Membership Update
As you will no doubt be aware, the membership renewals process is now underway. Please could you liaise with your council contact and make sure these are completed and returned as soon as possible. I reported to the September Board before the renewals were issued that we had reached over 1,500 members. This is our highest ever figure and looking back, the membership has grown 50% in the last 5 to 6 years which is a great testament to the success of ADSO. It also means that as a Board we have to plan diligently for the future. The Directors and Regional Representatives have been looking at the future in particular in terms of resilience in the organisation and we will report to members in the coming months.
One area regarding membership I would like to highlight is where a member leaves their employment during the ADSO membership year and commences with another Authority. I have had some queries on this over my short time as Company Secretary and at the September meeting, the Board clarified a position on this which is as follows and is different to some previous practice.
“Where a member leaves their employment then the membership will stay with the leaving member’s previous organisation. That previous employer may transfer at no cost that membership to another member of their staff for the remainder of that membership year (e.g. a new appointee).
If the leaving member wishes to remain a member of ADSO then they would need to pay for a new membership by themselves or through their new employer. However, if the leaving member can demonstrate they have paid for the original membership themselves or if the previous employer expressly permits it, the leaving member can transfer their membership to their new employer instead. However, in latter instance, the previous employer would forfeit the membership place for the remainder of that year.”
If anyone has any queries then more information can be found on our membership page at https://www.adso.co.uk/about-us/join/.
Annual General Meeting/ General Meeting
As a company, ADSO has Articles of Association which you can view here. The Board has been reviewing these in recent months and one decision has been to move the Annual General Meeting to February/ March time and hold it on a virtual basis to enable it to be open to all members. At present it is held during the November conference. There has also been a review of the appointment of Directors and how branches are run and these will also need changes to the Articles of Association, if agreed. It has therefore been decided to hold a ‘General Meeting’ during the conference to change and update the articles and these will then be in place for the AGM. More details on this and a date for the AGM will be sent to members in due course.
Introduction to Company Secretarial Practice course
There are still spaces available on our Introduction to Company Secretarial Practice course taking place on 1 and 8 November. Research by Grant Thornton in 2018 showed that of the 380 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, 59.2% had at least one trading company. That has most likely increased since then. The Company Secretary/ Assistant Company Secretary role is most akin to Democratic and Governance Officers, in local government or the wider public sector and in the course we explore what makes a good Company Secretary and the similarity between the roles. I deliver this course with Matthew Kane, Associate Director – Corporate Affairs and Trust Secretary at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
For full details and to book, please click on the link below:
https://www.emcouncils.gov.uk/ADSO/ADSO—Introduction-to-Company-Secretarial-Practice/80295
ADSO Sponsors
As we have announced previously, Charlie Sinclair from Sevenoaks Council is our new Sponsor Manager and income from sponsors is as ever important in contributing to the sustainability and future development of ADSO. Below is a message from Charlie:
“Following on from the great work already started by the ADSO team, we have 6 fantastic main sponsors supporting our association. Each of these sponsors have significant experience of partnership working in local government or similar. Following my appointment to Sponsor Manager I am working closely with them and over their sponsorship period we will be giving the sponsors the opportunity to feature in our newsletters. The features will keep us up to date with their products which support our work as DSOs. ”
Mark Towers, ADSO Company Secretary