The Students' Representative Council (Rep Council to its friends) is responsible for guiding the Students' Union and ensuring it represents your interests in everything it does.

About Rep Council

Rep Council is the Students' Union's primary legislative body. It is composed of elected student representatives, and is responsible for making policy decisions and monitoring and directing their execution - think of it like the Students' Union parliament. Alongside its central role in the Students' Union's representative decision-making and governance, Rep Council is also responsible for providing oversight and accountability for the Union at large. It receives, reviews and approves reports on the progress of other Union bodies, including the Officer Team and Trustee Board, to ensure the Union is fulfilling its mission, that students are adequately represented, delegated actions are being carried out appropriately, and that elected representatives are carrying out their mandates.

More detailed information on the precise membership and duties of the council can be found in our constitution and byelaws.

Membership

The membership of Rep Council is made up of three main groups, who between them ensure the council has the broadest possible representative coverage: Department, Site and Graduate School Representatives represent the academic interests of students in each department across the university, Network Managers provide a voice for minority demographics, and the Full-Time Officer Team represent students at large. All three groups have speaking rights, but Officers are not granted a vote.

These three groups of members are supported by the Chair, who directs the flow of the meeting, and members of the Voice Team. The Chair and supporting staff do not have a vote or participate in discussion, though supporting staff may provide context and inform discussion at the Chair's discretion.

Rep Council welcomes observers, who may not vote but can speak at the Chair's discretion. Anyone wishing to observe a council meeting should e-mail the Voice Team to request an invitation.

Decision-Making

Its relatively small membership means Rep Council is able to make most of its decisions by consensus. If the Chair feels that the council is unlikely to reach consensus in a timely manner, or if the constituion or byelaws require a matter to be put to one, they will call a vote. Votes will typically be cast by way of a voice vote or show of hands and recorded as passed or failed, unless this is specifically requested or required.

Rep Council Meetings for 2023 - 2024

The Representative Council meets twice a semester, for a total of six times a year. These meetings cover several standard points: a review of previous actions, updates from the Officer Team and Trustee Board, and receiving the recommendations from any Better Staffs and Better London forums that have taken place since the last meeting. The remainder of the session is then dedicated to discussion of other items submitted to the agenda.

 

Dates for 2023/24 have not yet been set.

 

Previous Academic Years

Records from past meetings can be found below. Rep Council sat monthly until 2019/20, then semesterly until 2023/24. Please note that documentation from previous years may not be fully available.

 

2022 - 2023

Actions Summary for 2022/23

23rd November 2022 Agenda · Officer Update · Officer Update (Choto) · News Article
25th January 2023 Agenda · Officer Update · Officer Update (Choto) · News Article
22nd March 2023 Agenda · Officer Update · Trustee Board Update · News Article
 

2021 - 2022

15th February 2022 Agenda · Trustee Board Update · News Article
8th April 2022 Agenda · News Article
26th May 2022 Agenda
 

2020 - 2021

13th November 2020 Agenda · News Article
21st January 2021 Extraordinary meeting to discuss emergency regulations.
24th February 2021 Minutes · News Article
28th May 2021 Agenda
 

2019 - 2020

5th November 2019 Event · Agenda · Slides · Minutes · News Article
21st February 2020 Agenda · Slides
30th April 2020 Officer Update · Minutes · News Article
 

2018 - 2019

17th October 2018
15th November 2018 Event
7th February 2019 Event
30th April 2019 Event · Agenda
7th June 2019 Event · Agenda
 

Actions

As the Students' Union's primary legislative body, Rep Council has the power to delegate actions to elected representatives - this is usually the Officers, but can also be other council members - and to request action from Students' Union staff. A record of actions for the current academic year can be viewed below; records for previous years may be available on request.

If the embedded document below fails to load, click here to open it in a new tab.