Introduction
Following a review of the Barts Guild’s Constitution, the Trustees proposed that it be amended to set out key provisions about the membership of the Management Committee and better reflect the way in which the Guild operates in practice.
The new Constitution was approved at the Guild AGM on 25th October 2018 and will come into force on 1st April 2019.
A summary of the agreed changes is included below.
Please click the links below for copies of the documents:
Constitution as of 1st April 2019
Constitution as of 1st April 2019 (mark-up showing differences)
Summary of Changes
Quorum for Members’ meetings
Clause 12 of the Constitution will be amended to reduce the quorum for members meetings from the greater of 10 members or 10% of the membership to a fixed quorum of 10 members.
Since the Guild has begun to offer membership to medical students its total membership has increased to approximately 400 members. Under the current Constitution, this would mean at least 40 members of the Guild would need to attend any General Meeting in order validly to pass a Members’ Resolution.
The Trustees foresee that it may be challenging to achieve this level of attendance consistently at General Meetings, as required by the current Constitution. The Trustees consider that a quorum of 10 members is reasonable, and that this amendment will ensure that the Guild will be able to continue to operate effectively while the overall membership continues to grow.
Register of Members
Clause 8.4 of the Constitution will be amended to require the Guild to keep a register of the names and contact details of members, rather than just addresses, and to remove the obligation to provide these details to any member on request as this might infringe data protection regulations.
The Trustees will keep relevant contact details for Guild’s members and may decide to keep contact information such as e-mail addresses in addition to or instead of postal addresses. The Trustees are sensitive to issues around the protection of members’ personal data and consider that it would be in the best interest of the Guild to be relieved of the obligation to provide such information to any member upon request.
Composition of the Management Committee and Trustees’ Appointment
Clauses 17 and 18 of the Constitution will be amended to set out the composition of the Management Committee (“MC”), the duration for which Trustees may serve on the MC and when Trustees shall retire, so that Trustees agree to serve for 3 years and may then serve for a further term of 3 years, after which they are obliged to take a break for at least one year. However, Officers comprising the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer will have the flexibility whereby they are each appointed for such term as may be agreed with the Trustees of not more than 3 years; whereas currently, they are obliged to be appointed for specific period of 3 years and annually thereafter.
Additionally, the Constitution will provide a clear distinction between the Trustees, who may vote on decisions of the MC and Co-opted members of the MC who attend and contribute to meetings of the MC but do not have a vote at those meetings.
Election of Trustees
Clause 18 of the Constitution will be amended to simplify the process for electing trustees to the MC in order to avoid the need for formal written notices to be provided and signed by members in advance of a general meeting.