largest private service provider (as of 2024).

[170] The 2017 Paradise Papers revealed that the legal services firm Appleby had carried out a risk assessment of Serco in which the company was noted to have had a "history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging" and had faced allegations of fraud and cover-ups.