Our history
2007
Shared Services Centre (RCUK SSC) was created to provide business services to each of the councils.
2013
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) joined RCUK SSC as an owner and customer and the company was rebranded to UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UKSBS). A small number of BIS’ arm’s length bodies (ALBs) also started to take services from UKSBS.
2015 - 2017
In June 2015, The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced a change in its Shared Service Strategy that would see the transfer of services to other providers and therefore the closure of UKSBS. A Machinery of Government (MoG) change and the passing of the Higher Education and Research (HER) Act halted this direction of travel, and in July 2017, the two owners decided to jointly invest in and develop a new system solution for UKSBS.
2018
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) was created under the HER Act, bringing together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), joining ownership alongside BEIS.
2019 - present
BEIS existed until 2023 when it was split to form the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with all three departments coming into ownership of UKSBS alongside UKRI.
The future
UKSBS ownership will grow over the next few years, due to the UK Government’s Shared Service Strategy and Machinery of Government changes, with Cabinet Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport due to onboard in 2026.