SPECIAL GROUP CIRCULAR 951
January 2024
To: Groups in the Wessex Region and members of the Executive Council
Dear Colleague,
NOMINATIONS INVITED FOR THE VACANT POSITION ON THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (EC) FOR WESSEX REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
Three vacancies currently exist on the EC;
1) The Vice Chair position following Don Makepeace’s recent decision to withdraw due to continued ill health.
2) The Representative for Groups in Wales post, which has remained vacant since before the 2022 AGM.
3) The Wessex Regional Representative post, vacated by the unexpected passing of our longstanding colleague, Tony Hall late last year.
The Executive Council has since agreed that procedures should commence to fill two of these vacancies at the earliest opportunity, and the arrangements for nominations to the Vice Chair role have been set out within GC 950/24.
On behalf of the EC, this circular is seeking nominations from Groups in the Wessex Region to fill the representative position in accordance with the following timetable:
Nomination papers (2 copies), circulated within the week ending 26 January 2024 (included with this Group Circular), are being sent to Groups in Wessex only.
Completed nomination papers are to be received by CSPA HQ no later than 12 noon on Friday 23 February 2024. NB: Groups are asked to check with their proposed nominees, to confirm that they are willing to stand for the position of Regional Representative for the Wessex Region, before returning their
completed and signed nominations.
Guidance on the role of the Regional Representatives can be found in the extract of Advice to Groups in England and Wales included with this circular. If more than one nomination is received, then a ballot will be conducted, to the following timetable:
Ballot papers to be dispatched to all Groups in England and Wales by Friday 8 March 2024
Completed ballot papers to be received at CSPA HQ by close of business on Friday 12 April 2024
Notice of successful candidate communicated to all Groups in a Group Circular after Monday 15 April 2024.
The relevant part of the CSPA constitution states:
(e) Motions and Nominations
(i) Motions may proceed from the Executive Council, Branches, Groups, and members not covered by Branches or Groups.
(ii) Nominations may be submitted by Branches and Groups and members not covered by Branches or Groups, in respect of the Elected Officers, five ordinary members of the Executive Council, and Standing Orders Committee.
Additionally, Groups and members not covered by a Group within each of the CSPA’s nine Regions of England and Wales may nominate any CSPA member belonging to a Group within their Region to stand for election to their Regional Executive Council seat. Two of the seats for ordinary members of the Executive Council shall be reserved for women.
(iii) Motions and nominations proceeding from Branches and Groups must have been passed at a duly convened meeting of the Branch or Group concerned and when forwarded to the General Secretary be signed by the Branch or Group Chair and Secretary. Motions and nominations submitted by members not
covered by Branches or Groups must be seconded by another member.
(f) Elections
(i) All elections shall be conducted by ballot on a card vote basis, see Rule 7
(g)(i).
(ii) Those for the Elected Officers) five ordinary members of the Executive Council and Standing Orders Committee shall be voted upon by representatives from Branches, representatives from Groups and members attending not covered by Branches or Groups.
(iii) The nine regional seats on the Executive Council shall be filled as a result of votes cast by representatives from Groups and members in attendance not covered by Groups.
(iv) Two of the remaining three members of the Executive Council shall be appointed by Scotland Branch and one by Northern Ireland Branch.
g) Voting
(i) Voting shall be by show of hands or, where either the Chair shall so decide or at least 20 or more of those present so demand, by card vote. In this event accredited representatives from Branches and Groups shall be entitled to use voting cards representing the total members of their Branch or Group, this to be determined on the basis of the number of members shown by the CSPA’s membership records to be resident in the stated area of the Branch or Group on 30 June of the current year.
(ii) The decision regarding a card vote may be taken either before a vote is taken, or upon the declaration of the result of a vote by show of hands.
Nomination Forms
You will find a nomination form for the Regional Representative post enclosed with this circular:
The enclosed form should be used to submit your Group’s Nomination and should be signed by both the Chair and Secretary of the Group or Branch in accordance with Rule 7(e) (iii) of the Rules & Constitution.
Due to ongoing problems with postal services, we will also accept scanned signed copies emailed to benedetta.makanju@cspa.co.uk
If you have any questions or require any further information about the matters covered by this Group Circular, please don’t hesitate to contact me, either by email at sally.tsoukaris@cspa.co.uk Telephone on 020 8688 8418 (Office).
Yours sincerely,
Sally
Sally Tsoukaris
General Secretary, Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance
