Minutes of the West Berkshire UNISON
AGM held on 5th March 2014
Present: Dave Pearson (Chair), Rosemary Culmer, Michael Butler, Linda Pye, Maria Shepherd, Jake Brown, Denise Neale, David Lowe, Mary Page, Jon Bowden, Ray Fendley, Ro Stallard, Jackie Ward, Ian Haggett, Mike Sullivan, Alistair Buckley, Caroline Peddie, Craig Gilder, Juliet Penley, Sandra Perry, Neil Stacey, Paul Goddard, Mark Hill, Rowena Smyth, Chris Camplin, Mick Quelch, Denise Pentith, Caroline Villiers (Regional Organiser), Phil Reynolds (Gosport Borough Council), Robert O’Reilly (Pensions discussion only)
Apologies: Joan Mack, Peter Madley, Joy Appleton, Celia Camplin, Wendy Rumble, Andrea Ferguson, David Vaughn, Jackie Jordan, Lynn Frost, Derek Carnegie, Jean Nay, Mike Brook, Eve Allen, Mr. S. Burgess, David Swann, Mrs. J.A. Bull
1. Minutes of AGM – 20th February 2013
Agreed as a correct record.
2. Matters Arising
None.
3. Election of Officers
The following officers were elected:
Post / Officer /Chair / David Pearson
Secretary / Rosemary Culmer
Minute Secretary / Linda Pye
Treasurer / Maria Shepherd
Welfare Secretary / Denise Neale
Membership Officer / Sandra Perry
Social Secretary / Linda Pye
International Officer / Ian Haggett
Women’s Officer / Eve Allen and Denise Pentith (share)
Communications Officer / Jake Brown
Vice-Chair / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Auditors (2) / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Retired Members / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Equality Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Environmental Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Black Members’ Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Health and Safety Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Young Members’ Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Education Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Political Officer / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Learning Rep / Delegate to new Branch Executive
Two additional ex-officio members / Delegate to new Branch Executive
4. Election of Workplace Representatives
The following workplace representatives were proposed and agreed:
Department / RepresentativeLibraries / Andrea Ferguson
Planning / Denise Neale
Strategic Support / David Lowe
Customer Services / Maurice Moore
Pensions and Workplace Representative (Highways and Transport) / Ray Fendley
Denefield School / Jean Nay
Environmental Health / Mick Quelch
Children’s Services / Terri Swift
Children’s Services / Denise Pentith
Adult Services / Eve Allen
Planning / Michael Butler
The Executive was given delegated authority to appoint to the Executive or Workplace Representatives as appropriate.
5. Report of Chair
Dave Pearson welcomed a number of retired members who were present at the meeting along with Phil Reynolds, the Head of Pay and Central Services at Gosport Borough Council who would be providing an update on the Local Government Pension Scheme 2014.
Dave reported that this had been a challenging and difficult year particularly in light of the Government’s attitude to public services which had led to austerity measures and a pay freeze. Dave referred to the recent flooding and listed those services/organisations which had provided assistance during those difficult times – the fire service, police, army, local authorities and the much aligned Environment Agency – all of which were public services and who were also experiencing cuts to staffing resources. On a local level the Council had continued to see redundancies as a result of savings proposals which had led to an increase in workload on those staff remaining. The union continued to be involved in negotiations with the Leader and senior management in respect of performance related pay and some important concessions had already been achieved. Dave felt that the branch had done its best to rise to the challenges and had pursued management hard in order to ensure that any changes to terms and conditions were as good as they could possibly be and that existing staff continued to be protected.
A big part of the work for the union was helping members in trouble and Dave reported that representatives continued to do the best they could. However, the union needed more people to help with representing members as this was an important element and Unison had been very successful in helping members to improve their outcome. The work was rewarding and Unison would be grateful for any willing volunteers to come forward.
Dave thanked those for attending the AGM and also the members of the Executive for attending branch meetings and supporting the union. In particular he specifically thanked:
· Sandra Perry for assisting Rosemary in the Unison Office;
· Ray Fendley and Ian Haggett for their expertise on pension issues;
· Eve Allen and Denise Pentith who had been very active on women’s issues and had been successful in recruitment of new members;
· Jake Brown who had been working hard to improve communications within the branch;
· Linda Pye for organising social events. These events were very few and far between and those that had been arranged were all down to Linda;
· Maria Shepherd who had taken on the role of Treasurer last year and had done a fantastic job in this specialised role;
· Rosemary Culmer – her role was pivotal to the union and the branch could not operate without her. She continuously went beyond what was expected of her in her role.
7. Report of Branch Secretary
Rosemary remarked that she did not know where the year had gone as it had flown by and the branch had gone full circle with the fact that Caroline Villiers was now back as our Regional Organiser. She stated that Caroline had a lot to answer for as it was her who had been responsible for encouraging Rosemary to take on the role of Branch Secretary some 13.5 years ago.
National Conference was in Liverpool this year and Regional Conference in Portsmouth and Rosemary thanked Linda for giving up her leave to come and help represent the branch. Rosemary had also been part of the Regional Local Government Committee and this year she was pleased to announce that both Linda and Rosemary had been elected as taking part in Regional events helped with networking, communication and an understanding of what was happening both nationally and locally as local authorities were able to share ideas. West Berkshire was congratulated at Regional Committee by another member from Reading who was aware of the increase in the wage for Apprentices which would come into effect from April 2014.
Rosemary reported that she was pleased that Eve Allen and Denise Pentith had been able to attend Women’s Conference and Forums and were getting to know other women activists within the region and nationally.
At the Regional Conference Ruth Smith from region had presented a top of the pops countdown of the highest 20 branch recruiters – Linda and I were pleased to discover that West Berkshire branch had been number 5 in the chart. Unfortunately with the transfer of staff from the Discovery Centre to the Wildlife Trust and many leavers it would be necessary to continue to recruit more members. If only each one of those attending the AGM could recruit 2 or 3 members each then the branch would soon reach its target. Any ideas for recruitment would be welcomed.
Rosemary confirmed that the Unison website was receiving more hits and she thanked Jake for his help with that.
As the Chairman had stated there had been an increase in the number of cases especially in helping to support members’ return to work after suffering with work related stress. Rosemary thanked all those who had helped with this.
Rosemary was pleased that everyone had given the commitment to attend the in-house stewards training course. It was good that everyone could get together and really get to know each other in a learning environment rather than just at Committee meetings.
Rosemary especially thanked Sandra for her help in the office, Ian for help with pension queries, Maria for looking after the funds, Linda for organising trips and keeping her sane and Dave for his continued support.
8. Report of Treasurer
Maria Shepherd stated that at the 2013 National Delegate Conference a number of amendments had been made to the rules that governed the operation of finances in Unison branches:
· Rule G2.2.8 – Branches should from 1st January 2014 maintain records of its financial transactions, assets and liabilities using the national online branch accounting system (OLBA) – West Berkshire branch introduced OLBA in June 2013.
· Rule G2.2.9 – Branches should from 1st January 2014 develop an appropriate annual budget as part of the joint branch assessment process in accordance with the Union’s objectives and priorities – West Berkshire branch submitted its annual budget for 2014 as part of the joint branch assessment process.
· Rule H4.2 – with effect from 1st January 2014 such sums should be remitted to branches in accordance with a timetable to be published by the National Executive Council and be paid into a current account held in the name of the branch with Unity Trust Bank – West Berkshire branch had opened a Unity Trust Bank Account. All funding from HQ was still being paid into the Nationwide account but the Treasurer would transfer the balance from Nationwide and close the account as soon as possible.
The report also provided a summary of Accounts for 2013 and was subject to approval by the Auditors. All branch accounts had been submitted and received by the Auditors at HQ but due to a backlog had not yet been approved.
As a result of a change to Rule H4.2 in the rule book all branches now had to set a budget as part of their joint branch assessment. The Executive had agreed a branch budget for 2014 subject to agreement from members.
The Statement of Accounts for 2013 was noted and the Budget for 2014 agreed which included Honoraria payments of £2,000.
9. Social Secretary’s Report
Linda Pye reported that the “social club” had had a busy year and that all the trips organised had been extremely successful. Trips this year included:
· Trip to see “Cabaret” and “Hot Flush” at Oxford
Linda reported that she had enjoyed arranging the events. She thanked Maria as Treasurer for providing the funding up front in order that these events could take place and also to Rosemary for her help and support throughout the year.
10. Welfare Officer’s Report
None received.
11. Auditor’s Report
None received.
12. Motions
There were no Motions submitted to the meeting.
13. Branch Rules and Branch Assessment
A revised set of Branch Rules and a Branch Assessment was presented to the AGM for approval.
The AGM agreed the revised Branch Rules and Branch Assessment.
14. Pensions Update
Phil Reynolds, Head of Pay & Central Services at Gosport Borough Council, attended the AGM to provide an update on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) 2014.
There were a number of myths around the LGPS i.e. you would have too pay more, the pension would be less, you would have to work longer to get less and it would be harder to get a pension. The reality was that the average contribution by the employee was 6.5% and 19% by the employer. 1/49th was bigger than 1/60th. The pension would be payable from age 55 and would allow greater flexibility. Phil stated that the Berkshire Pension Fund website was quite good. The fund was meant to be 100% funded but it had reduced to 85% and it was now proposed to get back up to 100%.
The following was new for 2014:
· Not ‘final salary’ but ‘career average’
· New ‘Accrual’ rate
· All pay used to calculate pension – everything you earn would now count
· Pension Accounts
· Protection against inflation
· Flexible membership terms – 50/50
· New ‘Normal Retirement Age’ – linked to State Pension Age with a minimum age of 65. If your SPA changed in the future, so would your Normal Pension Age in the new scheme.
Members of the pension scheme would be written a letter setting out which band they were in. The majority of members would pay the same or even less. The average contribution would be 6.5% and earnings would now be based on all pay (including overtime). Pay bands would be reviewed every 3 years.
An individual’s pension account at retirement would contain:
· Any pension built up earned by membership of the LGPS since April 2014
· Any CPI rises
· Any previous LGPS service prior to 2014
· Details of any tax free lump sum earned prior to 2008
· Any transfers into the LGPS
All members would join the career average scheme on 1st April 2014. All benefits built up before 1st April 2014 would continue to be based on the final year’s salary pay when you left the scheme as these benefits had been built up in the final salary scheme. All membership accrued to 1st April would be used to calculate final salary benefits.
An individual could increase their benefits by APCs or AVCs. Phil explained the benefits of APCs or AVCs which involved buying lumps of pension.
The basic benefits of the LGPS 2014 included:
· Pension based on 1/49th of pay
· Individual Pension Account
· Price increases applied annually
· Family/Dependents benefits
· Ill health cover
· Death in service benefits