Our history

 

In the beginning…

Serco has been a pioneer since it began almost 80 years ago. Our origins go back to the 1920s when Radio Corporation of America formed a UK subsidiary, RCA Services Limited, to support the country’s growing cinema industry. In the early 1960s the company won a piece of work that was to shape its future direction – a maintenance contract for the UK Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fylingdales. This expanded into a contract to operate the technical facilities at the base and provide comprehensive support to the Royal Air Force – which we continue today. In the 1980s the UK Ministry of Defence began a programme of contracting for the operation and maintenance of defence installations and facilities – and it used Fylingdales as the model.  

1980s  

Following a management buyout in 1987, RCA Services Limited was renamed Serco Limited. In 1988, the company achieved a full listing on the London Stock Exchange as Serco Group plc. A period of expansion and diversification followed. Governments across the developed world were beginning programmes of management reform and introducing competition for the services needed to sustain and improve public services. At the same time, private sector organisations increasingly saw the value of outsourcing support services, freeing up management to focus on core activities. Serco won business in the civil government, transport and commercial/industrial markets, and established operations in Asia Pacific and North America.      

1990s and 2000s

Since the 1990s, with the success of initiatives to introduce change in public services, the market has become more complex. Increasingly, Serco’s role is not just to support core public services but actually to provide them, with our staff dealing directly with the public. With the emergence of more sophisticated partnerships, such as Public Private Partnerships, many opportunities are being created that our track record, expertise and innovation put us in a great position to capture.