The CBI, the employer’s lobby organisation, and private sector chief executives, have urged the UK Government to look more seriously at public sector outsourcing. In a recent meeting on the state of government’s financial affairs members urged Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to balance his books two years earlier than he had first proposed and to consider the option of more outsourcing for the sector.

The CBI hope this move will open up the market for more public contracts and help the government improve the UK’s finances. Through greater reform, the employers’ organisation feels increased numbers of public contracts, will provide increased competition which will be a positive move forward. The organisation is open-minded about whether those contracts are won by private, public, or voluntary bodies, although individual members of the organisation's public services strategy board will have an invested interest in the outcome of any outsourcing deals.

Achieving a budget balance is a “big ticket’ issue, says Jonathan Cridland, the deputy director-general of CBI. However, he also expressed reservations about the government’s commitment to working with the private sector, “The reality we fear is that the government will continue to nibble at the edge and let little bits go out to market".