Contract win for Capita as watchdog slams staff's behaviour

There was good and bad news for Capita on Tuesday as the outsourcer won a £37m claims handling contract with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but hit the headlines after a report found that some of its staff used excessive restraint on asylum seekers.

Capita customer management has secured an exclusive 4.75-year contract to consolidate all of FSCS's claims handling services, with an option to extend for a further two years. The contract will see it provide all inbound and outbound customer contact and handle pension, insurance, mortgage, deposit and investment claims. These were previously handled by three suppliers including Capita.

Mike Barnard, executive director of Capital Customer Management, said: "The handling of complex cases for customers is at the heart of Capita Customer Management’s expertise, and fully aligns with Capita’s new strategy.

"We have a decade-long relationship with FSCS and the expansion of our partnership reinforces our position in the provision of customer management solutions for financial services sector. We look forward to this next phase of our partnership, deploying Capita’s best in class digital, transformation, case management and contact centre capabilities to support FSCS in becoming a leader in customer experience in financial services."

News of the contract came on the same day that the behaviour of some of Capita's staff was slammed in a report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. The report found that asylum seekers on a removal flight from the UK were subjected to the excessive use of restraint by escort staff employed by Tascor, a security firm owned by Capita.

HMIP said it had "serious concerns" about the way in which 23 people from two immigration removal centres were escorted by the staff, who outnumbered the detainees by more than three to one. It found that detainees were "unnecessarily" placed in waist restraint belts and said there was a "clear presumption" in favour of using them.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said: "We regularly inspect other detention settings where far more disruptive and challenging behaviour is managed without such physical restraints.

"Clearly, some senior-level intervention is required to ensure that the situation is rectified without delay.

"We will inspect more removals over the coming year, and it would clearly be a matter of serious concern if those being removed from the United Kingdom continue to be subjected to unjustified use of force."

This is not the first time that Capita's staff has been accused of questionable behaviour. Earlier this year, immigration detainees whose coach caught fire as it took them to a deportation flight were handcuffed by escort staff before they were allowed to get off, breaching Home Office rules.

In interviews with the Guardian, the detainees said that one of the guards started handing out handcuffs to his colleagues.just minutes before the vehicle exploded.