Untitled Document

NORTHUMBRIA REGION U3A

Registration No. 1116695

Constitution.

Adopted on March 22^nd 2006; Amended October 2007; Amended April 2009; Amended October 2010.

Part 1

1. Adoption of the Constitution.

The Association and its property will be administered and managed in accordance with the provisions in Parts 1 and 2 of this constitution.

2. The Name.

The Association’s name is The Northumbria Region U3A. (and in this document called the charity).

3. The Objects.

To promote for the benefit of men and women who are no longer in full time gainful employment (the beneficiaries), the activities of the Third Age Trust and in particular the individual U3As of that charity operating within the Northumbria Region, by associating together said U3As in a common effort to enhance facilities for the education and leisure time occupation for the beneficiaries with the object of improving their conditions of life. Said U3As, in this document, to be called “the members.”

4. Application of the Income and Property.

The income and property of the Charity shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the Objects.
A Trustee may pay out of, or be reimbursed from, the property of the Charity reasonable expenses properly incurred by him or her when acting on behalf of the Charity.
None of the income or property of the Charity may be paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend bonus or otherwise by way of profit to any member of the Charity. This does not prevent:

a member who is not also a Trustee from receiving reasonable and proper remuneration for any goods or services supplied to the Charity;
a Trustee from:

buying goods or services from the Charity upon the same terms as other members or members of the public;
receiving a benefit from the Charity in the capacity of a beneficiary of the Charity, provided that the Trustees comply with the provisions of sub-clause (6) of this clause, or as a member of the Charity and upon the same terms as other members;

the purchase of indemnity insurance for the Trustees against any liability that by virtue of any rule of law would otherwise attach to a trustee or other officer in respect of any negligence, default breach of duty or breach of trust of which he or she may be guilty in relation to the Charity but excluding;

fines;
costs of unsuccessfully defending criminal prosecutions for offences arising out of the fraud, dishonesty or wilful or reckless misconduct of the Trustee or other officer;
liabilities to the Charity that result from conduct that the Trustee or other officer knew or ought to have known was not in the best interests of the Charity or in respect of which the person concerned did not care whether that conduct was in the best interests of the Charity or not.

No Trustee may be paid or receive any other benefit for being a Trustee.
A Trustee may:

sell goods, services or any interest in land to the Charity;
be employed by or receive any remuneration from the Charity;
receive any other financial benefit from the Charity,

if:

he or she is not prevented from so doing by sub-clause (4) of this clause; and
the benefit is permitted by sub-clause (3) of this clause; or
the benefit is authorised by the Trustees in accordance with the conditions in sub-clause (6) of this clause.

declare his or her interest in the proposal;
be absent from that part of any meeting at which the proposal is discussed and take no part in any discussion of it;
not be counted in determining whether the meeting is quorate;
not vote on the proposal.

In cases covered by sub-clause (5) of this clause, those Trustees who do not stand to receive the proposed benefit must be satisfied that it is in the interest of the Charity to contract with or employ that Trustee rather than with someone who is not a Trustee and they must record the reason for their decision in the minutes. In reaching that decision the Trustees must balance the advantage of contracting with or employing a Trustee against the disadvantage of doing so (especially the loss of the Trustee’s services as a result of dealing with the Trustee’s conflict of interest).
The Trustees may only authorise a transaction falling within paragraphs 5(a) – (c) of this clause if the trustee body comprises a majority of Trustees who have not received any such benefit.
If the Trustees fail to follow this procedure, the resolution to confer a benefit upon the Trustee will be void and the Trustee must repay to the Charity the value of any benefit received by the Trustee from the Charity.

A Trustee must absence himself or herself from any discussions of the Trustees in which it is possible that a conflict will arise between his or her duty to act solely in the interests of the Charity and any personal interest (including but not limited to any personal financial interest) and take no part in the voting upon the matter.
In this Clause 4, “Trustee” shall include any person firm or company connected with the Trustee.

5. Dissolution.

If the members resolve to dissolve the Charity the Trustees will remain in office as charity trustees and be responsible for winding up the affairs of the Charity in accordance with the clause.
The Trustees must collect in all the assets of the charity and must pay or make provision for all the liabilities of the charity.
The Trustees must apply any remaining property or money;

directly for the Objects;
by transfer to any charity or charities for purposes the same as or similar to the Charity;
in such other manner as the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales (“The Commission”) may approve in writing in advance.

The members may pass a resolution before or at the same time as the resolution to dissolve the Charity specifying the manner in which the Trustees are to apply the remaining property or assets of the Charity and the Trustees must comply with the resolution if it is consistent with paragraphs (a) – (c) inclusive in sub-clause (3) above.
In no circumstances shall the net assets of the Charity be paid to or distributed among the members of the Charity (except to a member that is itself a charity).
The Trustees must notify the Commission promptly that the charity has been dissolved. If the Trustees are obliged to send the charity’s accounts to the Commission for the accounting period which ended before its dissolution, they must send to the Commission the charity’s final accounts.

6. Amendments.

Any provision contained in Part 1 of this constitution may be amended provided that;

no amendment may be made that would have the effect of making the Charity cease to be a charity at law;
no amendment may be made to alter the Objects if the change would not be within the reasonable contemplation of the members of or donors to the Charity;
no amendment may be made to clause 4 without the prior written consent of the Commission;
any resolution to amend a provision of Part 1 of this constitution is passed by not less than two thirds of the members present and voting at a general meeting.

Any provision contained in Part 2 of this constitution may be amended, provided that any such amendment is made by a resolution passed by a simple majority of the members present and voting at a general meeting.
A copy of any resolution amending this constitution must be sent to the Commission within twenty one days of it being passed.

Part 2

7. Membership

Membership is open to U3As recognised by the Third Age Trust and approved by the Trustees.

(2)

The Trustees may only refuse an application for membership if, acting reasonably and properly, they consider it to be in the best interests of the Charity to refuse the application.
The Trustees must inform the applicant in writing of the reasons for the refusal within twenty-one days of the decision.
The Trustees must consider any written representations the applicant may make about the decision. The Trustees’ decision following any written representations must be notified to the applicant in writing but shall be final.
Membership is not transferable to anyone else.
The Trustees must keep a register of names and addresses of the members which must be made available to any member upon request.

8. Termination of Membership.

Membership is terminated if;

a U3A ceases to exist;
the member resigns by written notice to the Charity unless, after the resignation, there would be less than two members;
any sum due from the member to the Charity is not paid in full within six months of it falling due;
the member is removed from membership by a resolution of the Trustees that it is in the best interests of the Charity that its membership is terminated. A resolution to remove a member from membership may only be passed if;

the member has been given at least twenty-one days’ notice in writing of the meeting of the Trustees at which the resolution will be proposed and the reasons why it is to be proposed;
the member or, at the option of the member, the member’s representative (who need not be a member of the Charity) has been allowed to make representations to the meeting.

9. General meetings.

The Charity must hold a general meeting within twelve months of the date of the adoption of this constitution.
An annual general meeting must be held in March/April each subsequent year and not more than fifteen months may elapse between successive annual general meetings.
All general meetings other than annual general meetings shall be called special general meetings.
The Trustees may call a special general meeting at any time.
The Trustees must call a special general meeting if requested to do so in writing by at least ten members or one tenth of the membership, which ever is the greater. The request must state the nature of the business that is to be discussed. If the Trustees fail to hold the meeting within twenty-eight days of the request, the members may proceed to call a special general meeting but in doing so they must comply with the provisions of this constitution.

10. Notice.

The minimum period of notice required to hold any general meeting of the Charity is fourteen clear days from the date on which the notice is deemed to have been given.
A general meeting may be called by shorter notice, if it is so agreed by all the members entitled to attend and vote.
The notice must specify the date, time and place of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be transacted. If the meeting is to be an annual general meeting, the notice must say so.
The notice must be given to all the members and to the Trustees.

11. Quorum.

No business shall be transacted at any general meeting unless a quorum is present.
A quorum is;

15 people entitled to vote upon the business to be conducted at the meeting; or
one fifth of the total membership at the time,

Whichever is the greater.

The authorised representatives of a member organisation shall be counted in the quorum.
If;

a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting; or
during a meeting a quorum ceases to be present, the meeting shall be adjourned to such time and place as the Trustees shall determine.

The Trustees must reconvene the meeting and must give at least seven clear days’ notice of the reconvened meeting stating the date, time and place of the meeting.
If no quorum is present at the reconvened meeting within fifteen minutes of the time specified for the start of the meeting the members representatives present at that time shall constitute the quorum for that meeting.

12. Chairman

General meetings shall be chaired by the person who has been elected as Chairman.
If there is no such person or he or she is not present within fifteen minutes of the time appointed for the meeting a Trustee nominated by the Trustees shall chair the meeting.
If there is only one Trustee present and willing to act, he or she shall chair the meeting.
If no Trustee is present and willing to chair the meeting within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for holding it, the members present and entitled to vote must choose one of their number to chair the meeting.

13. Adjournments.

The members present at a meeting may resolve that the meeting shall be adjourned.
The person who is chairing the meeting must decide the date time and place at which meeting is to be reconvened unless those details are specified in the resolution.
No business shall be conducted at an adjourned meeting unless it could properly have been conducted at the meeting had the adjournment not taken place.
If a meeting is adjourned by a resolution of the members for more than seven days, at least seven clear days’ notice shall be given of the reconvened meeting stating the date time and place of the meeting.

14. Votes.

Each member U3A shall have two votes but if there is an equality of votes the person who is chairing the meeting shall have a casting vote in addition to any other vote he or she may have.
A resolution in writing signed by each member (or in the case of a member that is an organisation, by its authorised representative) who would have been entitled to vote upon it had it been proposed at a general meeting shall be effective. It may comprise several copies each signed by or on behalf of one or more members.

15. Representatives.

Any U3A that is a member of the Charity may nominate two people to act as its representatives at any meeting of the Charity.
The member U3A must give written notice to the Charity of the names of its representatives. The nominees shall not be entitled to represent the organisation at any meeting unless the notice has been received by the Charity. The nominees may continue to represent the U3A until written notice to the contrary is received by the Charity.
Any notice given to the Charity will be conclusive evidence that the nominee is entitled to represent the U3A or that his or her authority has been revoked. The Charity shall not be required to consider whether the nominee has been properly appointed by the member U3A.

16. Officers and Trustees.

The Charity and its property shall be managed and administered by a committee comprising the Officers and other members elected in accordance with this constitution. The Officers and other members of the committee shall be the trustees of the Charity and in this constitution are together called “the Trustees”.
The Charity shall have the following Officers:

A chairman,

A Business and Distribution secretary,

A Minutes Secretary,

A treasurer,

Vice Chairman (to be Chairman elect),

Regional Trustee (Ex-Officio),

Two Educational Development Contacts (Ex-Officio),

Regional Newsletter Editor (Ex-Officio),

Contact List Editor (Ex-Officio),

The term of office for the Chairman shall be two years only. The Regional Trustee elected to the NEC shall be a member of the committee whilst he/she remains a member of the NEC.

In addition the Immediate Past Chairman is invited to serve on the committee ex-officio in an advisory role only, for one more year, and shall have no voting rights.

A Trustee must be a member of a U3A that is a member of the Charity.
No one may be appointed a Trustee if he or she would be disqualified from acting under the provisions of Clause 19.
The number of Trustees shall be not less than three (unless otherwise determined by a resolution of the Charity in general meeting) but shall not be more than twelve.
The first Trustees (including Officers) shall be those persons elected as Trustees and Officers at the meeting at which this constitution is adopted.
A Trustee may not appoint anyone to act on his or her behalf at meetings of the Trustees.

17. The Appointment of Trustees.

The Charity in general meeting shall elect the Officers and the other Trustees.
The Trustees may appoint any person who is willing to act as a Trustee Subject to paragraph 5(b) of this clause, they may also appoint Trustees to act as officers.
Each of the Trustees shall retire with effect from the conclusion of the annual general meeting next after his or her appointment but shall be eligible for re-election at that annual general meeting.
No-one may be elected a Trustee or an Officer at any annual general meeting unless prior to the meeting the Charity is given a notice that:

is signed by a representative entitled to vote at the meeting;
states the member’s intention to propose the appointment of a person as a Trustee or as an officer;
is signed by the person who is to be proposed to show his or her willingness to be appointed.

The appointment of a Trustee, whether by the Charity in general meeting or by the other Trustees, must not cause the number of Trustees to exceed any number fixed in accordance with this constitution as the maximum number of Trustees.
The Trustees may not appoint a person to be an Officer if a person has already been elected or appointed to that office and has not vacated the office.

18. Powers of Trustees.

The Trustees must manage the business of the Charity and they have the following powers in order to further the Objects (but not for any other purpose):

to raise funds. In doing so, the Trustees must not undertake any substantial permanent trading activity and must comply with any relevant statutory regulations;
to buy, take on lease or in exchange, hire or otherwise acquire any property and to maintain and equip it for use;
to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of all or any part of the property belonging to the Charity. In exercising this power, the Trustees must comply as appropriate with sections 36 and 37 of the Charities Act 1993;
to borrow money and to charge the whole or any part of the property belonging to the Charity as security for repayment of the money borrowed. The Trustees must comply as appropriate with sections 38 and 39 or the Charities Act 1993 if they intend to mortgage land;
to co-operate with other charities, voluntary bodies and statutory authorities and to exchange information and advice with them;
to establish or support any charitable trusts, associations or institutions formed for any of the charitable purposes included in the Objects;
to acquire, merge with or enter into any partnership or joint venture arrangement with any other charity formed for any of the Objects;
to set aside income as a reserve against future expenditure but only in accordance with a written policy about reserves;
to obtain and pay for such goods and services as are necessary for carrying out the work of the Charity;
to open and operate such bank and other accounts as the Trustees consider necessary and to invest funds and to delegate the management of funds in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as the trustees of a trust are permitted to do by the Trustee Act 2000.
to do all such other lawful things as are necessary for the achievement of the Objects;
to appoint sub-committees as specified in Section 21 (1) below on an ad-hoc basis as required for specific purposes to carry out the objectives of the Charity. The Regional Chairman may choose to attend any such sub-committee meeting;
To hold Regional meetings four times a year and promote regional conferences and other activities as appropriate to the objectives of the Charity;

No alteration of this constitution or any special resolution shall have retrospective effect to invalidate any prior act of the Trustees.
Any meeting of Trustees at which a quorum is present at the time the relevant decision is made may exercise all the powers exercisable by the Trustees.

19. Disqualification and Removal of Trustees.

The Trustee shall cease to hold office if he or she;

is disqualified from acting as a Trustee by virtue of section 72 of the Charities Act 1993 (or any statutory re-enactment or modification of that provision);
ceases to be a member of any U3A;
becomes incapable by reason of mental disorder, illness or injury of managing and administering his or her own affairs;
resigns as a Trustee by notice to the Charity (but only if at least two Trustees will remain in office when the notice of resignation is to take effect); or
is absent without the permission of the Trustees from all their meetings held within a period of six consecutive months and the Trustees resolve that his or her office be vacated.

20. Proceedings of Trustees.

The Trustees may regulate their proceedings as they think fit, subject to the provisions of this constitution.
Any Trustee may call a meeting of the Trustees.
The secretary must call a meeting of the Trustees if requested to do so by a Trustee.
Questions arising at a meeting must be decided by a majority of votes.
In the case of an equality of votes, the person who chairs the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
No decision may be made by a meeting of the Trustees unless a quorum is present at the time the decision is purported to be made.
The quorum shall be two or the number nearest to one third of the total number of Trustees, whichever is the greater or such larger number as may be decided from time to time by the Trustees.
A Trustee shall not be counted in the quorum present when any decision is made about a matter upon which that Trustee is not entitled to vote.
If the number of Trustees is less than the number fixed as the quorum, the continuing Trustees or Trustee may act only for the purpose of filling vacancies or of calling a general meeting.
The person elected as the Chairman shall chair meetings of the Trustees.
If the Chairman is unwilling to preside or is not present within ten minutes after the time appointed for the meeting, the Trustees present may appoint one of their number to chair that meeting.
The person appointed to chair meetings of the Trustees shall have no functions or powers except those conferred by this constitution or delegated to him or her in writing by the Trustees.
A resolution in writing signed by all the Trustees entitled to receive notice of a meeting of Trustees or of a committee of Trustees and to vote upon the resolution shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the Trustees or (as the case may be) a committee of Trustees duly convened and held.
The resolution in writing may comprise several documents containing the text of the resolution in like form each signed by one or more Trustees.

21. Delegation.

The Trustees may delegate any of their powers or functions to a committee of two or more Trustees but the terms of any such delegation must be recorded in the minute book.
The Trustees may impose conditions when delegating, including the conditions that:

the relevant powers are to be exercised exclusively by the committee to whom they delegate;
no expenditure may be incurred on behalf of the Charity except in accordance with a budget previously agreed with the Trustees.

The Trustees may revoke or alter a delegation.

All acts and proceedings of any committees must be fully and promptly reported to the Trustees.

22. Irregularities in Proceedings.

Subject to sub-clause (2) of this clause, all acts done by a meeting of Trustees, or of a committee of Trustees, shall be valid notwithstanding the participation in any vote of a Trustee:

who was disqualified from holding office;

who had previously retired or who had been obliged by the constitution to vacate office;
who was not entitled to vote on the matter, whether by reason of a conflict of interest or otherwise;

If, without;

the vote of the Trustee; and
that Trustee being counted in the quorum,

The decision has been made by a majority of the Trustees at a quorate meeting.

Sub-clause (1) of this clause does not permit a Trustee to keep any benefit that may be conferred upon him or her by a resolution of the Trustees or of a committee of Trustees if the resolution would otherwise have been void.
No resolution or act of:
the Trustees;
any committee of the Trustees;
the Charity in general meeting,

shall be invalidated by reason of the failure to give notice to any Trustee or member or by reason of any procedural defect in the meeting unless it is shown that the failure or defect has materially prejudiced a member or the beneficiaries of the Charity.

23. Minutes.

The Trustees must keep minutes of all:

Appointments of Officers and Trustees made by the Trustees;
Proceedings at meetings of the Charity;
Meetings of the Trustees and committees of Trustees including:

the names of the Trustees present at the meeting;
the decisions made at the meetings; and
where appropriate the reasons for the decisions.

24. Annual Report and Return and Accounts.

The Trustees must comply with their obligations under the Charities Act 1993 with regard to:

the keeping of accounting records for the Charity;
the preparation of annual statements of account for the Charity;
the transmission of the statements of account to the Charity;
the preparation of an annual report and its transmission to the Commission;
the preparation of an annual return and its transmission to the Commission.

Accounts must be prepared in accordance with the provisions of any Statement of Recommended Practice issued by the Commission, unless the Trustees are required to prepare accounts in accordance with the provisions of such a Statement prepared by another body.
The Treasurer shall maintain records of all receipts and payments and the signatures of two Trustees shall be required on all cheques.
The financial year shall end on 31^st December with accounts submitted to an Examiner who shall be appointed at the previous Annual General Meeting, as soon as possible thereafter.

25. Registered particulars.

The Trustees must notify the Commission promptly of any changes to the Charity’s entry on the Central Register of Charities.

26. Property.

The Trustees must ensure the title to;

all land held by or in trust for the Charity that is not vested in the Official Custodian of Charities; and
all investments held by or on behalf of the Charity,

is vested either in a corporation entitled to act as custodian trustee or in not less than three individuals appointed by them as holding trustees.

The terms of the appointment of any holding trustees must provide that they may act only in accordance with lawful directions of the Trustees and that if they do so they will not be liable for the acts and defaults of the Trustees or of the members of the Charity.
The Trustees may remove the holding trustees at any time.

27. Repair and insurance.

The Trustees must keep in repair and insure to their full value against fire and other usual risks all the buildings of the Charity (except those buildings that are required to be kept in repair and insured by a tenant). They must also insure suitably in respect of public liability and employers liability.

28. Notices.

Any notice required by this constitution to be given to or by any person must be:

in writing; or
given using electronic communications.

Notice may be given to a member U3A either;

personally; or
by sending it by post in a prepaid envelope addressed to the members secretary or nominee at his or her address; or
by leaving it at the address of such persons; or
by giving it using electronic communications to such persons address.

A member who does not register an address with the Charity or who registers only a postal address that is not within the United Kingdom shall not be entitled to receive any notice from the Charity.
A representative present in person at any meeting of the Charity shall be deemed to have received notice of the meeting and of the purposes for which it was called.

Proof that an envelope containing a notice was properly addressed, prepaid and posted shall be conclusive evidence that the notice was given.
Proof that a notice contained in an electronic communication was properly addressed and sent shall be conclusive evidence that the notice was given.
A notice shall be deemed to be given 48 hours after the envelope containing it was posted or, in the case of an electronic communication, 48 hours after it was sent.

29. Rules.

The Trustees may from time to time make rules or bye-laws for the conduct of their business.
The bye-laws may regulate the following matters but are not restricted to them;

the admission of members of the Charity (including the admission of organisations to membership and the rights and privileges of such members, and the entrance fees, subscriptions and other fees or payments to be made by members;
the conduct of members of the Charity in relation to one another, and to the Charity’s employees and volunteers;
the setting aside of the whole or any part or parts of the Charity’s premises at any particular purpose or purposes;
the procedure at general meetings and meetings of the Trustees in so far as such procedure is not regulated by this constitution;
the keeping and authenticating of records. (If regulations made under this clause permit records of the Charity to be kept in electronic form and require a Trustee to sign the record, the regulations must specify a method of recording the signature that enables it to be properly authenticated.)
generally, all such matters as are commonly the subject matter of the rules of an unincorporated association.

The Charity in general meeting has the power to alter, add to or repeal the rules or bye-laws.
The Trustees must adopt such means as they think sufficient to bring the rules and bye-laws to the notice of members of the Charity.
The rules or bye-laws shall be binding on all members of the Charity. No rule or bye-law shall be inconsistent with, or shall affect or repeal anything contained in, this constitution.

Signatures of Trustees:

Chairman…………………………………………………………………………

Vice Chairman……………………………………………………………………

Business Secretary…………………………………………………………………………..

Minutes Secretary…………………………………………………………………………..

Treasurer……………………………………………………………………..

Educational Development Contact……………………………………………….

Regional Newsletter Editor……………………………………………………….

Regional Trustee…………………………………………………………………..

Contact List Editor………………………………………………………………..

Committee Member……………………………………………………………….

Date ………………………………………………………..