• We started off with a brilliant presentation from the Student Advice Service
• No new conflicts of interest were noted (one will change in September)
• Minutes from last time were approved  
• Risk Register was noted; loss or absence of sabbatical officers continues to be the highest risk the organisation faces
• Board noted and received reports from: CEO / SMT, Swansea Campus President, and Group President. CEO presentation focused on the current acute challenges the Union faced in the sector.
• Management Accounts were received and noted, surplus allocated to:
  • Welcome Events
  • Student Voice staff support (the option for to have agency staff to help with admin if we need)
  • Venues Support funding
• The budget for next year to be submitted to the University was discussed at Board. The submitted Business Plans were provided to Trustees as part of their direction to SMT. Thank you to managers who undertook the business planning process / budget process. The budget has now been to:
  • COO and DoFS
  • PSLT
  • SLT
  • Board with the final step being University Council - once approved by Council we can share where we're at in terms of it being finally and fully approved.
• SUSS Pension insurance has decreased yet again due to Mick's fine work!
• Approved - Updated Safeguarding Policy - This will be communicated widely over the next few weeks
• Approved - Updated Health & Safety Policy Statement - This will be communicated widely over the next few weeks
• Received - Third Party Supplier list - is presented as part of the Good Governance Framework

Trustee Appointments, Re-appointments, and Resignations

• Appointed - Graham Armstrong - New Chair of H&S Committee
• Appointed - Alina  - New student trustee
• Appointed - Amy Mercy - New student trustee
• Appointed - Maria Dinu - Group President
• Appointed - Rhobyn Grant - Lampeter Campus President
• Re-Appointed - Lowri Wilson - Carmarthen Campus President
• Re-Appointed- Natalie Beard - Swansea Campus President
• Resigned (come to the end of their term): Taya Gibbons - Group President
• Resigned (come to the end of their term): Mark Bleasdale - External Trustee
• Resigned (come to the end of their term): Tommi - Student Trustee
• Resigned (come to the end of their term): Simran - Student Trustee
• Resigned (come to the end of their term): Redwhan  - Student Trustee

• No new conflicts of interest were noted
• Minutes from last time were approved
• Matters arising were noted; in particular increased ease of being able to purchase items
• Student Opportunities: CEO took the time to praise the work of the SO team for the committee elections noting that their hard work in setting up the elections but also to have such positive student engagement.
• Elections report was presented by HoMS
• Sub-committee updates were noted: challenges with attendance of trustees at sub-committees was highlighted. An approval to an increase in the expenses policy was taken to Board due to the number of trustees available for HR Committee.
• Risk Register was noted; loss or absence of sabbatical officers continues to be the highest risk the organisation faces • Board noted and received reports from: CEO / SMT, Swansea Campus President, and Group President
• Management Accounts were received and noted - a small surplus is expected and funding re-allocated to: Re-freshers and Course Rep promo
• The budget for next year to be submitted to the University was discussed at Board. The submitted Business Plans were provided to Trustees as part of their direction to SMT. 
• A direction set by the Group President in consultation with Student Opportunities Manager for Sports was presented for consideration and approval. This has now been submitted to the University.
• SUSS Pension AGM outcomes were noted to Trustees.
• Unfortunately, a trustee was deemed to have resigned after missing 3 meetings in a row without apologies, and for not engaging in any wellbeing checks from the CEO.
• On Commercial Matters: the Board have asked SMT to think bigger in terms of commercial projects for the SU. The SU will be working with colleagues and externals such as NUS to do so.

• No new conflicts of interest

• Minutes from last time were approved

• Matters arising were noted

• Sub-committee updates were noted for Audit & Risk: main focus on Audited Accounts

• Audited Accounts: 

  • Audited Accounts are documents that outline the income and expenditure of the SU. It provides insight into what we spent money on last year.

  • Approved! A massive shout out to Michelle as there were no recommendations at all to the SU (this is unheard of for most charities!) Massive congrats to Mick for all of her hard work. There will be a presentation on finances coming soon where I'll talk everyone through block grant, budget, pensions, and audited accounts.

  • The next step is for the University to receive the accounts Resources and Performance Committee (as per the Education Act 1994 required), following that the accounts will be formally 'signed' as in actually signed. Then uploaded to our website, Companies House, and Charity Commission website. All ready for November 2024 presentation at AGM.

• Going Concern

  • Going Concern is the 'thumbs up' from the Board that it believes the SU will continue to be operating in a year's time. This is good practice to do. Its like a statement to say "we're happy that we will continue to deliver for students based on our current finances". It takes into account the current financial assets of the SU and the potential forecast budget (note: budget for next year has not been approved and so existing figures for this year have been utilised).

• Management Accounts: Board is content with current 'live' financial position of the students' union.

• Budget Direction 2024-2027: Board of Trustees was updated on the approach that SMT is taking with the University in terms of direction (i.e. potential costs year-on-year and our negotiation tactics) 

• Updates on strategic projects

• Reports from the sabbatical officers

• Updates on Nurole: an organisation delivering our trustee recruitment for People & Culture and Health & Safety Trustees

• Risk Register updates were noted

• A number of new conflicts of interest were noted and will be added to the register of interest Board of Trustees workplan was approved Risk Register was updated with increased risks relating to commercial services income being low, and new risks in relation to vacant Lampeter Campus President position, and a SUSS Pension data breach (note: another SU’s data was leaked leading to challenges for UWTSD SU, the Union’s DPO is content with all remedial actions taken by SMT)
• The overarching work of the Lampeter Engagement Plan was presented i.e. changes to the way the building operates, travel to-and-from, and the additional student staff
• Approach to Strategic Projects was outlined: Strategic Projects will now have a trustee assigned to monitor progress. In addition a sabbatical officer will act as ‘sponsor’ of the project to ensure that wherever relevant student voice is included within the project as well as work on communication to students and internal communication between sabbatical officers. There will be a lead member of SMT per project The agenda for each strategic project meeting will include an item on how the outcomes of that meeting will be communicated to staff.
• Report received by SU CEO Reports received by the Sabbatical Officers Management Accounts were presented. A small surplus has been achieved due to vacant posts.
• SUSS Pension Update provided: the Union’s Experian Credit Score was re-assessed as positive with the Pension Protection Levy required to be paid by the Union being decreased.
• Bethan Foweraker’s resignation was noted, recruitment will be made live for a People & Culture Trustee to chair the HR Committee
• Mark Bleasdale has agreed to extend their term by 1 year rather than a full 4 years in order to support recruitment of a replacement Health & Safety Chair trustee
• Trustees were invited to the AGM set for November

• Resignation of Cameron Reardon-Davies Noted
• Appointment of Daniel Priddy Approved and Noted
• Lampeter Campus President 23-24 chose to not take up the position: Board of Trustees agreed a timeline for a by election
• Student Voice & Advocacy Manager presented the Returning Officer Report on elections
• Democracy Review outcomes from the external consultant were presented and Board of Trustees agreed a 'direction of travel' for students to discuss at AGM
• Sabbatical Officers and Chief Executive presented their reports
• The progress on the Operating Plan of the Union was presented
• Management Accounts were received and Noted
• SUSS Pension update received and Noted
• Allocation of historic grant funding to free reserved Approved
• Risk Register updates Noted

• Ongoing issues with Carmarthen office have resulted in further delays of re-opening – plans to re-open in March 23
• 705 students responded to the Democracy review – with students mostly identifying with their course of study and describing their community as ‘friendly’
• Recruitment for Head of Membership Services position will begin in March 23
• An overview of the Operating plan highlighted that audit in ‘Resource & Activity Laws’ will supply more support to student groups
• A member of staff transitioned from a fixed term contract in Cardiff to a permanent role based at Lampeter. 
• A new position of Student Opportunity Coordinator will be created and advertised for Cardiff campus
• The SU is preparing for a busy weekend in partnership for the Welsh event ‘Rhyng-Gol’ which welcomes Welsh speakers to Lampeter for a fun packed event

• Welcome to Svetla to their first Board since being elected. 
• Part Time Administration Co-Ordinator to be recruited to enhance administration
• Steve Wilford appointed as Returning Officer
• Recruitment in process to appoint a Finance Trustee for Board of Trustees
• A support package for career and student staff was discussed and approved

• Historic funding re-purposed to existing student groups and new RAG activities
• Rachel Whitty resigned as Chair of Trustees. Rachel’s input to the Board had a significant impact for the SU and the Board thanked her for her contribution.
• Ross Shaddick, Swansea Campus President resigned, and Trustee Board noted due to the time of year, the current workload for staff and opportunity to provide jobs for students, the Board agreed to create three student internships to fill the vacancy rather then hold a by-election. 

• The union's Memorandum & Articles of Assoication were approved for the final time and will now be filed with Companies House
• Bethan Foweraker and Ashley Storer-Smith were appointed as External Trustees

The Board of Trustees approved three roles for recruitment

1. Student Experience Reps: Swansea & Caramarthen to support students from these campuses over the next few months.
2. Student Voice Co-ordinator (fixed-term) to support the QAA review the university will undergo in 2022.
3. Content & Communications Producer (fixed-term) to support the union to enhance how it communicates with students and stakeholders. 

The Board also held a development day focusing on: enhancing financial stability, how the sub-committees work over the next few months, and engagement.

• Jake Furby was appointed as Student Trustee 

• Update from Human Resources Committee focusing on general report and the planned staff survey Update from Health & Safety Committee focusing on general report and the development opportunities for staff around assessing risk 

• Finances are in a positive position with projections for the end of the year: £50,000 HEFCW Funding has been received and noted within accounts, outstanding CONNECT funding was noted, and Outstanding payments also noted (refurbishment and laptops for staff). 

• Risk Register update was received 

• Congratulations to Carmarthen Campus President on her pregnancy! Carmarthen Campus President will take maternity leave from the beginning of March until the end of June. To continue to support Carmarthen students the union will recruit two student staff members to cover the gap. One student staff member will be supporting undergraduates, the other will support postgraduate students. The Student Voice & Advocacy team will support these student staff members. 

• HEFCW have given all students’ union £50,000. UWTSD SU will be using our £50,000 on Health & Wellbeing projects for students. To undertake this work the union will recruit a fixed-term ‘Health & Wellbeing Assistant’ this role will be a career staff member. There is an internal opportunity for an existing staff member to line manage this role.

• Management Accounts were noted:
  • Approved: Amending reserves policy to be set at £120,000 rather than £115,000 – what we mean by ‘Reserves’ is the amount of cash we would need in the bank to cover staff salaries for 3 months if the university weren’t able to provide us our block grant. 
  • Approved: Operating policy will be to attempt to keep £20,000 available per month for expenditure on a monthly basis to support projects and campaigns we’ll aim to have this as our operating costs outside of staff costs and reserves. It also means that if something we haven’t planned for happens we can react i.e. snap general election etc.
• Update on Y Llloft was presented – it’s looking lovely! Carmarthen Venue Manager is working very hard on making the space look welcoming and its coming along brilliantly. 
• Old Bar & Xtension – we went out to recruit for a Venue Manager, but unfortunately the recruitment fell through. Instead we are working with Tammy to update Old Bar a bit, the floor tiles were put in place in 1988! So we’ll start with the floors being all the same! We’ll be putting up some shelves and plants among other improvements. Recruitment for the Lampeter Venue Manager will take place end of November. Board got to see what Old Bar looks like now to give context as to what we’re doing and were updated on the vacant role.
• A student trustee commented on how lovely their rep training was and gave a massive shoutout to it during the meeting. They enjoyed it being interactive and particularly liked the intro to the union generally as part of the training.
• Approved: Chief Executive 6 month Probation
• Sabbatical Officer updates – the sabbs told the Board all about what they’ve been up to and exciting work going on to achieve manifesto points.
• Risk Register update was provided. Trustees are content with current risk management process.
• Approved: Memorandum & Articles of Association amendments. The Mem & Arts is our governing document you can find out all about the changes by taking a look at this new article.
  • Action: to continue the process of amending the governing document
• Any Other Business:
  • Relationship agreement between UWTSD and UWTSD SU delayed due to both union and university capacity – this document outlines our relationship with the university

• The new brand was presented to trustees

• An amended staffing structure was presented and approved: Head of Membership Services and Student Engagement Assistant: Satelttle Campuses roles were introduced.

• Sabbatical Officer salary was approved at £18,000

• Sabbatical Officer Trustees 2019/2020 resigned
• Sabbatical Officer Trustees 2020/2021 were appointed
• Positive financial situation was noted at year-end accounts.
• Chief Executive's 3 month probtation was approved.
• Board recieved an overview of casework.
• Memorandum & Articles of Assoication amendments were initially proposed as part of a review process.
• Carmarthen Campus Y Lloft refurbishment was approved
• Staff Conduct During Elections policy was approved
• Celebrating Performance & Development Policy was approved.
• Sub-committee allocation for the 2020/2021 was approved.

• Management Accounts noted: positive cash position, especially with staff vacancies
• Board were presented a new staff policy: Staff Conduct During Elections
• Options for how Carmarthen Venue can be developed were presented. The Board of Trustees asked for 2 options to be further considered: 1) The union switching the ground floor and the first floor around and 2) A re-development of the Carmarthen Venue to be more fit-for-purpose.
• SUSS Pension update was recieved highlighting that the fund is 3% behind where it needed to be through actuarial valuation.

• Ananya Sandhu was appointed as External Trustee 
• Audited Accounts were presented to the Board. Board are content with the current management of the SUSS pension liability. However, a further update post-SUSS AGM will be provided to the Board. Board of Trustees agreed to enact Gowing Concern. 
• Update on strong trade of Old Bar and Xtension as well as less favourable results for Y Lloft.
• Family-friendly HR policies were initially presented for comment. Predominately Board would like to see an amendment around gendered pronouns.
• Bilingual policy was approved with an action plan developed by Chief Executive and Carmarthen Campus President.
• Study policy was requested to be amended to reflect the university's study leave allowance.

10 January 2019

13 September 2018

14 June 2018

22 March 2018

18 September 2017