dc leisure - managing the challenge of free swimming
TRANSCRIPT
DC Leisure – Steve Philpott CEO
Introduction
• Leisure Management Contractor
• Largest UK leisure centre operator
• 31 Councils - 110 sites
• 6,500 staff - £100m turnover
• Largest UK pool operator - 110 pools in 71 sites
• ASA “Operator of the year” 2004-2007
DC Leisure – Free Swimming
Swim for Free
Friday, June 06, 2008
By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON GORDON Brown will today promise free swimming for 20 million – in a drive to get Britain top of world sport. The PM will scrap public pool charges for under-16s and over-60s. He will vow to get millions more playing sport at all levels to give Brits a better chance of winning competitions like the Olympics. Extra coaching will be provided for 14 to 16-year-
olds to ensure they keep playing sports.
DC Leisure – Free Swimming
• Our mindset: A major opportunity
• Pro-active approach
• 29 councils with pools
• 25 (86%) participating in 60+
• 19 (66%) participating in 16 and under
• £2.8m revenue funding p.a.
DC Leisure – Free Swimming
Why haven’t all councils participated?
• A flawed mechanic
• Funding allocated on a per head basis
• Our most successful pools therefore under-funded
• The main cost = loss of our normal income
• The more successful our pools have been historically, the greater the shortfall in funding
The scheme has penalised success
Not enough time to engage PCTs & other funders
Registration Form
Data capture is key
Ethnicity, disability, age, gender
Parents details
Current swimmer or not
Data Capture/Measurement
• Registrations: 40,000 after 2 weeks (started March 16)
• Ethnicity, disability, age, gender, parents details
• Current swimmer or not
• But no base data for comparison
• Will use Active People/GHS
• Cross –selling opportunity
Cross-Selling Opportunity
• Welcome pack when registering - badminton, over 60s clubs, kids dry programmes,
holiday activities
• Re-programming pools - a huge opportunity to drive change
- under continuous review
- pool specific
- developing pathways from free swimming
• Secondary spend - swim gear - a distress purchase
- food & drink, specific offers & re-siting vending
Previous free swimming experience
• Exeter, Halton and several holiday schemes
• Capacity management challenge
• Standards challenge
• Membership cards can be used to manage disruptive customers
• Reduced adult usage without programming changes
• Usage increases range from +10% to +250%
Operational Planning
• Registration
• Staff on reception, queue management
• Operational Standards - cleaning, managing more kids
• 16p per bather incremental cost (water, chemicals, heating)