Annual Conference 2019
All the news from the first NEU Annual Conference, held in Liverpool
Conference will start promptly on Monday 6 April, so it is assumed most delegates will travel to Bournemouth on Sunday 5 April.
Conference motions
The Motions Booklet for Annual Conference 2020 has now been published and can be downloaded here. This contains a complete set of Conference Motions submitted by Districts, Sector & Equality Conferences, and the Executive which have been arranged into Sections by the Conference Committee.
Districts are invited to select the six motions they consider most important for debate at Conference regardless of the section in which they appear. Local Districts are encouraged to organise meetings to select the motions they wish to see prioritised and appear in the Conference Agenda. The Districts votes can be returned to Hamilton House by completing the Priority Voting Form C.05 along with further instructions on the process.
Please remember that the deadline for priority voting is Midnight, 10 February 2020.
District delegations
The number of delegates districts are entitled to send to Conference will be calculated in September and District Secretaries informed.
District secretaries are reminded of the rule changes agreed at Conference 2019 which state that the local district should ensure all members of the district eligible to be a member of conference should be notified of the process and if the relevant general meeting is not quorate the election of local district members of annual conference should be undertaken by a membership ballot.
District Secretaries are reminded of the requirements in rule 14.2.6 for reserved places in their delegations for ATL and NUT legacy members. This provides that a certain number of places are reserved for legacy section members, according to the size of the delegation and the scale set out in rule 14.2.6.
The membership database ‘Full Membership List’ report includes legacy information so that you will be able to identify the relevant legacy section to which members belonged. As you will be aware, NEU members who joined after 1 September 2017 are members of both sections by rule, and so can be considered as coming from either section.
If the District is unable to fulfil the requirement for the reserved legacy delegate(s) then the place is lost, and the delegation reduced accordingly. Form C.01 will be checked against the membership database to ensure this requirement is met.
Secretaries should also bear in mind rule 14.2.2 which states that Delegations should include at least one representative from any sector that has more than 250 members within that District.
District Secretaries can use Form C.01 to advise the Union of their delegations to Annual Conference 2020. The deadline for receipt of Conference Delegates is at Midnight Monday 10 February 2020.
Conference committee nominations
Four Non Executive Members will be elected at the 2020 Conference to serve on the Conference Committee for 2021 and 2022.
NEU Local Districts are entitled to nominate one candidate for non-Executive membership of the Committee. Nominees would need to be approved by a quorate general meeting or ballot of the Districts members.
Nominations can be returned to Hamilton House by filling out the form C.03 here, along with the circular providing additional guidance on the process.
Observer credentials
District Secretaries can apply for observer credentials using this form, provided this is done by 10 February 2020. Please note it will not be possible to process observer requests at Conference, all applications must be made in advance.
Requests for observer credentials should be made through the District where the applicant is a member. Applications for non-members should be made by members on their behalf via the District of which they are a member. Children under 16 will be admitted as observers only if they are under the constant supervision of an adult and have an observer badge.
Please note Districts are responsible for all costs for observers attending Conference. There will be allocated seating for observers in the Conference Hall, therefore attendance is limited to this capacity. Any observers who are not members of the Union cannot attend private sessions.
Conference business diary
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3 December 2019 |
Last date for conference motions to be received (Send to: annual.conference@neu.org.uk) |
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6-12 December 2019 |
Five-day district consultation period for composite motions |
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7 January 2020 |
Original motions (including standing orders) will be sent by post to district and branch secretaries by this date |
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Midnight 10 February 2020 |
Closing date for priority voting on conference motions Deadline for notification of representatives to conference Deadline for observer applications Deadline for Conference Committee nominations |
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12 February 2020 |
Links to the following will be emailed to delegates:
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Midnight 9 March 2020 |
Closing date for:
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23 March |
The following to be posted to delegates:
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30 March |
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Hotel accommodation
The Business Events Bournemouth partnership has set up a website to help districts with accommodation booking. They will be happy to help with any hotel queries.
If you’d like to have an exhibition stand at Annual Conference
Annual Conference is the perfect event for organisations to meet professionals from the education sector. More than 1200 NEU members will be together in Bournemouth this April for the biggest event in the union’s calendar.
If you’d like to have an exhibition space, please complete this form and you will be contacted with more details in the next few weeks.
Please note, spaces are limited and a small charge may apply to cover the union’s costs.