Dear Colleague
CONSULTATION ON RECOMMENDATIONS FROM WORKING PARTY ON REVIEW OF REGIONAL AND GROUP STRUCTURE (REMITTED MOTION A17/22)
Groups and Branches are being consulted on recommendations from the Working Party set up by the Executive Council in response to Remitted Motion A17/22 from the 2022 AGM. These recommendation were endorsed by the Organisation & Recruitment committee on 21 February, subject to receiving the views of Groups and Branches before any formal proposals are put to the October 2023 AGM. An article will also appear in the Spring issue of The Pensioner seeking views from individual members and representatives.
BACKGROUND
Motion A17 at the October AGM called on the Executive Council “to consider disbandment of the Group structure in England and Wales and move to Regional representation” After a vote, the motion was Remitted to the EC on the understanding that the EC would establish a Working Party with local Group involvement to carefully consider options for change, whilst being mindful not to undermine the local Groups that were working well.
The full text of the motion is as follows:
A/17 “The recent Government lock-downs and restrictions have highlighted the shortcomings of Alliance Groups in maintaining meaningful contact with their members. Together with groups closing and others struggling to remain in existence due to a lack of volunteers to take up committee positions, and notwithstanding the 2019 Working Party report and recommendations on the organisation of CSPA, it is time now for the Executive Committee to consider the disbandment of the group structure in England and Wales and move to Regional Representation with each EC Regional Member holding the chair
position with other committee posts being filled from volunteers from within that region.
Rather than watch the slow rupture of the Alliance take place over the next few years, the Executive Committee is instructed to devise a plan to move to a regional structure and to put in place for consideration and implementation at a future date to be agreed by the AGM in 2023”. Moved by Winchester Group.
The Executive Council agreed in December 2022 to establish a Working Party of EC and Group nominees to consider Remitted Motion A/17and formulate recommendations for consideration by the O&R commmittee on 21 February 2023, prior to wider consultation with Groups and Branches.
The Terms of Reference of the Working Party were as follows:
“To review the effectiveness of the current CSPA Group and Regional structure in England and Wales, taking account of the escalating rate of closures of local Groups and the decline in membership participation. To make recommendations to the EC for wider Group consultation, on improvements to the current structure, whilst ensuring that those Groups that continue to have active membership invovement will not be undermined, with the overall aim to encourage better member participation and interest in the work of CSPA and its aims on behalf of members.”
The Working Party comprised:
Chair: Mike Lawler (Secretary Organisation)
EC Reps:
Les Calder (South West Regional Rep)
Richard West
David Owen (Greater London Regional Rep)
Harry Brett (North West Regional Rep)
Susan Hennah-Barham (Eastern Regional Rep)
Group Reps:
*Ian Millar (Winchester Group)
John Abingdon (Bedford Group)
Mike Buckley (Sheffield Group)
Clive Roberts (East Devon Group)
Secretary: DGS David Luxton
* (Ian Millar submitted his written views to the Working Party but wished to record that he decided to withdraw his involvement after the first meeting.)
The working Party met on two occasions on 10 January and 30 January and considered a wide range of issues about membership participation; recruitment of new members; and the effectiveness of the current structure and how it might be changed. The discussions led to to the following recommendations for consultation with Groups and Branches:
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. No change is not an option -There is a clear consensus on the Working Party that that continuing with the status quo is simply managing decline, whilst local Groups are closing at an alarming rate, and is not a feasible option. Around 60% of members are not allocated to a Group due to closures. There needs to be change, but consensual change that has the support and active engagement of local Groups and active members.
2. Moving to a Regional structure would be controverial with many Group and members, and would not get the necessary support of the AGM to proceed, and more immediately would be likely to facilitate early closure of many more local Groups which are active.
3. There is support for a `hybrid` approach of using the capacity of active Groups and the EC Regional Rep to be brought to bear in helping develop active networks of volunteers across each Region to plan and implement local initiatives to revive Groups or find other ways to engage with members across the Region.
4. This has to be a process of agreed changes locally and not an across the board structural change imposed.
5. The aim of such a process is to encourage local networks of active reps to work with the Regional Rep to find and implement local initiatives to revive Groups and involve more members taking account of local circumstances and geography.
6. An active local network at Regional level can strengthen CSPA`scampaigning capacity in support and defence of Civil Service pensions and enhance CSPA`s visibility and presence locally and help attract new members
7. New approaches to engage members should be trialed on a pilot basis, such as planning a local CSPA team visit to a town without a local Group
and invite members in the area to attend; and trialing Zoom video Webinars to communicate with members
8. Trialing the concept of `virtual` Groups in a Region as a means to maintain contact with members no longer allocated to a local Group, utilising email and video communications as appropriate
9. Merging closed Groups with open active Groups needs to be a simpler administrative procedure with guidelines and Regional support and not just left to the local Group officers to facilitate.
10. Make more use of the new CSPA website and `The Pensioner` to promote local meetings and activities in each Region for members to access easily.
11. All of the above recommendations need to be considered holistically not as separate issues, and taken forward alongside implemntation of the recommendations from Working Party 1 of the New CSPA programme of work to improve the recruitment of new members as part of the recently agreed CSPA Recruitment Strategy.
CONSULTATION TIMETABLE
Groups and Branches are asked to provide views and comments in response to the recommendations set out above by Friday 14 April .
The recommendations and the comments and feedback from Groups will then be considered by the Executive Council at its next meeting on 27 April 2023. Final proposals will be circulated by the Executive Council to Groups and Branches in May 2023.
This timescale for consultation should not deter Groups and Regional Representatives from taking local initiatives in the meantime to encourage wider membership participation in Groups and helping to keep Groups open in their own Regions.
Yours sincerely
DAVID LUXTON
Deputy General Secretary