SCOTLAND'S largest home care provider is to be wound up and the country's most successful marketing bureau merged as part of plans to overhaul Glasgow's network of controversial council spin-off bodies.

Discussions are at an advanced stage which would see the dismantlement of Cordia, the arms-length agency which provides social care, catering and janitorial services.

The company employs around 7,000 staff, most of whom will move across to Glasgow City Council by the end of the year, with workforce levels and terms and conditions expected to remain the same in the medium term.

Cordia was set up almost a decade ago from the council's social work department in a move primarily designed to avoid its predominantly female staff being caught up in the avalanche of equal pay claims.

Meanwhile, in a related move, the council-owned marketing agency, credited with generating hundreds of millions of pounds annually for the city economy via conferences and events, is to merge with the trust which runs Glasgow's museums and sports facilities.

It is unclear what the new body combining the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow Life will be called but sources insist none of its functions will be diluted and the coming together is "about efficiencies and economies of scale".

Questions have been raised, however, about the future of the council's most successful spin-off merging with an organisation with a number of internal challenges, whilst unions and opposition leaders have expressed concern over the impact of axing Cordia on workers and the thousands of elderly people using their services.

Details of the plans, which it is understood is being driven by the council's Labour leadership, come two months after it emerged the chief executives of both the Marketing Bureau and Cordia were stepping down.

Glasgow's arms-length bodies, or ALEOs, have been an often controversial addition to the local government landscape in the past decade, not least because of the system of payments paid to councillors who sat on their boards.

However, after this was exposed and questioned by The Herald the £250,000 top-up payments were axed.

One council source said the Cordia plan was "about tidying up the council family and simplifying complex arrangements" and that it would be gradually broken up.

The source also said the Marketing Bureau would continue with all its top staff continuing the work they do but under a different corporate.

The source added: "It makes sense as far as efficiencies go, both organisations are also involved in events. It's an economies of scale thing."

Under the stewardship of chief executive Scott Taylor, the marketing bureau became one of the most successful in the UK. However, Mr Taylor announced in December that he was stepping down from the organisation.

Susan Aitken, leader of the council's SNP group, said: "Dismantling Cordia simply exposes the reasons why this ALEO was set up in the first place, to avoid an equal pay settlement for low paid women workers and to provide extra paid jobs for Labour councillors. Since neither of those now apply, Cordia is no longer politically expedient.

"Protecting vulnerable service users and Cordia staff must now be the priority. People who rely on Cordia services, particularly home care, should not experience any disruption and staff must be kept fully informed about what's happening to their jobs and be guaranteed that there will be no detriment to their pay and conditions as part of any move."

Unison's Brian Smith added: "Unions have argued for the ALEOs to be back under democratic council control for years. We find Cordia a particularly difficult ALEO to deal with, their current treatment of school janitors being a case in point.

"Home care service is also underfunded. We want Cordia workers treated with the respect they deserve."

A council spokesman said they had to find savings of at least £133 million over the next two years.

He added: “A range of options to meet the savings target is being considered for inclusion in the council’s budget for 2016/17. Until then, it would be inappropriate to comment on specific proposals. Councillors will consider the budget at a meeting of the full council on 10 March.”