Synopsis of the Management Council meeting held on Saturday 21 January 2006 at the Quality Hotel Loughborough

The first meeting of the Management Council of 2006 took place at the Quality Hotel, Loughborough on Saturday 21 January. The previous day the Trustees had met with the Regional Chairmen to discuss Regional issues together with National issues where the input of the Regions was most important. The joint meeting was a great success and was very well received and it is intended to hold two of these meetings per year in order that the views of branches and regions can be put to the Trustees to aid their discussions and decisions.

Between the last meeting and this meeting Madeleine Henry had decided to resign from the board for personal reasons so there are nine Trustees and all were present at the meeting.

The first major item on the agenda was the 2006 AGM. As members will know, several formats of the AGM have been tried in recent years and it was generally felt that a more interactive AGM would be more beneficial than people sitting and listening to the formal parts of the business. After discussion it was decided that this year we will hold a series of workshops at the AGM and these will be aimed at Branch Treasurers, Branch Welfare Officers and other similar work shops to aid our Branch Committees and members to better respond to our members’ needs. There will, of course, still be a formal part of the AGM and notices will be included in future editions of the Bulletin.

The next item was on our National Rules that have served the Fellowship well in recent years. However, with our incorporation we now have a set of what is called, Memorandum & Articles of Association, which cover all the National Rules and so the National Rules are now obsolete. On a proposal from Mike Egan it was agreed to rescind the National Rules. Mike will now look at the Regional Rules to bring those up to date and incorporate any items that are not fully covered in the Memorandum & Articles of Association. For those interested there is a copy of the Memorandum & Articles of Association on our website and copies can also be obtained from Central Office.

Trustees then discussed a new policy. This is a ‘Whistle Blower’ policy in which we make firm our determination that if any member feels that the Fellowship is not performing things according to law or other rules then they have the full right to bring this to the attention of the Chief Executive or the Chairman or any appropriate professional body and that there will be no come back on the member if they have acted with the best interests of the Fellowship at heart. This policy has really been necessary due to our continued concern for the way that we run the organisation for the benefit of members and to ensure they have a full say within it. This policy was approved unanimously. The next item was also a policy, that was a ‘Lone Worker’ policy for our Branches. Sadly in this day and age it is necessary to have such a policy which contains advice and tips for when lone members visit people in their own homes in order that they can be protected. Whilst the vast majority of times it will not be needed, in the one time that it is needed then such a system has to be in place to protect our members. Following discussion the policy was approved and both of these policies will be placed on our website and circulated to all Branches. Copies are available from Central Office.

The Trustees then discussed the appointment of new Trustees as we have three vacancies on the Board. Various ways that these places could be filled were discussed, including appointing people for their professional skills e.g. a solicitor or accountant, appointing further people to cover different regions, or to cover diversity issues. It was also suggested that the appointments of the Expert Panel might throw up some people who would be good to have on the Board. As there were lots of ideas and several issues in the pipeline, it was decided at this stage to make no new appointments but to keep this uppermost in Trustees’ minds.

The Trustees then discussed another item which has been raised by our governance issues. It was suggested that each Trustees should take on additional responsibility for a particular area of work of the Fellowship e.g. a ‘champion’ to look at our welfare, and one to look at fundraising and one to look at administration etc, etc. A list was circulated by the Chief Executive giving all the Trustees various additional roles and these were all fully accepted by the Trustees who will now have some additional responsibilities to cover.

Trustees then discussed various reports. Firstly the Treasurer tabled the financial report for December and the figures were then discussed. Because of problems with our bank it had been previously decided to change our bankers and following discussion it was resolved, officially, that the Nat West should act as our bankers. The change over of banks will take place over the next few weeks. As a result of this decision to change banks the Trustees took a fresh look at the authority to sign our cheques and both the Treasurer and Mike Egan have both been agreed as cheque signatories together with the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive then expanded on his report and in particular spoke to this year’s Business Plan. A whole series of tasks for Central Office as well as each department of Central Office were discussed and approved as was the income and expenditure budget for this year. Like last year, this year’s budget shows that Central Office will make a small surplus on its activities as it was felt important that Central Office is not a burden on the resources of the Fellowship and that what they do is always well within their means. In addition to our tasks we are raising additional funds to be spent on welfare and information, advice and support to our members. The Business Plan and budgets were approved unanimously. The Information Manager’s report was then discussed by the Board and they were pleased to hear that 450 heating grant applications had been made and approved. One of the assessors of the heating grant applications said that the task was a hard and difficult one as there were a lot of our members who were struggling to make ends meet and we must do all we can to help and assist them. Several of the applications have revealed the need to do further welfare work with those members. The Fundraising Manager’s report was then discussed and Trustees were pleased to hear that members had responded magnificently to our appeal to raise funds for heating grants and also to support the Bulletin which is seen as such an important part of our Fellowship.

The next meeting will take place on 25 March 2006 at the Multiple Sclerosis Society Headquarters in London.

Graham Ball
Chief Executive