瓜神网/1044 听23 October 2020
Carlow
Street, London NW1 7LH, Tel. 020 7756 2500, www.ucu.org.uk
To听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Branch and local association secretaries, Congress delegates
Topic听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Honorary
treasurer鈥檚 report to interim Congress
Action听听听听听听听听听听听听 For report
Summary 听听听听听听 Written report from the honorary treasurer to the on-line interim
Congress meeting, 28-30 October 2020听听听听听听听听听听听
Contact听听听听听听听听听听 Martin Smith, Acting head of
resources msmith@ucu.org.uk
Report to Interim
Congress by the Honorary Treasurer
1.
Report on financial
decisions taken by the NEC on behalf of Congress
1.1听听听 2020
Congress in May would have considered three items of financial business:
1.听听 The
accounts for the financial year ending on 31 August 2019.
2.听听 The
budget for the financial year starting on 1 September 2020.
3.听听 Proposals
for changes to subscriptions to take effect from 1 September 2020.
1.2听听听 None
of these items could be deferred until Congress was able to convene. The
accounts have to be submitted to the Certification Officer, and no leeway has
been given due to the current crisis. The budget comes into operation with the
start of each new financial year, and we cannot operate without a budget.
Subscriptions are linked to the budget, and for similar reasons, the proposed
changes needed to be agreed and put into effect from September. Strategy and
Finance Committee at its meeting on 3 April 2020 therefore discussed the
process by which these items would be approved, and the NEC approved the
process at its meeting on 1 May 2020. The NEC had previously seen and agreed
these items as documents for submission to Congress at its meeting on 13 March
2020. The union is now operating on the new budget and the subscription changes
decided on by the NEC (from several options) were put into effect from
September.
1.3听听听 The
change to subscription rates made this year included alteration of the boundary
between bands F4 and F3 in order to move an estimated 3200 of the lowest paid
members in F3 earning below 拢22,000 into band F4 saving them around 拢7 per
month. Subscription rates for these two bands were frozen, and graded increases
were made in the subscription rates above band F3, with the greatest increase
applied to the highest band, thus moving us nearer to a proportional system of
subscription rates. The process of revision started in 2018 is due to complete
within 5 years.
2听听听听听听 The Levy and the Fighting Fund
2.1听听听 Reviewing
forward projections for expenditure from the Fighting Fund it became apparent
to the national officers that there would be insufficient funds to meet all the
outgoings. NEC decided to raise a one-off levy of its members under rule at the
end of August, in order to make it possible to keep paying out to members who
had made claims on the Fighting Fund principally as a result of the two
disputes in HE (the USS and 鈥楩our Fights鈥� disputes). Without the levy, funds
would not have been available to meet all the claims made on the fund. The NEC
approved a levy in two tranches of 拢10 and 拢5, but the national officers made a
decision not to go ahead with the second tranche, as sufficient funds had been
raised from member and branch donations. In addition, the national officers
decided to exempt some categories of members on lower incomes. Delegates will
be aware of this from the letters sent to all members by the General Secretary.
2.2听听听 The
拢10 levy at the end of August raised about 拢730k and with donations from member
and branch funds added in, the result was a credit of about 拢1M to the Fighting
Fund. At the time of writing claims are still being paid, so the final balance
in the fund when all outstanding in time claims are paid cannot yet be stated.
The total amount paid out so far to members to support the Four Fights and USS
disputes is over 拢4M.
2.3听听听 The
rules applicable to the Fighting Fund as currently framed provide for the fund
to be built up and replenished by an annual percentage from subscription income
(and donations of course).
Steve Sangwine
Honorary Treasurer
20
October 2020