This report sets out the impact of the government’s closure of leisure centres on 20th March to mitigate Covid-19, on the council’s leisure service contract provider, GLL. This is an industry wide issue, affecting all leisure centre operators, giving rise to financial instability in the leisure market.

There are two leisure contracts in operation in Tower Hamlets, the main leisure management contract for the borough’s six centres, in which the Council is in direct contract with GLL and The Poplar Baths contract, in which the Council is in a direct contractual relationship with Folera, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which sub-contracts the leisure centre management and operation to GLL.

This report seeks approval to allocate a loan to GLL for the main leisure management contract for the period March – August 2020 to ensure the continued operation of the leisure service within Tower Hamlets. This loan payment will be subject to ‘open book’ review.