Why is this important?

When an organisation updates its governing documents, the old ones no longer apply - and this includes provisions for terms of office. So it is essential to include Transition arrangements in the draft of the new Laws, to put to Fellows and Members. This will enable the College to be certain about who is in which role, and for how long.

We will need to be clear about:

• how long a term of office is expected to be, in the first "iteration" of the new structure
• to what extend previous years served in office count towards maximum terms of office in the new structure.

Obviously, these are separate but connected.

On the second point, we will need to make provision in the Laws to avoid a "big bang", in which everyone starts afresh with three years in September 2024 and everyone then finishes at the same time in September 2027 or 2030. This would obviously be extremely disruptive, and would be an obstacle to maintaining institutional memory.

Discussion of the options

The new Laws will set terms of office at three years, usually with an option to do another three years. (Exceptions are the President - whose term in that role is limited to one term, and situations where Trustees extend a term by a year). This will be a change to the current system, in which everyone has to stand again every year. So Council will need to decide if it wants to stick with the one-year terms for another year, or move to three-year terms straightaway.

And as noted above, there obviously needs to be a way of staggering terms so that turnover on Council and the Board of Trustees is manageable. A standard way to do this is to take time previously served in office into account, even though that was part of the "old structure". This means that people naturally come to the end of their maximum terms at different times. The only other option is to choose how long each person should stay for, but it is hard to see how this could work - for example, who would make those decisions?

(Note - as already discussed in Council, terms for the new Lay Trustees can also be staggered - explaining this can be part of the recruitment comms)

The Working Group thinks that there are two main options, set out in the table below. The difference between them is simply whether the College goes straight to three-year terms, or has another year of one-year terms.

Warning: this is one of many topics in this governance review where complexity is probably disproprortionate to importance or impact!

Both Option 1 and Option 2 would be absolutely fine - it's just up to Council to express a majority view.

Option 1 examples

Person A is elected as a Regional Rep this summer, with no previous time in this role. So they would get three years before they need to stand again, and then they could stand for another three years.

Person B has been a Regional Rep for one year and is elected again this summer. So they would have two years before they need to stand again. And then they can stand again for another three years.

Person C has been a Regional Rep for two years and is elected again this summer. This would mean that next year, they'd reach the end of a three year term, and would need to stand again for another term of three years if they wanted to carry on.

Person D has been a Regional Rep for three years and is elected again this summer. They can do a full three years. But then that's it.

Person E has been a Regional Rep for four years and is elected again this summer. They could do two years, and then that would be it - that would be their six years.

Person E has been a Regional Rep for five years and is elected again this summer. They could do one year, and then that would be it - that would be their six years.

The same principle would apply to Trustee roles. Here are a couple of examples (please remember that the President is different)

A Vice-President has served in this role for four years, and is re-elected this summer. So they would get two years before they need to stand again. After that, they would have reached their maximum term as a VP, but could stand for a three-year President term.

A Dean has served in this role for three years, and is re-appointed this summer. They would get the full three years - and then that would be it.

Option 2 examples

Person A is elected as a regional rep this summer, with no previous time in this role.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

This term would be for two years, and then they could stand for another three years.

Total = six years

Person B has been a regional rep for one year and is elected again this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

This term would also be for one year. And then they could stand again for another three years.

Total = six years, requiring two more elections after this summer.

Person C has been a regional rep for two years and is elected again this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

This term would then be for three years. Total = six years.

Person D has been a regional rep for three years and is elected again this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

This term would then be for two years.

Total = six years, requiring two more elections after this summer.

Person E has been a regional rep for four years and is elected again this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

This term would then be for one year. Total = six years, requiring two more elections after this summer.

Person F has been a regional rep for five years and is elected again this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year. Then that would be it. Total = six years.

The same principle would apply to Trustee roles - here are a few examples

A new Secretary is appointed - they have no previous time in office.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

They could then serve for another two years, and then be eligible to stand again for a three-year term.

Total = six years, requiring two more elections after this summer.

A Dean has served in this role for three years, and is re-appointed this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

Then they could serve for another two years.

After that, they would have reached their maximum term as a Dean (six years).

A Vice President has served in this role for four years, and is re-elected this summer.

They, like everyone, would get one year before they need to stand again in 2025.

Then they could serve for another year.

After that, they would have reached their maximum six year term as a VP,

but could stand for a three-year President term without needing a break.