Greenwich Leisure Limited (FT29)
GLL is an innovative staff led "Leisure
Trust" that operates as a Social Enterprise and is structured
as an Industrial and Provident Society. GLL manages 32 public
leisure centres in partnership with five London Boroughs and Epsom
& Ewell Council.
OUR CORPORATE
STRUCTURE
GLL is an employee owned "society for the
benefit of the community" based on charitable objects, GLL
is a non-profit distributing organisation. This means any surpluses
generated are reinvested into the service and the community, rather
than paid to shareholders as dividends. A "stakeholder"
run organisation before the term became vogue, we have a board
consisting of elected Staff, Council members, a Trade Union representative
and customers. Day to day management responsibility is devolved
to an experienced senior management team.
HISTORY OF
GLL
In 1993 the Borough of Greenwich faced major
budget cuts which proposed a major cut in the funding of Greenwich's
leisure centres. This would have meant a 30% staff reduction and
the closure of two or possibly three of the smaller centres.
A review instigated by Councillor Bob Harris
the Chair of the Leisure Services Committee recommended encouraging
partnerships and moving to "arm's length influence".
A not-for-profit organisation was suggested, with continued influence
rather than control from the council.
A discussion document on a new structure was
distributed to staff, members and officers. Issues to be taken
on board included acceptability to the workforce and trade unions
and commitment to providing quality services for the community.
The point was made that an independent organisation
could benefit from government capital grants for sport not available
to local authority providers, and that tax advantages on business
rates could lead to cost reductions.
Because of Greenwich `s long established co-operative
tradition, the option of some type of co-operative gained interest
among politicians and officers. A Society for the Benefit of the
Community, registered under the Industrial &Provident Societies
(IPS) Act, was recommended by the local Co-operative Development
Agency and subsequently adopted. The existing seven leisure centres
were transferred to the new organisation Greenwich Leisure Limited
in July 1993.
Since 1993 GLL has thrived, adding three new
centres to its portfolio in Greenwich and forging partnerships
to run all the leisure contracts in the London Boroughs of Waltham
Forest, Merton, Newham, and Barnet.
OUR STAFF
&TRAINING
— In 1993 we employed 100 contracted
staff, by 2003 this had risen to 600 full time and over 1,500
sessional, we are now one of the largest leisure employers in
the Capital.
— 62% of staff are female, 38% male,
68% White, 21% Black, 11% other minority ethnic groups.
We are recognised as the highest paying "external"
leisure provider in the country (LMCA Survey) and our ethos of
growing our staff as we grow the organisation is reflected in
our very low sickness and staff turnover levels. GLL co-sponsors
the London Leisure College, which focuses on staff development
and to getting young people into leisure jobs. We are also an
accredited ISRM college, NVQ Assessment Centre and ASA & RLSS
Teaching Centre. GLL has Investors in People accreditation.
As a community based business, we endeavour
to reflect the communities we work in, with staff gender and ethnicity
ratios reflecting the diversity of each borough.
COST REDUCTIONS-NEW
DEVELOPMENTS
A review of our experience in Greenwich demonstrates
that since 1993 costs to the Council of running the service have
been more than halved and turnover has increased from £2.5
million in 1993 to nearly £8 million in 2002. There have
been large amounts of external investment including funding from
the Lottery Sports Fund, Single Regeneration Budget, European
Funds and Further Education Council franchise agreements. The
result in terms of investment and quality has been dramatic, with
Greenwich now enjoying, arguably, the most comprehensive Leisure
Centre portfolio in London-the customers certainly think so! (Mori
poll 2000 & 2002).
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
A unique aspect of GLL is our ability and willingness
to form and develop partnerships to enhance our core business.
These include public bodies, regeneration agencies, educational
establishments, and sports clubs. In addition to our key partners,
we have many affiliations, which keep us at the forefront of the
leisure industry and social enterprise sector.
Our key partners include:
— London Boroughs of Greenwich, Waltham
Forest, Merton, Newham and Barnet.
— Epsom & Ewell District Council.
— Greenwich Community College.
— London Leisure College.
— Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient
Football Clubs.
— Woolwich, Greenwich and South Greenwich
Development Agencies.
— Stratford Development Partnership.
— Charlton Athletic Race Equality Partnership.
— PricewaterhouseCoopers.
— Redbridge and Waltham Forest NHS
Trust.
— Social Enterprise London.
QUALITY
GLL has won many awards and accolades that recognise
our commitment to quality, our customers and staff:
— UK No.1 Fitness Centre 2000 (FIA
Flame Award at Arches Leisure Centre).
— UK No.1 Leisure Operator 2000 (Leisure
Property Forum Award).
— QUEST awards at many of our Leisure.
— ISO 9002 Quality Award at Arches
Leisure Centre.
— Chartermark Award (twice).
— Investors In People award (ongoing).
— Inner City 100 business (2002).
BEST VALUE
The GLL structure lends itself to being a Best
Value model. We have a stakeholder board and a continuous improvement
strategy.
CONSULT
We believe that the service delivered should
be customer driven. For this reason we encourage our customers
to help us design and improve our service:
— Customer representatives on the management
board.
— Local Management Boards in each area
we operate.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
We aim to provide innovative leisure provision,
available to all sections of the community that cannot be matched
by our competitors:
— concessionary access for those who
are economically disadvantaged;
— ongoing refurbishment of facilities;
— year on year reduction in cost to
the Councils;
— significant annual investment;
— high quality facilities and services;
and
— reduction in the net costs per visit
and increased visitor numbers.
COMPARE
It is our aim to ensure that the service we
provide is of the highest quality and offers exceptional value
to our clients:
— continued development of national
quality initiatives;
— reduction in the subsidy per user;
— to target Audit Commission Performance
Indicators to be within the upper quartile of performers; and
— participation in national and regional
benchmarking schemes.
CLIENT MONITORING
As part of the quality checking mechanism and
service delivery measurement the leisure clients of the various
Council's undertake a number of monitoring procedures via performance
indicators. These performance indicators examine the Economy,
Efficiency and Effectiveness of the service and form part of the
best value monitoring process.
THE FUTURE
GLL has a number of plans for the future including:
— Ensuring that each partnership has
its own local management board.
— Building on links with community
organisations.
— Further empowering staff to take
decisions and move the organisation forward.
— Ensuring that the we are recognised
as a Best Value Model.
— Partnering with further London Boroughs.
— Achieving Charter Mark status in
each of our partner Boroughs.
— Fully defining and developing our
"Social Brand".
— Achieving QUEST in all our leisure
centres.
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