suebear Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Hi, for those settings that moved away from being committee led how long did it take and have you come across any negatives? Have you found parents are less interested and do less fundraising now? Thanks in advance x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 i started the set up in April and finished in the september ...but this was all tied up with us moving so i'm sure you could do it in a much quicker time span. I employed an accountant to do a lot of the legal work as i just didn't have the time. We had already identified that the current chair and vice would continue as chair and vice on the 'board' for the following two years to give us a chance to settle down and sort out the new building etc. We have a seperate fundraising group of parents, although one of the trustees does my grant fundraising applications. I have become much more independent as a manager....which is both good and bad i guess! I have regular contact with the chair and the rest of the trustees are kept up to date ....but we only offically meet once a term (though we try to slip in one or two more if we can) So far we have not had to recruit any new trustees but i have one or two in mind!! They do need to go through money launderiing processess (checking that they are who they are) but we have only had to do this for the senior trustees. One negative is that ofsted do not know what to do with us....we don't seem to fit any of their catagories!...but they are getting better ! The difficulties at the start were really trying to change the attitude of the trustees to be less hands on and more hands off...but we seem to have swung a bit the other way at the moment! can't win!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suebear Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 Finleysmaid did your setting have to close to reopen again or was that the case anyway because you swapped buildings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 no we didn't close and re-open as this would have had serious consequences on staff contracts (period of service) contracts now state xxx pre-school (old name ) and xxxx pre-school new name as employers.We did have to re-register with ofsted though but that was because we moved! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 You will have to re-register with Ofsted even if you don't move sites. Your registration as a committee is not valid - trust me I am having a nightmare after having discovered that our old chair did not re-register us after we transferred from a charity This is the only headache we are seriously having. The directors (old chair and treasurer) have resigned only there paperwork was sent off before ours meaning currently we don't have any registered directors with company house and as a result they can cease us trading. Ofsted are being fab though but TBH they have no choice but to be a bit lienent as they are well over a year over with our inspection and there not supposed to go over by more than 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 We were 2.5 years in new promises sazzj before inspection happened...so may have to wait a bit longer yet What are the pros/cons of changing status ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Biggest pro is not having to recruit a new committee every year. By all means they can be fab with the right people but personally found it a huge stress 95% of the time. By changing to a community interest group then it means staff can be directors making it less stressful as we know exactly where we want to go with the setting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Thanks , So who actually 'owns' the preschool assets ...premises, monies, equipment ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Good question lol. We rent the premises and in all honestly are struggling to be sustainable at the moment but we are governed by companies house so I am assuming in the event of us dissolving they would decide where assests went but will did paper work out and confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Thanks , So who actually 'owns' the preschool assets ...premises, monies, equipment ? The company. They are yours to sell as assets if the company is dissolved. You would then need to pay your debtors (this includes staff ) The premises in our case do not belong to us, we would need to ensure the building is in a fit state to be returned to the landlord...or pay to get it ready to hand back, this would include returning it to its original state! Pros.....static board of trustees/ more strategic planning/more autonomy/ not having to dbs every year!!/ possibility of specialist trustees ie accountant or buildings. / Cons....original set up/ money laundering check for those handling funds/ possible lack of support/ potential cost of supporting office jobs (eg wages /books ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thanks for the info finleysmaid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Ok, so where do you start? What do you have to do first? Having made the decision to be a community interest company, do you get an accountant on board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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