Private equity groups collecting millions to run UK government-funded sexual assault referral centres

Exclusive: Charities concerned at profits being made from government contracts to help victims

Millions in taxpayer funds are being paid to private equity-backed firms to provide specialist support services for rape and sexual assault victims, with charities concerned at the profits being made by investors on these contracts, the Guardian can reveal.

The government contractor G4S and Mountain Healthcare Ltd, which is ultimately owned by a private equity group set up by the former boss of the outsourcing group Capita, run 26 of the 50 NHS- and police-funded centres in England that support thousands of child and adult victims of sexual assault.