It has come to light that Capita Plc has allegedly been overcharging schools for the use of it's services. This is a slightly different division of the behemoth that is Capita to the one that 'oversees' projects on behalf of Cumbria County Council and the one that provides the 'local government services' but it's still part of the same organisation.
"because Capita included a research and development levy within the annual IT maintenance fees paid by schools. This, say Bromcom and other IT providers, ties schools to Capita products because it means they effectively pay for upgrades before they are fully developed.
Capita
is also accused of bundling together record keeping,
financial-management and timetabling software in one package, making it
harder for new entrants to develop niche products. They complain that
Capita makes it "notoriously difficult" when they want to develop
products to work with its technology."
Naturally Capita Children's Services refutes the allegations.
"In a statement, Capita said: "Capita Children's Services has already, through its solicitors, robustly rebutted the unfounded allegations made by Bromcom and we have had no contact from the OFT whatsoever with respect to this matter.
"We have served the education market for a number of years and grown our business through supplying innovative products to meet the changing needs of the market, maintaining good client relationships and working successfully with other suppliers."
Kier Construction Plc adopted a similar defence when their industry practices were investigated by the OFT and we know what happened to them.
The thing is this isn't the first time I have come across allegations that private companies supplying the public sector are overcharging and nothing is ever done about it but and here's a but if ever there was one.
But Capita Symonds provides services which involve overseeing that the County Council gets best value from the contractors it employs. Capita Symonds is overseeing the creation of the plans for all four Academies and Capita Children's Services are providing services for all four Academies and Capita Local Government Services is providing payroll and support services for all four Academies so does it seem right that Capita Plc is allowed to be judge and jury in deciding what is best value for the taxpayer?
It seems wrong to me in the same way that Borough councils are allowed by the government to give themselves planning permission is wrong.
In teacher circles tis well known that there should be a letter 'r' in the word 'capita' to be placed betwixt the first and second letter.