[cma-l] Service Level Agreements in Community Radio

[Murray Dawson]

An appropriate time for this discussion for us at SHMU.

We've developed SLA's with our local authority, NHS Grampian, the 
Scottish Govt. and generally they are developed together.
We value them, as they clearly set out the expectations of both parties 
in terms of the agreed work, and also identify measures of both outputs 
and outcomes.

The danger is when an SLA is imposed - a situation we've just found 
ourselves in.
Over the last three months I've been working with an Officer in the 
Council on the SLA to support the core costs of our organisation (which 
in reality will be around 15% of our total income).
Having invested a significant amount of time throwing the document back 
and forward, we finally agreed to the terms.
The Council then decided to send it to their solicitors in Edinburgh, 
which I received a copy of yesterday.
The document bears no resemblance to the draft that was sent to them, 
and includes a series of a ridiculous clauses, including one that would 
allow the Council to evict us from the building with 2 days notice for 
'being a nuisance'.
We're obviously not signing it, and are seeking legal advice.

I would suggest that all organisations seek legal advice (preferable 
pro-bono).  As I said, I value SLA's, but they are legal documents and 
you need to be happy with the content.

I'm happy to post previous versions of SLA's if that would be useful.

All the best,

Murray

please reply to
murray at shmu.org.uk

Murray Dawson
Project Director
Station House Media Unit
Station Road, Woodside,
Aberdeen  AB24 2WB
Tel - 01224 515013	

www.shmu.org.uk

listen to our community radio station live on 99.8FM and at www.shmufm.net

SHMU is a charity registered in Scotland - SC034211 and a registered Limited Company - SC332413


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CMA-L wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> From: "Jimmy Black" <shelligoe at googlemail.com>
>
> On Service Level Agreements ... certainly they should cover quality of
> output and delivery. But local authorities are most likely to support
> community radio if it fits into their strategic plans. So, for
> example, the aim of the project may be about helping young people
> develop skills which makes them more employable, or old people to
> become less isolated and take part in community life. Making radio is
> a tool to achieve these ends.
>
> So these things need to be reflected in the Service Level Agreement.
> Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but I'm a councillor and I'm
> seeing things from a different perspective these days!
>
> Jimmy Black
> Shelligoe Media
>
> On 26/08/2008, Sandra Tang wrote:
>   
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>
>> From: "Sandra Tang" <tang.sandra at gmail.com>
>>
>> Dear fellow CMA members,
>>
>> Hope you're well and wondering if any of you could help at all. I'm
>> currently writing a "Guide to Service Level Agreements for UK
>> Community Radio Stations" as part of my MA project at the University
>> of Sunderland.
>>
>> I aim to make this guide available to help community stations set up
>> their own Service Level Agreements (SLAs). In this instance, Service
>> Level Agreements being contracts between the station and a public body
>> to provide services/activities in exchange for payment eg Station
>> providing a show on healthy living with an SLA with the PCT.
>>
>> I am including case studies of stations who have had experience in
>> setting up SLAs, whether good or bad but however have found it
>> difficult to actually locate more than a couple of stations that have
>> set up their own SLAs. If you have had any experience on the matter,
>> it would be great to hear from you as I would love to be able to have
>> a quick chat with you if possible.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance,
>>
>> Sandra Tang
>>
>> Please reply to tang.sandra at gmail.com
>>     
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