Membership Organisations

Experience in your sector

Professional associations, regulatory bodies and Royal Charter organisations must comply with various pieces of legislation to ensure correct and proper management.

While each group will have differing compliance requirements according to their legal classification, all must comply with competition law such as the Competition Act 1998. This covers areas such as competing fairly, avoiding abuse of a dominant position and rules surrounding cartel activity.

Governance challenges

In our experience, membership organisations present their own unique governance challenges due to the inherent potential for conflict between grass roots members and the governing executive. Each group has its own, often-competing, interests and it is important to balance the needs of both to enable the executive to do their jobs while ensuring members have a voice in the running of their organisation.

Bridgehouse Company Secretaries has helped several membership organisations successfully reconcile these conflicting objectives by setting up organisational structures and processes that support fair, transparent decision-making. These can include risk and assurance frameworks, clear schemes of delegation and consultation mechanisms.

We also provide ongoing board support, company secretarial services and compliance and governance expertise to membership organisations.

Our company secretary services include:

• Ensuring compliance with the articles of association and bylaws
• Safeguarding all company legal documents and maintaining statutory registers of directors, directors’ interests and company policies, among others
• AGM support – Convening the AGM and supporting the AGM, including preparation of notice of meeting, resolutions and any supporting documentation
• Board meeting management – Supporting board meetings and maintaining a record of the minutes
• Submitting required information to Companies House such as registered office details and any changes to the composition of the board
• Filing annual accounts and annual confirmation statements
• Keeping registers up-to-date
• Drawing up procedures to ensure good governance and ensuring these are followed
• Compliance services – in conjunction with the board, ensuring compliance with applicable legislation such as health & safety and employment laws

Talk to us without any obligation about how Bridgehouse Company Secretaries can help membership organisations balance the competing interests of the organisation and those of its members.