-
Trustees become Company Law Members
This means that the Trustees are able to take certain decisions more easily. It also means that students no longer would have to pay £1 if the Union was declared bankrupt.
This change also includes a requirement for the Trustees to hold an Annual Student Meeting each academic year to inform students of the work they have done as well as to approve accounts and other items, detailed in the Articles.
-
Referendums will need 5% of students to vote to pass them, but referendum decisions cannot be overturned by other meetings
Referendum decisions become the highest level of policy forum. Currently only 2% of students have to vote to pass referendum motions but decisions taken in a referendum can be overturned by other meetings. If students want to call a referendum, they still only have to get 2% of students to approve such a request.
For the 2018/19 academic year, 2% of all students is 338 and 5% is 845.
-
The exact make-up of the Board and the committees of the Board have been moved to Bye-Laws
This means that Student Council and the Trustees can make changes to these numbers and committees if they are required, rather than having them fixed in the Articles.
-
Clarification over the way that Trustees, including Sabbatical Officers can be removed from office
This now means that Sabbatical Officers can only be removed by a referendum of students as it is the students that elect them. Other Trustees can now be removed directly by Student Council.
-
Creation of a ‘Convenor’ to Chair meetings of the Board and support the Union Affairs Officer in providing support and management to the Chief Executive
This means that the Union Affairs Officer will be the Chair of the Company but a Lay Trustee (non-student trustee) will be appointed to Chair the Board meetings and work with the Union Affairs Officer to ensure that the Chief Executive is supported and effectively managed.
Note the change from the current ‘External Trustee’ to ‘Lay Trustee’ which is just a name change.
-
Other small changes to correct inconsistencies and errors
Overall the Articles are now a shorter, clearer document and enable Bye-Laws to be used to provide much clearer descriptions of the day-to-day governance of the Union in areas such as Committees, Elections, Student Council, and such forth.
You must be a member of the Students' Union to vote at the meeting.