Pre-school committee members, please help. Strange dilemma...

[philmassive]

Ok, I'll try to get this one explained as succintly as possible.

Our pre-school committee has two people acting as treasurer on a 'job-share basis'. Recently it has been decide that the role of treasurer/finance person needs to be made into a paid member of staff. One of the committee members who acts as treasurer has been given the job - initially it was going to be a paid role 8 hours per week but when the salary was discussed (by the chair, other treasurer and one other committee member) it was at a ridiculously high hourly rate - more than the nursery manager is earning. The rest of the committee got wind of this and it was thrown out. It was suggested that she got a yearly honorarium payment for doing the 8 hours per week.

Anyway the rest of the committee has discovered that the honorarium payment is still an enormous amount (more than the manager), it is being paid monthly AND the pre-school is shouldering her tax bill. To top it off she is still sitting on the committee.

Apart from the obvious dubious nature that this shows from our chair and treasurer group. If the wonderful staff of our pre-school get wind of this they will walk, and who can blame them?

The rest of the committee want this decision overturned, and to a lesser degree want the chair and co out as they are obviously in it on a 'jobs for the boys' basis.

Please can anyone help me with the legalities and how to go about getting this terrible situation sorted out. We are registered with the charity commission, and use the PLA insurance and so on.

Message withdrawn

Do you not have to vote on it as a committee?

Can an official committee meber be a paid member fo staff? If they are also a trustee then I don't think they can.

The job should be advertised, not just given to someone.

If you are part of the PLA then you can use Lawcall for real legal advice. they are very helpful.

If you scroll down to F2 on the charity commission site it tells you that what your treasurer is doing is very wrong.

Well, yes, littlerach, we do have to vote, however, we have a chair and small group in the committee who chooses not to remember this.

When it was questioned chair said 'I rang everyone and asked if they minded X having the job', which was true as it was asked in a theoretical way, no money was discussed and no more was said about it until it was done and dusted. In this time the chair cancelled at least 2 meetings where the issue may have been aired.

We also had two people offer to do the job for free rather than this person be paid for it.

I will get on to PLA tomorrow, thanks for that tip, I had no idea they offered this service.

To make matters worse the staff are on minimum wage (all level 3 qualified) and have been told no salary increase in the immediate future due to lack of funds! Rest of committee not happy and trying to put this right - the obvious way being pay this vast 'honorarium' to the staff.

Wow, coppertop, that's fab.

Not sure if this person's a trustee, I think she's just a committee member.

We looked into registering as a charity ages ago. IIRC if you become a charity then the committee members become trustees of the charity ie the pre-school.

Just found it on the same site here at section B2. Committee members are trustees.

Yes, I just saw that. Thanks so much for this. So much better to have it in writing and be able to quote the authority on it.

Good luck with sorting it all out.

What an outrageous situation!

How many are on your committee altogether? Enough to outnumber the chair and treasurer? Could you vote against it or if necessary resign en masse? Have a look at what your constitution says about committee meetings and how they may be convened. The pre-school wouldn't be able to operate without a committee.

I happen to have the PLAs Model Pre-School Constitution 2005 in front of me...

5.8 All Members shall be eligible to stand for election to the Committee, EXCEPT FOR PAID EMPLOYEES OF THE PRE-SCHOOL, WHO CANNOT BE COMMITTEE MEMBERS OR VOTE AT COMMITTEE MEETINGS. They ... can be invited to attend ... meetings in an advisory capacity ...

6.2 Every issue considered at Committee meetings may be determined by a simple majority of the votes cast at the meeting. A written resolution signed by ALL members of the Committee is as valid as a resolution passed in a meeting.

Therefore, the decision to offload some or all of the Treasurers role should be a formal Committee decision, not a phone call. If the vote was a tie, then the Chair would have a casting vote. You must still retain a Treasurer as you are required to have all 3 Executive members.

Also, as it's a paid role, the job should have been widely advertised. If the teaching staff are on minimum wage with no annual rise this year, then I would regard the creating of a new role, especially at a high rate of pay, as mismanagement of pre-school funds. The Treasurers role can be too much work but PLA offer very good services.

Speak to the PLA and/or Charities Commission tomorrow. And have all the facts you need in your hands when you attend the next Committee meeting. Unless you want to speak to the Chair and/or Treasurer in private so they can save face? (I don't do 'diplomatic', I'd carpet them in public!).

what a nightmare! excellent advice above though. Good luck with getting it sorted

Thank you everyone. You are stars. I knew if I came on here and asked I'd get loads of sense and the knowledge that what I thought was true!!

In hand now is an extraordinary meeting to get it sorted. Thanks again so much.

We had a similar type of situation when I was a committee membeer of a preschool some years ago. I recommend that before the EGM you call the Charities Commission and speak to a legal adviser there. We did this and they were extremely helpful in clarifying the implications of our situation. There are definite legal implications for a committee in not sorting out this type of financial mismanagement once they are aware of it and the CC was able to clarify the exact steps we needed to take to deal with it.