Minutes of 14Th Annual General Meeting

Minutes of 14h Annual General Meeting Held on Wednesday 16 November 2011 At Millennium Hall, Great Baddow, Chelmsford 2pm to 5.00pm

Present: Directors: Steve Carey – Chair (SC), Ann Nutt – Vice-Chair (AN), Jeff Banks, (JB), Marilyn Williams (MW), Dave Matthews (DM), Pat Gaudin (PG) and Charles McKay (CM)

For a full list of attendees, please see attendance and signing in sheets kept at Ivan Peck House, 1 Russell Way, Widford Industrial Estate, Chelmsford CM1 3AA (44 in total)

In attendance: Mike Adams – Chief Executive Officer (MA), Gemma Dobson - Executive Assistant and Company Secretary (GD) and Kristine Alderman - PA to Chief Executive’s Office (KA)

Meeting commenced at 2.14pm

1. Welcome and introduction

Steve Carey (SC), Chair of ecdp welcomed everyone to ecdp’s 14th Annual General Meeting (AGM). SC thanked AN for stepping in as Acting Chair at last year’s AGM during Steve’s absence.

SC noted the previous year had been a difficult one for ecdp but MA would go through the highlights and detail what ecdp’s plans are for the coming year. SC noted the current economic climate was making it very difficult for all organisations but charities and specifically DPULO’s were finding it relatively harder than other sectors due to their funding from local authorities.

SC thanked all Board members for their continued hard work in supporting the organisation as well as the senior management team and wider staff group. SC also thanked members for their continued support.

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2. Apologies

SC noted two Director / Trustees - Terry Collin (TC) and Georgina Gardiner (GG) had sent their apologies, providing reasons as to why they were unable to attend.

SC noted a total of 11 other apologies were received and a full list of those apologies is held by Gemma Dobson and is kept at Ivan Peck House, 1 Russell Way, Widford Industrial Estate, Chelmsford CM1 3AA.

3. Minutes of 2009/10 AGM – held on 10 November 2010

The minutes were deemed a true and accurate record of the last meeting, with members voting unanimously in favour of approving the minutes. The minutes were then duly signed by Ann Nutt (as she Chaired the 2010 AGM) at the end of the meeting.

4. Matters arising from the minutes

It was noted that no matters had arisen from the minutes.

5. Approval of 2010/2011 accounts, incorporating Service Reports

SC handed over to MA who informed members what information would be presented under this item, starting with information from Jeff Banks (JB) as Treasurer on ecdp’s financial performance in 2010 / 11, this would then be followed by Faye Savage (ecdp’s Lived Experience Officer) providing information about her role and then MA would present the service report.

MA handed over to JB (Honorary Treasurer) who presented an overview of the accounts and a report on finances for the year ending 31 March 2011. JB noted there wasn’t a significant change to the overall income in 2010 / 11 compared to the previous year, which was a good sign. It was noted expenditure had increased and this was mainly due to ecdp’s investment into new products and services. This had meant a deficit of £83k, which was taken from ecdp reserves with JB explaining why this was.

JB also provided information on the progress ecdp has made against the targets for total income breakdown in the strategic plan. As well as the financial strategy for 2011/12, noting £50k had been proactively drawn from ecdp’s reserves to have a break even budget.

JB re-iterated it was a difficult financial situation, but the ecdp Management Board were very proud ecdp has remained in a strong financial position and were confident that ecdp would remain so over the coming financial year. JB asked if anyone had any questions, which there was none raised.

MA asked FS to give members information about the work and progress of her role as Lived Experience Officer and a specific example was provided where ecdp had used members lived experience and feedback to change national policy. FS noted she had produced a report on the Access to Work driver support issue, which received national press coverage and ecdp has recently received a letter from Maria Miller MP (Minister for Disabled People), noting the Access to Work driver support guidance was going to be reversed. FS noted this was a real example of how ecdp uses members lived experience and how this then translates itself into influencing national policy.

This was followed by Mike Adams (MA), Chief Executive Officer, who provided highlights of ecdp’s key achievements and achieved objectives in 2010/11. MA’s presentation contained information on:  The current picture by numbers, this included the number of support service clients, number of employees payroll processed, number of self- direct support referrals received, number of support planning referrals received, number of full members and number of affiliate members. MA informed members the figures for 2009/10 had been included in red, to show the comparison against the previous year, and noted although the number of people ecdp supports is increasing the number of full members has stayed more or less the same.  ecdp using it’s influence in areas such as Access to Work, Welfare reform, Disability Hate Crime and HealthWatch.  Increasing the direct connection with disabled people by offering quality support services and engaging nearly 200 volunteers, 80% of which are disabled people.

 Two ministerial visits, with both the Minister for Care Services and the Minister for Disabled People visiting ecdp speaking to both ecdp staff and service users. MA noted ecdp had also been invited to Maria Miller MP’s office to provide information and advice directly to the Minister.  Increasing ecdp’s focus on the wider self funder market, through ecdp’s trading company, the first full year of ecdp enterprise looking at commercial developments and remodelling ecdp’s frontline services.

MA also outlined the key challenges facing ecdp, this included surviving in a very challenging economic environment, seeking innovative solutions to balancing income and expenditure and retaining and reinforcing the combination of a strong representative voice for disabled people in Essex and beyond, with the solid delivery of support services that enable disabled people to have choice and control over their lives.

MA opened the floor for questions and the following questions / observations were raised:

Barry O’Connell raised a question about the funding to support people who use assistance dogs and said he would like to see ecdp picking up this issue. MA thanked Barry and informed members ecdp needed to establish its role in picking up these issues and sometimes this would require ecdp to seek who may be best placed to take this up and working in partnership with other relevant organisations. MA noted he would look into this issue and write back to Barry with an update in the coming weeks.

Dee Frost asked how ecdp was going to increase membership numbers. MA said in many ways it was about ecdp’s internal mechanisms and ecdp would need to seek members from all the people that come into contact with the organisation. MA noted ecdp had never actively marketed membership, but work is being done whereby ecdp will actively seek new members and that combination will hopefully increase numbers going forward.

Members openly acknowledged they were grateful that an organisation like ecdp was still offering free membership, which they found very important.

MA handed back to SC, who asked members to vote for, against (and anyone wishing to abstain from the vote) to ratify the accounts for 2010 / 11 and a unanimous yes vote was noted.

6. Resolutions

There was only one resolution submitted, which was a resolution to appoint Scrutton Bland as ecdp’s auditors for the coming year. SC asked members to vote on the resolution and a unanimous yes vote was noted, which decided Scrutton Bland be appointed as auditors of ecdp.

7. Election of Directors and nominations for Honorary Positions

SC handed over to Kristine Alderman (KA) to conduct this part of the meeting.

The election of Directors to the Board took place.

KA noted since there were fewer nominations received than there were places available she would not be asking each individual to read out their election address, as all election addresses had been handed out during the registration process for today’s meeting. KA would therefore simply ask members to vote on each of the five appointments, KA noted three current Director / Trustees (Steve Carey, Ann Nutt and Jeff Banks) were standing for re-election and two Director / Trustee’s (Pat Gaudin and Charles McKay) were seeking election by members after being appointed by the ecdp Management Board in March 2011.

Steve Carey (SC) stood forward to be reappointed as a Director / Trustee, proposed by Ann Nutt and seconded by Barry O’Connell. A vote was held and a unanimous yes vote was noted. SC was duly re-elected Director / Trustee of ecdp.

Ann Nutt (AN) stood forward to be reappointed as a Director / Trustee, proposed by Steve Carey and seconded by Monica Butcher. A vote was held and a unanimous yes vote was noted. AN was duly re-elected Director / Trustee of ecdp.

Jeff Banks (JB) stood forward to be reappointed as a Director / Trustee, proposed by Terry Collin and seconded by Derek Twitchett. A vote was held and a unanimous yes vote was noted. JB was duly re-elected Director / Trustee of ecdp.

Pat Gaudin (PG) stood forward to be appointed as a Director / Trustee, proposed by Marilyn Williams and seconded by Barry O’Connell. A vote was held and a unanimous yes vote was noted. PG was duly elected Director / Trustee of ecdp.

Charles McKay (CM) stood forward to be appointed as a Director / Trustee, proposed by Pat Gaudin and seconded by John Mason. A vote was held and a unanimous yes vote was noted. CM was duly elected Director / Trustee of ecdp.

The election to honorary positions then took place. Chair: Steve Carey stood forward to be reappointed for the position of Chair, proposed by Charles McKay and seconded by Derek Twitchett. SC gave a short speech outlining why he was seeking to be re-appointed as Chair. Following Steve’s speech a vote was held, for which a unanimous yes vote was noted. Steve Carey was duly re-elected Chair of ecdp.

Vice Chair: Ann Nutt stood forward to be reappointed to the position of Vice- Chair, proposed by Jeff Banks and seconded by James Burnham. AN gave a short speech outlining why she was seeking to be re-appointed as Vice-Chair. Following Ann’s speech a vote was held, for which a unanimous yes vote was noted. Ann Nutt was duly re-elected Vice-Chair of ecdp.

Treasurer: Jeff Banks stood forward to be reappointed to the position of Treasurer, proposed by Marilyn Williams and seconded by Ann Nutt. JB gave a short speech outlining why he was seeking to be re-appointed as Treasurer. Following Jeff’s speech a vote was held, for which a unanimous yes vote was noted Jeff Banks was duly re-elected Treasurer of ecdp.

At this stage of proceedings, Steve Carey (SC) resumed the role of Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

8. Any Other Business

Mary Redman informed MA DAG has been affiliate members for just over a year. DAG are part of CHP who may also be interested in affiliate membership in their own right. MA asked Carol Slade, as ecdp enterprise manager, to pick this up directly with Mary.

Mary Redman also informed members about an issue she had experienced when trying to talk to HMRC, where after being asked several questions posed by Experian she was unable to talk to HMRC about her own affairs as she hadn’t passed the questions stage. After conducting her own research, Mary established Experian are a credit reference agency, and after talking to fellow SURGE group members established it can be a very intimidating experience if Experian then call you to an interview, as these interviews usually take place at a magistrates court, and are conducted by an Experian officer.

Barry O’Connell informed members an organisation called ATOS are conducting reviews / assessments for work capability assessments and DLA (which will become PIP), noting the ATOS staff have no direct experience of dealing with people with a disability. FS noted ecdp has raised these concerns with DWP who are running the DLA / PIP consultation. FS also provided an update on where ecdp is with work on the proposed PIP implementation, noting a reference group had been set up to inform ecdp’s response to the consultation being run by DWP.

9. Concluding comments and close of formal AGM by Steve Carey

Steve Carey thanked everyone on behalf of the Management Board for attending the AGM and participating throughout.

There being no further business to discuss, the AGM closed at 3.25pm.

Signed ……………………………………………… (Chair)

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