East Hertfordshire’s Leisure Services contract with Enfield Leisure Centres Ltd (Aspire Trust) has a major financial crisis. It is £500,000 in the red in the first year of a five-year contract. Resignations of senior staff and the possible liquidation of the Enfield Trust add to the scale of the crisis – a crisis in the…

A summary of the case against the formation of Leisure Trusts. It examines the performance of leisure trusts, access to capital and savings, social enterprise and community ownership, service integration, the effect on jobs, service improvement, community participation, democratic accountability and increased risks.

The local authority and a KPMG report recommended that two homes be closed and the remaining five homes be reconfigured and retained in-house or closed or transferred to the private sector. This UNISON commissioned report from the Centre for Public Services presents an alternative strategy and makes the case against closure.

This report makes a comprehensive case for the 4th Option for council investment. Council housing is a socially important housing tenure. It is democratically accountable, has a range of economic benefits and provides access to affordable housing. Even within the government’s own rules for public spending, there is ample room to deliver the needed investment…

In 2001 the local authority decided to withdraw completely from residential care provision requiring the closure of three homes and the conversion or recommissioning of the four remaining homes. The strategy also called for a further transfer of 30% of the home care service to the independent sector. This report examined the potential impact of…

After years of pay cuts and diminishing working conditions 200 mainly female, low paid, part-time workers were sacked in early 1998 for taking a stand against their treatment. Commissioned by Unison North West Region, this report examines the mismanagement which underlies the workers’ treatment through the establishment of the Tameside Community Care Trust. The report…