Our history

We’ve evolved to become a leading public sector business service provider but our focus is the same - providing excellent shared services to support your business.

2007

Founded in 2007 by the Research Councils, UKSBS was created as RCUK Shared Services Centre (RCUK SSC) to provide business services to each of the councils.

2013

In 2013, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills joined RCUK SSC as an owner, onboarding their Arms Length Bodies (UK Space Agency (UKSA), Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and the Insolvency Service (INSS)). UKSBS as we know it today was born.

2015 - 2017

Following a consideration for an alternative service provider by the owners in 2015, our ownership and user base began to grow with the creation of the Department for International Trade in 2016 and the change from BIS to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). 2017 saw the three owners commit to further investment in UKSBS, agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding overseeing the business.

2018

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) was created bringing together the Research Councils, Innovate UK and parts of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

2023 - Present

In February 2023, the Prime Minister announced the latest Machinery of Government changes to create three new government departments replacing the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for International Trade with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade.

UKRI remains an owner alongside the three new departments: the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, (DSIT), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department of Business and Trade (DBT).  