Councillor Anthony Hunt (Leader) (Executive Member for Strategic Leadership) was scheduled to make a decision regarding the payments profile for Halo Leisure. Non-executive members of the council had the opportunity to comment on the report before a decision was made. Two members would have the right to call-in the decision within two days of it being made, should they have submitted comments during the pre-decision scrutiny period.

Payments Profile for Halo Leisure

A report was prepared by Dave Leech, Deputy Chief Executive, to seek approval from Councillor Anthony Hunt (Leader) (Executive Member for Strategic Leadership) to allocate £400,000 from the General Fund to meet the agreed financial profile for year 1 of the leisure contract with Halo Leisure. The report noted that this £400,000 was not additional spend over the contract life, and would be offset by lower management fee payments in years 2-5.

In January 2025, the cabinet approved awarding a 10-year contract to Halo Leisure to run leisure services for the council, with the option to extend it for a further five years. Following this approval, officers negotiated the transition from the previous provider to Halo, including the TUPE¹ transfer of staff, pension arrangements, licences, and the formal contract. The transition plan also required the council and Halo to agree on the profiling of the management fee across the 10 years.

The agreed financial profile was:

The report stated that the agreed profile would see a greater proportion of the contract paid in year 1 to support the transition between providers, with the equivalent amount then reduced from future contract payments in years 2-4. To meet the agreed profile, the council would be required to pay £400,000 above the annual budget allocation in year 1, which would then be recovered from smaller management payments in years 2-5.

It was noted that there was an adequate balance within the General Fund to cover this additional cost, whilst ensuring that the remaining balance was above the agreed minimum level.

The recommendation to Councillor Anthony Hunt (Leader) (Executive Member for Strategic Leadership) was to approve the allocation of £400,000 from the General Fund to meet the agreed financial profile for year 1 of the leisure contract with Halo, noting that the management fee would be reduced in years 2-5 to the equivalent amount.