Dear Colleague

1. GROUP ACCOUNTS
   Thank you to all Groups that have sent in their Group accounts for the year ending 31 December 2023. Any Groups that have not yet done so are asked to send them to the National Treasurer as soon as possible, once they have been audited/examined and accepted by a General Meeting. They can be sent by email to M.Sparham@cspa.co.uk or by post to Head Office.
   
2. CLOSING GROUPS
   The Rules provide that all funds (including those held by Groups) are vested in the CSPA Trustees. Where a Group closes, the Rules provide that the closing balance should be sent to Head Office, where it will be placed in a Group Trust Fund for five years.
   
   Many Groups who are going to close decide to use some of the remaining funds to pay for a farewell event of some kind as a thank you to the volunteers who have been running the Group. Providing this expenditure is reasonable the CSPA Trustees have no problem with this. However, the Trustees do have a legal and constitutional responsibility to ensure that all CSPA funds are held for the benefit of members and are spent in pursuance of the objects of the organisation as set out in Rule 2 of the Constitution. Any expenditure on a farewell event should, therefore, be proportionate,
   approved by an appropriate meeting, and justifiable in the event of a challenge by a member.
   
3. REVIEW OF AGM FORMAT AND GROUP REPRESENTATION
   Group Circular 949, issued in late January, announced that the EC had established a Working Party, with Group representation, to review options for future AGM arrangements from October 2025, and invited Groups and Branches to submit their views on the format of future AGMs, to help inform the recommendations of the review. A request for members views was also published in the Spring issue of The Pensioner in March.
   
   Comments were received from 10 Groups, and from some individual members. All the comments received were then considered by the AGM Working Party in early April, and interim recommendations were put to the Executive Council on 17 April. The EC has asked the Working Party to reconsider some of the recommendations. The EC will then be putting forward final recommendations to the October AGM, which will be circulated to Groups later in June, before the deadline for submitting motions to the AGM on 5 July. Thank you to all the Groups and individual members who provided comments on the issues being considered by this review.
   
4. CONCLUSION
   Should you have any questions or need clarifications about any aspect of the contents of this Group Circular, please do not hesitate to contact me, either by phone 020 8688 8418 (office) – or by email – sally.tsoukaris@cspa.co.uk