WIREDGOV

As the largest train operator Govia Thameslink will come into public hands, the TUC yesterday (Sunday) warned that outsourcing on Britain’s railways risks undermining the government’s public ownership agenda.  

• Warning comes as Govia Thameslink becomes the latest operator to come into public hands 
• NEW TUC analysis reveals Churchill – the contractor which outsources cleaners on Govia Thames Link – is estimated to take £2.52 million a year in gross profits from this tender 
• TUC analysis suggests Churchill profits the equivalent of 83 additional cleaners or 160,000 extra hours of cleaning. 

New TUC analysis yesterday revealed that Churchill – the company contracted to provide cleaners on Govia Thameslink – is estimated to make £2.52 million a year in gross profits from this tender – the equivalent of 83 additional cleaners or 160,000 extra hours of cleaning. 

The TUC says this has a direct impact on the workers themselves, and the quality of services delivered for passengers as money is siphoned off to shareholders instead of being reinvested in the workers and the service they provide. 

Scrouge of outsourcing 

The union body says the government’s commitment to the creation of an integrated, publicly owned Great British Railways (GBR) has the potential to be one of the “great success stories” of the Labour government as profits from the railways are reclaimed from shareholders and put back into the public purse. 

But the TUC and rail unions warn tens of thousands of workers are outsourced or sub-contracted on our railways, including cleaners, security guards, caterers, security guards, revenue protection, infrastructure maintenance, renewal and engineering workers.   

According to figures from the RMT outsourcing and sub-contracting companies extract an estimated £400 million from our railways every year in profits. 

But outsourced workers working for third party companies do not benefit from the same terms and conditions as directly employed staff. 

The TUC says this is creating a “two-tier” workforce, where outsourced workers struggle to make ends meet on precarious contracts, low pay and without a decent pension.  

The TUC says we cannot have a truly publicly owned railway with swathes of the workforce still employed by outsourcing companies. 

The union body says ministers must: 

• Make good on the promise to deliver the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, setting out a clear timetable to ending outsourcing on the railways and bringing contracts back in house. 

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak yesterday said:  

“The disastrous privatisation experiment left regular train travel unreliable and shabby for far too many.  

"This government is rightly turning the page on the failed era of privatisation by delivering publicly-owned railways which put passengers above profit.  

“This could be one of the great success stories of the Labour government. But it is undermining its own efforts to deliver nationalised rail by leaving contracts in the hands of third-party providers who line their own pockets at the expense of the workforce and passengers. 

“We need a fully integrated national rail service which works for passengers and the rail workforce.  

“That means tackling outsourcing in the sector and ensuring all rail workers enjoy decent terms and conditions.” 

RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey yesterday said:

"We want to see all our members on the railway receive the same benefits of public ownership and this includes outsourced workers. 

"The Labour government needs to follow through on its commitment to undertake a mass wave of insourcing.  

"Railway workers in outsourced companies work just as hard and contribute just as much to public transport as those directly employed.  

"Across our union, thousands of outsourced workers are growing increasingly frustrated at having poorer wages, no sick pay and being treated as if they are a second-class workforce. 

"RMT will industrially and politically maintain pressure on the government until it fulfils its obligations to our members."

Editors note’s

Churchill’s contract with Thameslink is an estimated total value: £122,500,000 

Duration of the contract is 70 months 

That would give a figure of £21m a year in payments, of which Churchill would be taking around 12%[1] or 2.52 million a year in gross profits. That would pay for an extra 83 cleaners on their existing pay and terms and conditions, equivalent to 160,000 extra hours of cleaning a year. 

See calculation details below  

Cleaners are supposed to be paid the Real Living Wage outside London (the majority are outside London): £13.45/hr 

Detail of NIC and pensions calculations. Based on 3% pension contributions (RMT info) and 37.5 hours of week worked  

[1] As estimated in RMT (2025), profits of outsourcing firms from rail contracts 

• About the TUC: The Trades Union Congress (TUC) exists to make the working world a better place for everyone. We bring together the 5.3 million working people who make up our 47 member unions. We support unions to grow and thrive, and we stand up for everyone who works for a living. 

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