It has taken the Authorities a while to cotton on, but finally they realise they can pay guys substantially more than they are receiving from Serco and still save money. I mean you take the middle men out of the equation and both the ATCO and the Authority wins.
I have always been one of the only guys on here who has defended Serco, and said consistantly they would win the last contract when everyone else was saying they were gone. Well the fat lady is singing and unless Serco digs into their profit margin really really fast there will be a mass exodus across to GCAA. It (direct hire) won't suit everyone but it will suit enough guys that considering the extremely difficult ATCO recruitment situation at the moment, it will leave Serco high and dry with no way of filling their contract.
As I said, if Serco are so well placed to move and react to market forces, they better do just that and move quick cos the clock is ticking and every month guys just rated make huge amounts more than senior Serco guys the less likely it is that guys will stay loyal and avoid the temptation to cross over.