| First of all, thanks so much for your support This group has tripled in number in the past 24 hours. It is incredible to see the response from PFS members. The messages received, publicly and privately, from volunteers, regional committee members, CII local institute members, and more, have been fantastic to read. Continue to forward these emails to your colleagues and friends. Ask them to sign up to the mailing list. Together, we can make our voices heard. A point to note, as a couple of people have asked. I am not an employee or board member at PFS, current or past. I am one of the many volunteers who make the professional body what it is, currently chairing the Financial Planning panel (a.k.a. the Power Panel). |
| What a surprise! Unfortunately, it looks as though the newly appointed CII board directors didn’t want to attend the emergency board meeting called today, meaning that PFS member directors were unable to discuss the urgent issues at hand. |
| Some light readingThe CII have updated their news page with a further FAQ about the coup, which is worth a read.Somebody shared a news article about Alan Vallance with me, from his time as CEO of the Royal Institute of British Architects. There are familiar themes – failing professional bodies, overspends and poor corporate governance.The PFS Articles of Association lay out the rules and regulations. I am not a lawyer, but if you are, or know one, you might want to ask them to cast their eye over them in exchange for a minced pie. |
| What next? Given the apparent lack of willingness from the CII to engage with members (or even manage to notify all of them – many have told me that they have simply not received the original email), the only course of action appears to be to call an Extraordinary General Meeting. Under clause 5.2 of the Articles of Association: The Board shall also proceed to convene general meetings within 21 days of receipt of a requisition by at least 5% of the total membership as at the date of the last annual general meeting, or in default by such requisitions as provided by Sections 303(1) to (4) inclusive, (6); 304(1), (4); 305(1), (3), (4), (6), (7) of the Act. Subject to section 305(6), (7) of the Act the requisitionists shall meet any costs of a requisitioned meeting. I make this around 2,000 members needed to trigger one. I’m currently investigating what we can use – whether an online petition would be sufficient, or we would need to convince the board to issue official notice of a vote. In the meantime, please keep sharing, keep shouting, keep the momentum going. (and eat plenty of mince pies!) -Alasdair |