Leeds charities merger to come under spotlight

A panel of councillors will meet next week to discuss a merger of two council-affiliated environmental organisations – Groundwork Leeds and Groundwork Wakefield – which was given the green light at a Leeds City Council Executive Board meeting last week.

The call-in was put forward by Liberal Democrat councillors in Leeds, who said ‘significant information’ as to the state of the two organisations was not given to councillors, and should be investigated by one of the council’s scrutiny boards.

It read: “(The) reason for a call-in was so that issues which the group had some misgivings about could receive a level of scrutiny and explanation that was not available at the Executive Board meeting.

“(There was) no evidence of an independent due diligence exercise prior to recommending dissolution of Groundwork Leeds and Groundwork North Yorkshire and transferring assets to Groundwork Wakefield.”

It added that no risk assessment or legal advice on the merger process was recommended, while significant information was not included in the Executive Board report.

Groundwork Leeds is a registered charity established in 1986 to work with local people, schools and businesses. A report which went before the Executive Board said the organisation employs 99 people and generates around £1.6m through the provision of community services, life and skills employment, support for young people, business support and landscape

services.

The report added: “Following an extensive period of consideration and due diligence, detailed proposals have been developed for the merger of Groundwork Leeds, Wakefield and Groundwork North Yorkshire. The proposal would see Groundwork Yorkshire established with new articles of association and company membership structure.

“The clear position of the groundwork executive team is that the merged entity will benefit from greater financial scale, sustainability and viability, which will safeguard the programmes being delivered in deprived neighbourhoods which will benefit vulnerable people across the region.

It added the merger would safeguard the jobs of Groundwork staff and would enable Groundwork to continue to continue delivering programmes.

A “comprehensive independent financial review” of the proposal to merge and the combined organisations three-year business plan was undertaken, and supports the proposal to merge.

It added that following merger, Leeds City Council would become a “company member” of Groundwork Yorkshire.

The issue will be discussed by Leeds City Council’s Environment Scrutiny Board on Monday, November 9.