Trustee Meeting

Minutes

/ 23 March 2016 / 9.00 am / hallmark hotel, Birmingham Strathallen

Attendees

/ Josephine Burt, Jo Thomson, Christine Harrison, Gill Chivers, Jeanette House, Natalie Punter, Ilana Levine, Kate Dobson.

Apologies

/ No Apologies.

Approval of minutes of last meeting

/ Minutes approved by the Board with the following edit- PQASSA to be removed from the table of responsibilities (Pg. 4)

Matters Arising

/ PQASSO deferred to 2017 to be put on the agenda of the January meeting.
Policy number system still to be revised.

Agenda topics

updates since last meeting
/ Josephine Burt

Discussion

/ Resolution of members’ complaint resulted in the formation of a new group.
NP appointment confirmed and accepted.
NWR has had two positive mentions by Zelda Meads-West agony aunt columnist for the Mail on Sunday.
Survey Monkey account has been upgraded to the gold package at a reduced charity fee- increasing functionality and allowing for complex analysis.
A workshop was held on 22 March between 1 and 4.30pm. The program was - analysis of competitors by Jeanette House, recruitment of ex NHR members by Natalie Punter and member profiling, the headline results from the survey, member profiling and developing a prospective member journey by Josephine Burt. Trustees and staff were joined by Area Organisers Marilyn Vigurs, Judy Challinor and Jill Lucas.
A closed meeting about staff matters was held.

Action items

/

Person responsible

/

Deadline

Office to open a file for the purpose of documenting complaints. / NP
Finance
/ Jo Thomson, Kate Dobson

Discussion

/ Honorary Treasurer’s report, Finance Manager’s report, Membership report and Pension update were available and read beforehand in preparation for the meeting.

Conclusions

/ The Board agreed that the matured £20,007 investment fund held with Legal and General is to be withdrawn and £10K to be reinvested into a suitable investment fund offering capital growth over the long term. And £10K to be held in a quick access account for the purpose of funding future projects.
The Board agreed to using- free of charge- an independent finance advisor recommended by JT on the completion of a register of interest form for the purpose of receiving investment fund and pension provider advice.

Action items

/

Person responsible

/

Deadline

£20,007 to be moved to a preliminary account pending decisions. / KD / Immediate
Investment plan to be prepared and presented at next TM meeting. / KD, JT / 24 June
Salaries to be reviewed and NJC scales to be monitored. / KD / 6 April and ongoing
A further paper on pensions with recommendations to be presented at the next trustee meeting. / KD,KT / 24 June
All finance reports going forward to include previous year’s figures for comparison. / KD / Ongoing
One group to be investigated for non-payment of fees. / KD, NP / Immediate
2016 National conference
/ Natalie Punter

Discussion

/ NP confirmed that as of this date 193 members have booked in for this year’s Brighton Conference.
JH proposed that when space allows to invite non-members to attend national conferences. JT seconded. Motion carried.
IL made the suggestion to live tweet during the conference.
Proposed city for the 2017 conference is Lincoln and possible venues are Lincoln University and Forest Pines Resort- possible date is 24 June. Proposed area for the 2018 conference is West Wales and English Border- possible dates are 23 June or 7 July.

Action items

/

Person responsible

/

Deadline

Trustees and staff to arrive at Sussex University at 1pm on Thursday. / All / 23 June
Check with office that trustees are booked into the conference. / NP / Immediate
Book accommodation for CH for Wednesday night. / NP / Immediate
Write conference timetable and guidance for the conference chair. / NP
Post conference numbers onto social media. / IL / Immediate
Pin down date for 2017 conference. / NP
Following reports to be collated for AGM
  • Financial Statement- KD
  • Trustees Report- JB
  • Honorary Treasurer’s Report- JT
  • Membership Report- NP
  • Website and Publicity- IL
/ SB
AN / 12 May
AGM papers to be sent out to members. / SB / 19 May
Prepare letter to invite members to AGM. / CH
Set up hashtag for the conference e.g. NWRCONF16. / IL
Marketing
/ Natalie Punter, Josephine Burt, Ilana Levine

Discussion

/ Magazine pilot helped to recruit 2 new members, NO advised to continue to print extra copies of magazine through 2016.
JB reported a positive response to the membership survey with some encouraging headlines. Website Survey planned for October.
IL reported that the magazine article for the Lady did not run. However the mention of NWR by Zelda Meads-West in the Mail on Sunday did result in positive spikes in traffic to the NWR website.
The back end of the website has had a software upgrade, IL will use to assess its usability and report back at the next trustee meeting. Morph have also lifted some restrictions to the website so that it can be more easily accessed abroad.
All policies should be made available on the website at the point of ratification. Trustees are responsible for saving final version in Dropbox for the office to then upload to the website once usage of the correct template, logo and policy number have been checked.
Event subsidy clarification – This is available to all groups to the value of £100 and does not need to be paid back to NWR.
Area Organiser event being held on 29April.
JH confirmed that photo competition entries will be used in the visual display unit as a backdrop at the Brighton Conference.

Action items

/

Person responsible

/

Deadline

Produce final analysis of Membership Survey. / JB / 30 April
Revision of Event Handbook. / NP, KD
Contact Mary Dodkins for possible publicity contact. / NP
Trustees’ personal telephone numbers should not be added to the website. / IL / Immediate
Data Protection Policy to be added to website. / IL
All policies to be checked for correct logo, policy number and template and add to. website. / SM, AN
Strategic Plan review
/ Natalie Punter

Discussion

/ Sections of the strategic plan that have either been completed or started are as follows;
1.4, 1.9, 4.2, 5.5, 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 10.1, 10.3, 10.5, 12.1, 12.2, 12.5, 14.1, 14.2, 14.4, 15.1 and 16.1

Action items

/

Person responsible

/

Deadline

Date change in Section 16.1 (implementation box 2) from March 2016 to June 2016. / NP / Immediate
Put together a visual strategic document for members ready for Brighton Conference if time permits. / NP
Risk Register update
/ Natalie Punter

Discussion

/ The updated register is now ready for trustees to view. It is saved in the Strategic Plan file in Dropbox.
Policy Review
/ Gill Chivers, Jeanette House

Discussion

/ Existing Policies and Procedures
  • Equal Opportunities - Accepted with edits
  • Discipline Procedures (members)- Accepted with additional inserts
  • Discipline Procedures (employees)- Accepted with edits
  • Grievance Procedures (members)- Accepted with edits
  • Grievance Procedures (employees)- Accepted with edits
  • Health and Safety Review- Accepted with edits
  • Emergency Decision Making Procedures- Accepted, no edits necessary
New Policies
  • Competition Guidelines- Accepted

Staff Reports

Discussion

/ All staff reports available and read beforehand in preparation for the meeting. No questions or concerns form the Board.

ADJOURNMENT

Time

/ 14.55pm

Minutes Submitted by

/ Kate Dobson

Minutes approved by

/ The Board

Next Meeting

/ 2016
23 & 24 June (Thursday and Friday before Conference)
5 & 6October (Wednesday and Thursday)
2017
25 & 26 January( Wednesday and Thursday)

TABLE OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES MARCH 2016 TO JUNE 2016

Josephine Burt / Chair, liaison with NO, Bank Signatory.
Christine Harrison / Company Secretary, Wind-up Policy, Data Protection Policy, Trustee Manual
Jo Thomson / Honorary Treasurer, Bank Signatory, Investment Policy, Payment Card Policy, Remuneration Policy, IT Purchasing Policy, Liaison with Finance Manager
Jeanette House / Health and Safety policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, Emergency Decision Making Procedures, Competition Policy.
Gill Chivers / National Conference, Mary Stott Award, Discipline and Grievance Procedures, Equal Opportunities policy, Appraisal Policy, Bank Signatory

POLICY REVIEW SCHEDULE

pOLICY / POLICY NUMBER / PERSON RESPONSIBLE / LAST REVIEW DATE / NEXT REVIEW DATE
eQUAL OPPORTUNITIES pOLICY / 2006-04 / Gill Chivers / March 2016 / March 2018
wIND-UP pOLICY / 2006-01 / Christine Harrison
(with JT and KD) / January 2016 / January 2018
dISCIPLINE Procedures (EMPLOYEES) / 2006-02a / Gill Chivers / March 2016 / March 2018
gRIEVANCE procedures (Employees) / 2006-02b / Gill Chivers / March 2016 / March 2018
Grievance Procedures (members) / Gill Chivers / March 2016 / March 2018
dISCIPLINE Procedures (MEMBERS) / 2006-02c / Gill Chivers / March 2016 / March 2018
appraisal policy / 2007-01 / Gill Chivers / June 2015 / June 2017
IT PURCHASING POLICY / 2007-02 / Jo Thomson, Kate Dobson / January 2015 / January 2017
Office handbook / 2007-03 / Natalie Punter / January 2015 / January 2017
data protection data / 2008-01 / Christine Harrison / January 2015 / January 2017
HEALTH AND SAFETY REVIEW / 2008-03 / Jeanette House / March 2016 / March 2018
Communications policy / 2008-04/ 2009-02 / Natalie Punter / June 2015 / January 2017
REMUNERATION POLICY / 2008-05 / Jo Thomson, Kate Dobson / January 2015 / January 2017
Trustees handbook / 2009/02 / Christine Harrison / June 2015 / June 2017
cONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY / 2009-03 / Jeanette House / January 2016 / January 2018
EMERGANCY DECISION MAKING PROCEDURE / 2012-01 / Jeanette House / March 2016 / March 2018
Investment Policy / 2015-01 / Jo Thomson, Kate Dobson / January 2016 / January 2018
Competition Policy / 2015-02 / Jeanette House / January 2016 / January 2018
competition guidlines / Jeanette House / March 2018 / January 2018
Appointment Policy / 2015-03 / Jeanette House / January 2016 / January 2018
Payment Card Policy / 2015-04 / Jo Thomson, Kate Dobson / January 2016 / January 2018

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