Re Contract

27 May 2008

         Birmingham City Council selects Service Birmingham to manage    
                              Contact Birmingham                               

    Extension of Service Birmingham partnership to help the Council improve    
                           services to its citizens                            

Service Birmingham, the partnership between the Capita Group Plc and Birmingham
City Council, has been appointed by the Council to manage its contact centre
operations. The contract is expected to be worth £110m over eight years with an
initial commitment for four years worth £52m.

Service Birmingham's objective is to support the Council in transforming the
way in which it works, significantly improving services for the people of
Birmingham. Today's announcement supports the Council's 'Customer First'
transformation programme, which will create simpler and easier ways for
citizens to access council services in ways that suit them best. Service
Birmingham will manage all citizen services delivered via Contact Birmingham
including existing subcontractors.

Councillor Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council commented,
"Improving the quality and standard of contact with our citizens is a vital
aspect of our Customer First programme. Service Birmingham will ensure that the
contact centre operation is fully integrated with our overall business
transformation initiative. We look forward to a successful next phase."

Paul Pindar, Chief Executive of The Capita Group Plc commented, "Our
partnership with Birmingham City Council has gone from strength to strength and
this new phase will further enhance the Council's services. Service Birmingham
has made major steps forward in the transformation of technology and continues
to support the Council in transforming their business processes. This combined
approach is laying strong foundations for further service improvement for
citizens and cost savings for the Council. We will now help the Council to
further improve citizen services to place them at the forefront of public
services in Europe."

Service Birmingham will manage the Council's customer contact centres over two
sites. The first is the current site in Birmingham City Centre and the second
will be the newly refurbished Fort Dunlop centre also in Birmingham which opens
in June this year. The Council will continue to provide the direction for the
development of the service, and Service Birmingham will provide a single point
of responsibility for the delivery of an integrated contact centre operation
with state-of-the-art technology. Vertex, the current service provider, will
manage the day-to-day operations and ensure the service meets demanding new
service levels. Both organisations will build on their strong working
relationship and draw on their strengths to enable stability of service to be
maintained while new services are introduced over the next 4 years.

The Service Birmingham partnership was formed in April 2006 to deliver business
transformation programmes across the Council. The initial contract was for the
delivery of ICT services to Birmingham City Council and valued at £475 million
over ten years. New ways of working have already achieved savings of £28
million in the first three years of the partnership of which £9 million has
gone towards allowing the Council Tax increase for 2008/09 to be kept below the
UK average at just 1.9 per cent.

                                    -ends-                                     

Notes to editors:

For further information please contact:

The Capita Group Plc [phone]

Paul Pindar, Chief Executive

Shona Nichols, Corporate Communications Director

Service Birmingham press office: [phone]

Service Birmingham is a strategic partnership between Birmingham City Council
and Capita which will support a transformation in the way the Council works;
improving services and contributing to its efficiency agenda. The Council
intends to achieve efficiency savings worth £1 billion by 2016. This strategic
partnership forms part of the Council's objective to find better and more
innovative ways of delivering services for the benefit of employees and
citizens.  The principle of this joint venture focuses on the provision of cost
effective, sector leading, ICT services and in supporting the Council in
achieving its business transformation objectives.

The Capita Group Plc is the UK's leading provider of integrated professional
support service solutions.  The Group's service capabilities encompass customer
services, financial services, human resource services, software services,
systems and strategic support and property services delivered to both public
sector and private organisations.  With over 29,000 employees at more than 300
offices across the UK, Ireland and India, Capita is quoted on the London Stock
Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2007 of
£2,073 million.

Further information on The Capita Group Plc can be found at: 
http://www.capita.co.uk