The company said on Friday it had started a process to sell the business, which includes 13 children's homes and contracts to manage two youth training centres for the British government.

The division has come under scrutiny over its management of the Medway secure training centre in Rochester, Kent.

Four workers have been fired over allegations of using unnecessary force and improper language, three have been suspended pending further investigations and the Medway director stepped down last month.

A spokesman for G4S said the future of the businesses had been under consideration for some time and confirmed the company had seen expressions of interest from a number of parties.

G4S, which employs more than 630,000 staff worldwide, said the division reported revenue of about 40 million pounds ($55.8 million) in 2015.

($1 = 0.7163 pounds)

(Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; editing by David Clarke)