At KCLSU, the Trustee Board acts as the main governing body. As a registered charity and limited company, we have a group of trustees that lead the organisation on behalf of its student members. The Board exists to make sure KCLSU is financially stable, provides services to its members, and is sustainable and legally run.
To do this, KCLSU has a strategy that sets out its long-term plan to improve the experience of KCL students.
KCLSU is governed by its Articles of Association and Byelaws that set out the rules and regulations of how KCLSU makes decisions and selects it trustees, and how students can get involved. We also publish the Governance Policies and Procedures, which gives further detail to the types of things the Trustee Board do throughout the year.
As a student-led organisation, the Trustee board is made up of the six student officers, four student trustees and four lay trustees. To find out who is on the KCLSU Trustee Board, click here.
Committees
As well as a Trustee Board, specific areas of KCLSU business is delegated to subcommittees. These are made up of trustees that meet in-between board meetings to discuss particular items. They are made up of KCLSU Trustees and a senior member of KCLSU staff. You can read about each committee below.
The Audit and Risk Committee is responsible for the legal compliance of KCLSU. It oversees risk management, banking and financial process, complaints and external speakers.
Governance & Policy Committee
The Governance & Policy Committee looks after our democratic structures at KCLSU. It oversees the elections and campaigns, and monitors the student officers’ objectives.
Digital & Communications Committee
The Digital & Communications Committee provides effective strategic oversight of our digital and communications work, improves its effectiveness and our ability to evaluate the impact of our work.
The HR Committee is responsible for the full time and student staff policies and process at KCLSU. It has oversight on staff training and feedback, as well as making sure KCLSU is structured in the most productive way.
The Performance Committee is the designated committee for monitoring KCLSU’s strategy. It also has responsibility for our financial performance, our commercial outlets and our membership services.
Policy Zone
You can find all KCLSU policies and procedures in the Policy Zone. These outline the detail of how we make decisions. This includes the annual report and accounts.
If you have any questions about our governance, you can get in touch with the Chair of the Trustee Board by emailing [email protected]
Further Governance Information
Corporate Conclusions
A Corporate Conclusion is a statement of the views of those KCLSU members, at a Members’ Meeting on matters that are outside the scope of KCLSU’s Charitable Objectives, for the Advancement of Education. KCLSU is therefore not permitted to campaign on as a Charity, within our scope.
However, KCLSU does have a wider responsibility to hold balanced debates, for the Advancement of Education and enable students to form collective views on issues, including wider political and ethical issues. This is often called forming a ‘corporate conclusion,’ which is a term borrowed from processes in case law.
In the context of KCLSU’s Charitable Objectives for the Advancement of Education, in providing forums for discussions and debate for the personal development of students, this is a legitimate way for students to come together to discuss issues which are deemed outside the remit of immediate concern to students in their role and interests as students. This approach may be taken for a range of issues, however it is still subject to the usual requirements of UK Law, for example that any corporate conclusion must not be libelous or discriminatory.
Students’ Unions are legally allowed to form a corporate conclusion (a view set and shared by a section of our membership on any topic) and share the results of this vote with the student body and inform the University of the outcome. Student bodies reaching a corporate conclusion is protected by case law (Webb v O’Doherty at Anglia Ruskin Students’ Union (1991).
Students’ Unions are enabled to facilitate debates amongst students on political issues, including those relating to the policies of other countries. KCLSU will communicate the results of the outcome of the vote, and the process by which this was passed.
As a charity, KCLSU are legally obligated to uphold the Charities Act (2006 and 2011), so KCLSU can’t exceed its charitable purposes outlined in charity law. KCLSU cannot advocate for issues outside its charitable scope, and can’t push for the University to implement the same measures.
Trustee Decision Making
How charity trustees make decisions - Decision-making for charity trustees (CC27) - GOV.UK