Governance is the system of structures and procedures that guides how the Society works. Governance is the foundation the MS Society is built on and we couldn’t work without it. Updating the way the Society is governed will help the Society to deliver its strategy to beat MS.

Read below about what's changing, and what's happening over the next few months.

What’s changing?

Three resolutions were passed by members at the Society’s AGM in September 2009 - to become a charitable company limited by guarantee, governed through a board of volunteer trustees with one constitution covering the whole of the UK, and ultimately governed by members on the principle of ‘one member, one vote’.

The Society will work on making these changes over the coming months, and members will vote on the new structure and constitution at the 2010 AGM in September.

Incorporation
The MS Society will become a company limited by guarantee. It will continue to be governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees and retain its charitable status.

Incorporation will help us manage and minimise risks, and streamline our administration costs

One constitution
The MS Society will have one simple constitution that clearly sets out the rights, roles and responsibilities of volunteers, from branches and regions to councils in all four nations and the Board, as well as how they work together.

A single constitution means we can be a single, strong voice for people living with MS wherever they are in the UK. Importantly, the Society will remain a democratic organisation, ultimately governed by its members under the principle of ‘one member, one vote’.

Our charitable objects
The MS Society is working with the Charity Commission to update our charitable objects to make sure the Society can make best use of its resources to beat MS.

Making this change will allow us to provide services to people affected by MS, and to people who don’t have a firm diagnosis of MS or who have related conditions.

The Society’s focus will always be first and foremost on the needs of people affected by MS.  

So what’s next?

We now need to make these changes happen. This involves a lot of detailed work to become a company, write the new constitution, define the roles and responsibilities of volunteers and update the Society’s objects.

Importantly, our members will have the responsibility of voting on these changes at the 2010 AGM to reinforce the decisions made at the last AGM and finalise our new governance structure.

Coming up

Over the next few months there will be discussions with volunteers, staff and members across the UK as the Society works towards our new governance.

In spring we will let our members know what is in the new single constitution, how it is different from our existing constitution and what it means for individual members; and the structures of governance in the new company such as the roles and responsibility of the Board and national councils.

We’ll also put out a formal call for volunteers to be part of the councils and Board.  

More about governance

At its simplest it is the system by which organisations are directed and controlled. The Board of trustees wants to ensure that the Society operates successfully across the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. At times this will be as one Society, and at others it will be operating at a local level; recognising, taking advantage of and working with regional and national differences.

The UK Board also has to ensure that the Society’s responsibilities, for example to donors, supporters and to regulatory bodies are met. The Society is a large and successful organisation operating in a complex and uncertain world. We need to ensure that financial and other risks are managed.

Above all, we want to achieve the objectives agreed in “Putting the pieces together to beat MS – the strategy for the MS Society 2008 to 2012” in a way that is clear, open and accessible. Our governance structure should have the minimum bureaucracy consistent with effective delivery of our strategic aims in research, information, support, raising standards of care and leading the MS agenda. 

About the governance review group

The Board of trustees has formed a governance review group to take forward this work. View the membership and read the terms of reference for the governance review group.

Membership of Governance Review Group (36 kb)
Governance Review group terms of reference (60 kb)