Constitution

(As approved by Members at an EGM, 11th January 2007, and the Charity Commissioners February 2007)

‘Dedicated to Ambulance Service personnel and their dependants, for the relief of poverty, sickness and distress’

1. The name of the Fund is the Ambulance Services Benevolent Fund and hereinafter called the Fund.

2. The Fund is established for charitable purposes only.

3. The object of the Fund is for the relief of poverty, sickness and distress among all persons employed in the Ambulance Services of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and the Republic of Eire, or formerly employed persons having retired or left such Services on medical grounds and the dependents of such persons being likewise qualified and in furtherance of this object, the Fund may assist such persons, in any way of the following ways:

a) by making cash allowances for a specified period;

b) by making grants and loans (with or without interest) including grants and loans for training or other educational purposes of such amounts and subject to such conditions as the Council of the Fund shall from time to time decide;

c) by establishing and maintaining charitable homes and hostels and making grants or paying subscriptions towards the establishment and maintenance of charitable homes and hostels;

d) by making grants or allowances for the purposes of purchase of equipment, medical treatment and care;

e) by establishing and maintaining workshops for occupational therapy and making grants or paying subscriptions towards the establishing and maintenance of such workshops;

f) by paying subscriptions and making donations to charitable hospitals, homes or institutions having amongst their objects the succour of such persons.

4. The Fund may acquire by purchase or otherwise and may (subject to the consents for the time being by law required) exchange, sell and charge freehold and leasehold land for occupation for the purposes of the Fund.

5. A person who is a serving or retired employee of a public sector Ambulance Service, hereinafter referred to as a member, shall be entitled to attend and vote at all general meetings of the Fund.

6. The management of the Fund shall be vested in the Council of Management (hereinafter referred to as the Council) whose powers and duties are more particularly set out in subsequent clauses of this constitution.

7. Officers of the Fund

The following persons shall be elected or invited to accept office:

a) The Chair of the Fund will be elected at the Annual General Meeting to serve for a period of three years.

b) The Vice Chair of the Fund will be elected at the Annual General Meeting to serve for a period of three years.

c) The Treasurer will be appointed by the Council at the first council meeting following an AGM.

d) The Secretary will be appointed by the Council at the first council meeting following an AGM.

8. The government and management of the Fund will be entrusted in the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Regional Representatives, together with any person or persons appointed under Clause 9 of whom three will form a quorum and will be known as the Council in accordance with Rule 6. The regional structure of the Fund will be as determined by the Council from time to time and regional representatives may be drawn from any level of an Ambulance Service. All members of the Council will have voting rights.

9. The Council may elect such persons as it thinks fit to serve on the Council whose professional skills and advice would assist in the administration of the Fund. Any such work on the Council shall not be subject to remuneration by said persons.

10. The Council shall appoint a Treasurer (in accordance with Rule 7(c) who shall be accountable to the Council for the proper keeping of the Fund's accounts and shall have the power to give receipts for all monies paid to him/her on the Fund's account and shall administer the Fund in accordance with the instructions of the Council.

11. The Council shall appoint a Secretary (in accordance with Rule 7(d) who shall attend meetings of the Fund and the Council and shall, subject to the directions of the Council, be responsible for the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Fund.

12. The Council reserve the right to appoint a person(s) to the position of President and / or Patron if they so decide. The appointee may be but does not have to be an existing Council member or member of the Fund but if they are such their appointment as President or Patron would not cause them to lose any of their rights accruing from their status under this Constitution.

13. The Fund in Annual General Meeting shall confirm and register any society, branch, or chapter, generally from within each region, as is deemed necessary.

14. Each Regional Representative of the Council shall hold office only from the end of the meeting at which he/she was elected until the end of the next Annual General Meeting. of the Fund, but any member may be re-elected for a further term or terms.

15. The following rules shall apply in respect of meetings:

a) An Annual General Meeting will be held once a year at a place and time of the choosing of the Officers of the Council and with proper notice having been given.

b) An Extra-ordinary General Meeting may be convened by the Council at any time and shall be called by the Council upon a requisition signed by twelve or more members stating the object of the meeting.

c) Not less than fourteen days' notice in writing of general meetings shall be given by (a) publishing the necessary information on the Funds Website (www.asbf.co.uk), (b) if publication dates permit in the Funds magazine and (c) by sending notice of the meeting to the Headquarters of each public sector Ambulance Service with a request for the notice to be brought to the attention of the members of the service. Any member’s lack of awareness of this notice shall not invalidate the proceedings at the meeting.

d) The Chair will preside at the Annual General Meeting and at any other meeting at which he is present. In his absence, the Vice Chair will assume the duties of the Chair, otherwise the meeting shall elect a Chair. The Chair, or other member in the Chair, shall be entitled to vote on any question, and, in the event of an equal number of votes being cast on any matter, the Chair shall have a casting vote. In the event of a tied vote for an election to office, the members shall be invited to vote again by secret ballot and, if this procedure still produces a tie, the matter shall be decided by lot. There shall not be a casting vote from the chair.

e) For Annual General and Extra-ordinary General Meetings, a quorum shall consist of 7 persons who are covered by this constitution, the majority of whom should be Council members.

f) All motions shall be in writing signed by the proposer and seconder, and shall be delivered to the Secretary within twenty-one days prior to the meeting that any debate thereon shall take place.

g) Every matter shall be decided in the first place on a show of hands, but the Chair may order a poll and must do so if it is required by more than two members.

16. Meetings of the Council may be called by the Chair as often as he or she may consider necessary and, in the event of the office of the Chair being vacant, may be called by any two members of the Council. At least five days' notice of meetings of the Council shall be given to members thereof. The provisions of Rule 15d shall apply to all meetings of the Council

17. Minutes of all meetings of the Fund and of the Council shall be kept in books provided for that purpose. At every meeting of the Fund or the Council, the minutes of the last meeting of the Fund or the Council (as the case may be) shall be circulated and if confirmed by the meeting shall be signed by the Chair.

18. The officers (the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) shall together constitute an executive committee to which the Council may from time to time and for such time as it thinks fit, delegate such of its functions as necessary. The Council may appoint if appropriate the following standing committees:

a) finance committee
b) appeals committee
c) case committee

Each committee may include co-opted members, PROVIDED that at least two thirds of the members of each such committee shall be members of the Council. The Council may also, from time to time, appoint ad hoc committees to which specific powers may be delegated and such ad hoc committees may include co-opted members without limit of numbers.

Provided that all actions and proceedings of all such committees shall be reported to and confirmed by the Council as soon as possible.

19. The Council shall have power to fill any vacancy however caused for the period between the occurrence of such vacancy and the date of the next general meeting.

20. The Council shall from time to time determine the ways and means of raising monies for the Fund and may seek advice from professional bodies with regard to the advertising and marketing of the Fund's activities.

21. The Council may appoint and pay such legal and financial advisers as shall from time to time be necessary for carrying out the work of the Fund.

22. The Council shall maintain such banking accounts or accounts as it thinks fit into such of which as may be appropriate shall be paid forthwith all sums of money for the time being belonging to the Fund. Cheques shall be signed by such persons as the Council shall from time to time authorise.

23. The Council may receive on behalf of the Fund gifts whether in the form of permanent endowments or otherwise for the general purposes of the Fund and may also receive any gifts whether by way of permanent endowments, covenants or otherwise for any special purposes connected with the Fund.

24. All sums of money at any time standing to the credit of the said banking accounts and not required for immediate working purposes shall be invested by the Council in the name of the Fund.

Subject to any special trusts attached thereto, any such sum may be invested in securities for the time being authorised by law for the investment of trust funds or in such other investments (including the purchase of freehold or leasehold land) as the Council shall on the advice of its financial advisers given at the time of investment select PROVIDED as follows:

a) Subject as hereinafter provided an investment shall be so made that of the total funds of the Fund then invested not less than one half in value shall be invested in securities for the time being authorized by law for the investment of trust funds.

b) Investments representing money of the nature of income may not without the specific consent of the Council be realised and applied as income.

c) Subject to any special trusts attached thereto investments may with the express consent of Council, and reported to the subsequent Annual meeting, be realised and the proceeds applied in the purchase of land and buildings for use for the purposes of the Fund and the value of such land and buildings shall not be taken into account when valuing the funds of the Fund in accordance with proviso (a) above.

d) Subject to the aforesaid limitations, investments may be transposed as the Council acting on the advice of its financial advisers sees fit.

25. The financial year of the Fund shall end on 31 March in each year and the certified accounts of the Fund shall be presented by the Treasurer to the Council at its first meeting after that date and shall be presented at the next Annual General Meeting after that date. The Council will comply with their obligation under the Charities Act 1993 with regards to:

(i) the keeping of accounting records;

(ii) the preparation of annual statements of accounts;

(iii) the auditing or independent examination of those statements of accounts by an accredited accountant;

(iv) the transmission of the statements of accounts to the Charity Commissioners;

(v) the preparation of an annual report and its transmission to the Charity Commissioners;

(vi) the preparation of an annual return and its transmission the Charity Commissioners;

A copy of the audited accounts shall be sent thereafter to each public sector Ambulance Service and published on the Funds Website.

26. All the proper costs, charges and expenses of and necessary for the management of the Fund shall first be defrayed out of the income of the Fund.

27. Subject to the payments aforesaid, the Council shall as and when it thinks fit (but subject to any special trusts attached to any part of the funds of the Fund) apply or cause to be applied the whole or any part of the income of the Fund and may (with the consent of the Officers and subject as aforesaid) apply capital of the Fund in furtherance of the objects of the Fund referred to in Rule 3.

28. Applications for relief shall be submitted to the Secretary in such form as the Council shall from time to time require and shall be considered by the case committee of the Council The case committee shall have the power to make grants to an applicant up to such an amounts as the claims committee shall from time to time determine but save as aforesaid payments shall only be made with the sanction of the Council. Particulars of all payments made by the case committee shall be communicated to the Council at its next meeting.

28(a). Grants made to or through other organizations must comply with the Funds Constitution. Such bodies receiving grants from the Fund must have objects in common with the Fund and that grants may only be spent on those objects,

29. The Council may charge to and recover from any beneficiary such part as the Council shall think fit of the cost of providing accommodation, food, care and attention, amenities or services enjoyed by that beneficiary at any home or hostel established and maintained by the Charity but in making any charge shall have regard to the circumstances and means of the beneficiary.

30. These rules, other than Rules 1, 2, 3, 29 and 30, may be altered or revoked and new rules not inconsistent with Rules 1, 2, 3, 29 and 30 may be made, altered and revoked by the Fund in general meeting, but any proposal to alter the rules for the time being in force must be communicated to the Secretary in writing at least twenty-eight days before the meeting at which the proposal is to be moved PROVIDED that no addition, deletion or amendment of any rule shall at any time be made so as to cause the Charity to cease to be A CHARITY AT LAW. Any proposal to alter or revoke these rules at a general meeting must be carried by at least two-thirds majority of those present and voting.

31. If, in the unanimous decision of the whole Council, the Fund should be dissolved then the following financial provisions shall take effect:

i) all proper debts and liabilities shall be paid, and

ii) any funds remaining thereafter shall not be distributed among members but shall be paid, transferred or applied to such other charitable institutions or charitable purposes for the relief of poverty, sickness and distress as the Council with the approval of the members shall determine.

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Created by Michael W North IT Services. Copyright Ambulance Service Benevolent Fund 2004.
Last updated June 2008