Guest Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I work at a charity run pre-school who are under the PSLA constitution. As far as I am aware the committee are still running under the old PLA constitution. My question is we have a committee member who is secretary and now wants to take on the role of administrator with pay and still be secretary. The committee member is also a trustee. A member of the committee has told us that they have gone to the charity commission, not the PSLA, for permission for this to happen. Is this correct or should we contact the PSLA? A quick look at the Charity Commission website indicates that no one can be a trustee and a paid member of staff. Many thanks in advance for any advice.
Steve Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Hi Virginia - Firstly, welcome to the Forum and it's good to see your first post. I'm afraid I can't answer your question, but I just wanted to let you know that I think this question is better placed in the Committee forum area so I've moved it there, where hopefully it will attract the attention of the many FSF members with experience of committees.
Guest Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Hi As far as i'm aware a committee member cannot be a paid member of staff.... Hope this helps. By the way welcome to the forum....
Cait Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 Are you using the up to date constitution? If you are then you are ok as long as they abstain from discussions or voting on things like salaries eetc. Ring PSLA to check though
Inge Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 My understanding is that you have to follow your constitution , if using an old PSLA one you would need to change it. . I do not think just a call to Charity Commission will be enough. Will probably mean the arranging AGM or emergency AGM to get enough to vote on the new constitution which then gets sent to the Charity Commission. the latest PSLA one does allow it.. but have a feeling it has some restrictions like not officers.. or as Cait says not voting on some decisions.. and welcome
Rea Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) You cant be a committee member and be paid for any job within the setting. The newer constitution allows staff to be on the committee but not involved in decision making regarding wages or any employment issues. Our secretary resigned as secretary to take on the role of paid administrator, would that be a route for you? She didnt have a say at meetings but was still welcome to come because she needed to know certain things, she also still took the minutes until we found a new secretary. Edited March 4, 2011 by Rea
Guest Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I think Rea is right, she needs to resign and then be re-employed (but you might have to advertise and interview if it's a new post). The roles of secretary and administrator would be so closely linked, that you could end up paying someone to do what should be voluntary tasks. It makes life much easier if committee are not staff, I promise you (even though we have the new constitution which does allow it).
Rea Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 We pnly had an administrator for a really short time because she then applied for and got an assistant job. I didnt think it worked too well to be honest. It made it more difficult remembering who had which role, because basically the role of secretary covered more or less everything the admin role did. Splitting the jobs was complicated and i just did things myself. Suzies right though, you'd have to advertise the job and hold interviews so she might not get the paid role anyway.
Cait Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) Hmm, not sure. It was my understanding that you can be a paid member of staff and be on the committee as long as you don't get paid for the committee side of things - it's a voluntary committee. I think a phonecall to the PSLA is the best idea - let us know what they say and then we'll all know. Edited March 4, 2011 by Cait
Fredbear Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) With you on that one Cait, i would suggest a call to them to be a good idea. Please let us know how you get on. Edited March 4, 2011 by bridger
Guest Posted March 7, 2011 Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks everyone for your advice and support. I think contacting the PSLA is the next step forward. Virginia
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