YMCA Fylde Coast & Wyre Leisure FAQs

The current leisure contract began in 2006 and will end on 31st March 2026.

Wyre Council is obliged by procurement rules to offer the new service requirement on the open market at the end of the current contract.

At its heart, the existing contract requires the provider to deliver leisure services from the Council owned leisure facilities in Wyre. We work together with Wyre Council to share maintenance responsibilities with the Council taking liability for items above £5,000 and the YMCA taking ownership for items under £5,000. The limit of YMCA’s financial loss is also restricted through negotiation of an annual subsidy, with a contract break clause if losses exceed the agree subsidy by £100,000.

Outside of the contract, we then work together to try and use the centres for wider health and wellbeing benefit such as offering weight management or GP referral programmes.

The new service specification being offered through the contract still requires the operator to deliver leisure service from the centres, but it also requires the operator to manage capital investment programmes, with the expectation that they will also secure capital funds to support investment into the leisure centres.

The maintenance obligations have also shifted, with more liability being placed on the operator, whilst reporting requirements will also increase as will the responsibility to provide impact on the Council strategic objectives.

Finally, the new specification will provide the operator with a contracted management fee, with any losses over and above this fee being the liability of the operator.

YMCA has been hugely proud to operate the services in Wyre for 20 years and we believe we have played an important role in those communities. However, the change in the service requirements mean that we now believe the contract needs a different kind of operator, one that can invest the amount of capital needed to update the facilities and one which can be sure it can manage the financial risk of the service. The underpinning rationale for opting not to bid, includes:

1; Capital – we are not able to commit capital investment for assets that are owned by
someone else and where there is not an exit available to recoup any investment should the financial return not be realised.

2; Capital – the board are aware of the need to find money to invest in our owned assets, whether that be through refurbishments or re-modelling and so investment in Wyre
assets is not seen as the priority.

3; Development – the requirement for the operator to lead the development of
Fleetwood leisure centre is not seen as something that we are well placed to do.

4; Financial risk – the new contract is seen as too much of a financial risk for an
organisation of our size.

Under law, if you are currently employed to deliver these services you will be subject to Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) – a UK law that protects employees’ rights when a business is transferred to a new employer. During this process, little will change, and your employment terms and conditions will be unaffected.

It is not yet possible to say how others working outside of Wyre leisure services will be affected but it must be noted that the contract forms a material part of the Charity’s income and without that income the current overhead costs can’t be maintained. We have committed to being open and honest about what this means, and we will
communicate with staff in a clear and timely manner.

Absolutely not. We see massive benefit in offering leisure and active wellbeing services to our members and the wider community and believe in the positive impact it has on both physical and mental health. Of course, there is no escaping that our offer and reach will of smaller scale but it will also allow us to focus our resources on developing
services from our own buildings.

In the main, there should be little impact on members, though the specifics will be worked through in the coming months. Of course, as it stands, when you join one YMCA you get access to all the other YMCAs in Wyre and this will not be the case from April 2026.

So far, we have been communicating our decision to staff and the council. Day to day, nothing will change and we should continue to do our best to deliver a great service to our members. Between the spring and autumn, background work will be going on to prepare for a handover to the new provider, which we expect will be confirmed in December 2025. Along the way, we promise to keep people updated.

Communication of the decision to staff and the council has been our priority. This has now been completed, and we will have a short pause before communicating formally with members.