When GLL was established in 1993, a co-operative structure to our charitable social enterprise was of fundamental importance to our staff colleagues, our local authority partner and warmly welcomed by the local community.
Thirty-three years on and our co-operative structure remains at the core of our success across the 375 facilities we operate for 72 local authorities, regional agencies and charity partners.
Our facilities include libraries, leisure centres, sports stadiums, theatres, arts centres and children's centres. These are vital public services that our council partners need to be confident are expertly and professionally operated, have core charitable values and are embedded in our local communities across the UK.
With staff colleagues having a stake in our organisation, this brings with it ‘super-charged' engagement and commitment that enhances the ownership of our customer focus and social purpose. It also demonstrates that public service co-operative partnerships can be delivered ‘at-size' across the UK, allowing economies of scale to work hand-in-hand with local agendas, driven by local empowered staff.
There are a growing number of local authorities joining the Co-operative Councils' Innovation Network (CCIN) in the UK and their focus is helping to drive exciting growth in social innovation that puts people first and welcomes partners with sector expertise to improve vital public services.
Working together as like-minded organisations will see quick returns on a shared commitment to improving services for local people using co-operative values and principles.
The power of co-operative organisations, however, extends far beyond the pathfinder Co-operative Councils, it lands real community engagement and outcomes across all facilities and partnerships that GLL operate across the UK.
Delivering social impact at scale
GLL remains the UK's largest leisure and cultural charitable social enterprise operating public services. Our purpose and values, linked to our charitable objectives, put customers, staff and communities at the heart of everything we do.
Independent measurements of our annual social value for our public service delivery currently sits at £1.63bn from 59m annual customer visits.
These are strong statistics that alongside our scope and scalability of expertise means that we can, and do, make impressive gains for both the local and national economy, health outcomes and employment opportunities and careers.
GLL is also developing additional methodology to examine quantifying the social impact of being a Real Living Wage employer, running large apprenticeship/employment programmes and our flagship GLL Foundations – the GLL Sport Foundation, the UK's largest independent athlete support scheme, and the recently launched GLL Literary Foundation, which provides financial bursaries and professional development for emerging children's authors.
A co-operative model for sustainable growth bringing benefits for all
Every employee at GLL has the opportunity to become a Society Member, holding a voting share and the ability to be elected to our governing worker board. This not only allows staff across our diverse workforce of 11,500 to directly contribute to our strategic direction, it fosters a strong sense of ownership and accountability, understanding that the voices of staff are heard and aligns employee focus with organisational performance.
Local communities gain from GLL's reinvestment of surpluses into services and programmes that promote health and wellbeing, including concessionary pricing enjoyed by 60% of annual customer visits. Over £100m has been returned so far and our worker board members are directly involved in the assessment and authorisation of investment into local schemes.
Clients and partners value GLL's stability and ethical approach, knowing that we prioritise social impact over shareholder profits, and that we are committed to creating significant social value by aligning with national economic, environmental, health, and societal goals, while supporting our partners' local strategic ambitions.
International Year of the Co-operatives – partnerships and advocacy
As a supporter of the CCIN, GLL contributes to discussions on how co-operative models can enhance public service delivery.
In 2025, GLL is proud to celebrate the International Year of Co-operatives, reaffirming its dedication to building a fairer, more sustainable economy. GLL continues to demonstrate the transformative potential of the co-operative model in the public sector, using local authority services as the touchpoint for changing lives.
This upcoming Co-operative Fortnight (23 June – 6 July), GLL will add its weight to the movement, and raising public awareness of purpose driven and co-operative engagement within local government. We see a bright future for the sector, encouraged by the Government's stated mission to double its size and impact.
GLL is an important part of civil society and we are proud to be part of shaping the Government's emerging Civil Society Covenant as well as the All Party Parliamentary Group for Social, Cooperative and Community Economy – noting the fundamental importance that commissioning and procurement holds for social business and co-operatives to engage fully with public services.
We are confident that co-operatives can continue to innovate, modernise and protect public services by making them more sustainable both financially and environmentally and driving local community outcomes through empowered and motivated local employees.
To find out more visit: www.gll.org
Peter Bundey is Chief Executive of GLL
