Transcript Roles & Responsibilities of Exec

Roles &
Responsibilities
of Exec
Ant Scott
Societies Officer
Charity Law!
• The Union is a registered charity, and as such we are
bound by Charity Law.
• As societies within the Union, you too are bound by the
same law, and should see yourselves as “mini-charities”.
• The money in your accounts is charitable money and
should be spent according to your primary purpose to
benefit all of your members equally.
What does this all mean?
• Can’t spend hundreds of pounds of society money
on champagne or grandiose meals in fancy
restaurants
o This would be like Cancer Research spending all their money on Dominoes
Pizzas
• Can’t spend a disproportionate amount of money
on a minority of people, i.e. no freebies for execs
o This would be like Cancer Research spending all of its money providing
support for just the Trustees’ families and no-one else.
• Money spent on food and alcohol cannot be
excessive
What does this all mean?
• Societies can’t trade
o Your society funds are donations not revenue.
• Consequently, events can’t be run to make a profit.
You are simply running events to break even at 65%
attendance.
• Money fundraised for charity is processed through
the RAG account
o There is special dispensation for this in the Charities Act, 2011.
Constitutions & Primary Purpose
• What is my primary purpose?
• The stated aims and objectives of your society as
outlined in your constitution.
• Every society has their own constitution, and it can
be found in the Resources Room (2nd floor of SUHQ).
• This is why it’s so important that you keep it up to
date!
Changing your constitution
• Proposed changes need to first be approved by Socs
Committee.
o This acts as a safeguard to ensure that societies aren’t duplicating the same
activities as other societies.
• This should be done by emailing [email protected]
outlining the proposed changes.
• THEN, the changes must be approved by a quorate
AGM. (This can be an email/online vote).
o Quorum levels are given in your constitution. Most quorum levels are 20% of
membership.
o Once passed, give a copy of the new constitution to Indy in the Resources
Room.
Legal Responsibilities
• You are all legally responsible for your members on
events and socials.
• If there was an incident, you would be responsible
for the students involved in a Court of Law.
• You therefore have a Duty of Care to all of your
members (and those that they come into contact
with).
Legal Responsibilities
• What does this all mean?
• You have to fill out a Risk Assessment for all of your
events, to demonstrate that you have thought about,
and minimised, the risks involved in your events.
• If one of your members is outrageously drunk and can’t
get home, you have a responsibility to ensure that they
are looked after and that they make their way home
safely.
• Wow – that’s pretty heavy, right?
Legal Responsibilities
• That’s a whole lot of responsibility to hold!
• Don’t worry, we’ll help you through it.
• Duty of Care training – compulsory for all execs; now
online!
• Event Planning Process is there to ensure that the risks of
your events have been considered. This helps to cover
you if things go wrong!
• Contact [email protected] if you’re
worried, or are organising a big/risky event.
Insurance
• You are all covered by the Union’s Public Liability
Insurance (paid for by the SocsFed fee)
• What does this mean?
• If a mirror ball fell from our ceiling and injured one of your
members, then you as an exec member would not have
to pay the legal costs associated with that claim.
• Great stuff!
• But, we are only insured for the activities that we know
about – hence the importance of Event Planning.
Insurance
• There is absolutely no cover for personal accidents.
• What does this mean?
• If one of your dancers broke their leg in a rehearsal, then
they are not covered by any of our insurance.
• You will need to make your members aware of this, and
they will need to purchase their own travel/accident
insurance for any trips and tours.
• But, if you think this is rubbish, we could provide personal
accident insurance as an SU, but this would mean an
increase in the SocsFed fee. It’s up to you!
Equal Opportunities
• In addition to all of this, you have a commitment to
ensuring equal opportunities to all your members.
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How do you do this?
Equal Opps position on every exec
Complete the online Equal Opps training
Make sure your events are accessible to all kinds of
students
• Beyond that…
• Socs Awards criteria based on Equal Opps, so even
more important to go the extra mile with this one!
Roles & Responsibilities
• It can all be a bit overwhelming, but unfortunately
you all personally hold a lot of responsibility to look
after your members.
• We’re here to help and support you through it all, so
if you’re worried just drop us an email.
• [email protected]
• [email protected]
Roles & Responsibilities
End of session
Note down any questions you may have now, and we’ll have
time to go through them during and after lunch.
Roles & Responsibilities
Breakout sessions:
• President training with Nat in here
• Treasurer training with Jacqui in The Mighty Duck
• Secretary training with Chris in MR4/5