Compostion of Council

Composition of the Council and method of election or appointment

8. Those Members of the Council who are serving at the date on which these Bye-Laws take effect shall continue in office until the close of the Annual General Meeting of the College held in the year 1979 when, with the exception of the President and Deputy President, they shall all retire from the Council but shall be eligible for re-election.

Anyone who served on the Council at time these bye-laws were published were told to remain in their post until the end of the Annual General Meeting of 1979. At this time, all members of the Council (except the President and Deputy President) retired, but remained eligible for re-election.

9. The term of office of Members elected to the Council shall be four years except for those places allocated to Student Members which shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of the Bye-Laws. One half of the Members elected to the Council, other than Student Members, shall retire every two years.

The term of office of a member of the Council is four years, except for student members, whose term of office is defined elsewhere in these bye-laws. The terms of office are staggered, so that one half of the Council members (other than student members) retires every two years.

10 a) For the purposes of nomination and election to the Council there shall be 13 Sections: nine in England, one in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland, and a Student Section. Two Council Members shall be elected in each Section.

Council members represent 13 different sections. These comprise nine in England, one in Scotland, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and one student section. Two members are elected to each section.

b) No salaried Member of the staff of the College shall be eligible for election to the Council.

RCN employees are not entitled to stand for election to the Council.

11. The President and Deputy President shall be Members of the Council ex-officio as provided in the Charter.

The President and Deputy President exercise powers as members of the Council.

12. Each National and Regional Board shall elect a Chair biennially from among the two Council members elected by the corresponding Section and the Association of Nursing Students Executive Committee or such other body as may for the time being be recognised by the Council as representative of the Student membership shall elect a Chair from among their two Council members annually.

Every two years, each regional and national board must elect a Chair. Eligible for election to this post are the Council members for the regional sections. Student members hold elections for a Chair once a year.

13. The Council shall have power from time to time to establish, recognise, and change the name nature or constitution of any national forum or other membership body.

The RCN Council has the power to create or recognise new groups representing members. It can also change the function, or rename any group already in existence.

14. Any person serving as a Member of the Council ex-officio shall continue as such for so long as he or she occupies the relevant office and on relinquishing the same he or she shall vacate his or her place on the Council which shall be filled by his or her successor in office.

Council members will exercise the powers of their office until they give up that post, at which point they will give up their post and it will be taken over by someone else.

15. For the purposes of the election of Members to the Council in the nine English Sections the Council may from time to time fix or revise the geographical boundaries of such Sections. One English Section shall for the purposes of this Bye-Law and of any determinations made thereunder be deemed to include the Channel Islands and another English Section shall be deemed to include the Isle of Man. For the purposes of such elections every Member of the College shall be deemed to have a notified address, such notified address being the mailing address of the Member on the Roll of the Members of the College or such other address as the Member shall notify to the Secretary of the College.

For election purposes, boundaries of the geographical sections represented by members of the Council can be changed. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man each come under the jurisdiction of a different section. Also for election purposes, every RCN member will be listed as residing at the address indicated on the roll of members.

16. Not less than six months before the date of the Annual General Meeting at which the results of an election of Members, other than Student Members, to the Council are to be received, the Council shall appoint a Returning Officer, who shall not be a Member of the College, to be responsible for and to make such regulations as are necessary for the proper conduct of the election. The Council, with the approval of the Returning Officer, shall fix the date by which nominations and voting papers are to be received.

The right of nomination for election to the Council in the 12 Sections in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales shall be reserved to local branches of the College recognised by the Council within each Section and to national forums recognised by Council. The nomination papers shall be signed in the case of local branches, by two of the elected officers of the branch making the nomination, and in the case of national forums, by two of the elected members of the committee of the national forum making the nomination.

The Council shall procure that there be sent to every Member of the College before the date of the Annual General Meeting at which the results of the election are to be received a voting paper in such form as the Council with the approval of the Returning Officer shall determine setting out the names of all candidates and the Sections in which they are standing for election and categories in which they are standing for election. Every member of the College shall be entitled to cast one vote or to express an order of preference for each seat to be filled in the Section in which the notified address of the Member falls and for no candidate in any other Section.

No less than six months before an AGM at which Council members are to be elected, the Council must appoint a returning officer. The returning officer cannot be a member of the RCN. With the approval of the returning officer, the Council must fix a date by which nominations and voting papers should be received.
Only local branches and national forums recognised by the Council can nominate candidates for the Council election from the 12 geographical sections. Nomination papers from local branches must be signed by two elected officers from the branch making the nomination. Nomination papers from national forums must be signed by two elected members of the committee of the forum making the nomination.
The Council must ensure that all members receive their voting papers in good time before the AGM. Voting papers must be clearly marked with the names of all candidates and the sections and categories in which they are standing. Every member of the RCN is entitled to one vote - or depending on the format of the election, to express an order of preference - for the geographical section in which their address falls.

17. In the event of there being no duly qualified person nominated to fill a vacancy in any Section, the Council may appoint a person to fill such vacancy provided always that before making any appointment the Council shall have consulted with the Branches with the right of nomination in the Section in which the vacancy arises and with the national forums. Any person so appointed shall be a person who under the terms of Bye-Law 16 would have met the requirements for election in that Section.

In the event that nobody is nominated to fill a section vacancy, the Council may appoint someone to fill that post. If such action is taken by the Council, it must first have contacted the relevant local branches and national forums to ensure that there is nobody to nominate.

18. The election to the two Student places on the Council shall take place every two years in alternate years; each election shall take place in advance of the Annual General Meeting at which the result of the election shall be received. Six months before the Annual General Meeting the Council shall appoint a Returning Officer, who shall not be a Member of the College, to be responsible for and to make such regulations as are necessary for the proper conduct of the election. The Council, with the approval of the Returning Officer, shall determine the date by which nomination and voting papers are to be received.

The Student Members of the College eligible for nomination shall be those who are at such a stage in their training as to be ineligible to qualify for initial or further registration as the case may be before completing at least six months of their term of office.

The right of nomination to each of these places shall be reserved to the Student Membership through Student Units recognised by the Council where such exist or by the Student Members within the local branches of the College duly recognised by the Council. In the event of there being no person nominated to fill either of these places on the Council the Council may appoint a person to fill the vacancy but before making such an appointment shall consult with the Executive Committee of the Students' National Body within the College.

The election of the two student places on the Council is held every two years, alternating so that one of the places is elected every year. Elections take place before the AGM, at which the results are received.
Six months before the AGM, the Council must appoint a returning officer. The returning officer cannot be a member of the RCN. He or she is responsible for running the election process. The Council, with the approval of the returning officer, must determine the date by which nomination and voting papers should be received.
To be eligible for election, student members must be at a stage in their training where they will be able to carry out at least six months of the Council post before they qualify for initial or further registration.
Only student members can nominate candidates for these posts, either through student units recognised by the RCN, or through the local branches.
If nobody has been nominated for these places, the Council may appoint a person to fill the vacancy. It can only do this if it has first consulted with the Executive Committee of the RCN Students' National Body.

19. Every Student Member of the College shall be entitled to cast one vote for any candidate for each of the Student Member places to be filled on the Council.

Student members are allowed one vote for any candidate for each of the places on the Council.

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The vacancies for the places on the Council in each Section shall be filled by the candidate or candidates who receive the highest number of votes in the Section as the case may be. Where appropriate the count may be conducted by the single transferable voting system or any other system approved by Council and the Returning Officer. Where, because of an equality of votes, the result of the election in any Section is in doubt in advance of the Annual General Meeting at which the results are to be received the issue shall be resolved by the drawing of lots.

The candidate with the highest number of votes wins. The count can be carried out using the single transferable voting system, or any other system agreed by the Council and the returning officer. If there is a dead heat, the winner is picked at the AGM by drawing lots.

21. Notwithstanding the provision that the results of the election of Members of the Council shall be received by the Annual General Meeting in the year of the election it shall be permissible to notify candidates of the outcome of their candidature in advance of the Meeting at which the results are to be received.

While election results are announced officially at the AGM, successful candidates can be notified before the AGM.

22. Any person being an elected Member of the Council who ceases to have a notified address within the Section for which he or she was elected shall thereupon cease to be a Member of the Council.

Council members representing a geographical section have to have an address in that section. If they move away from the section during their term of office, they must resign from the Council.

23. In exercising its power to fill any casual vacancy which may arise on the Council, the Council shall adopt the following procedure:

a) Where a vacancy occurs within the first two years after the election of a Member of Council, the Council shall cause a by-election to be held to replace such member; such by-election shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Bye-Law 16, except that the timing shall not be related to the Annual General Meeting nor shall it be required that the result of the by-election be received by the next Annual General Meeting.

b) Where a vacancy occurs after the expiration of two years after the election of a Member of the Council, the Council shall fill that vacancy by appointment provided always that before making such appointment the Council shall have consulted with the Branches with the right of nomination in the Section in which the vacancy arises and with the national forums recognised by Council.
Any person so appointed shall be a person who under the terms of Bye-Law 16 would have met the requirements for election in that Section.
Any person elected or appointed to fill a casual vacancy on the Council shall hold office only for the remainder of the term for which the predecessor of that person was elected or appointed.

If the Council needs to fill a casual vacancy within the Council (which it is allowed to do) it must follow the following procedure:
a) If the vacancy comes about within the first two years after the election of a Council member, the Council can hold a by-election, which conforms to the rules of bye-law 16 (except that it is not tied to the date of the AGM).
b) If the vacancy comes about more than two years after the election of a Council member, the Council must fill the vacancy by appointment rather than by election. To do this, the Council must first have consulted with the national forums and local branches. Anyone chosen to fill a vacancy in this way must comply with the terms of eligibility outlined in bye-law 16.
Anyone who fills a casual vacancy only does so for the amount of time that would have remained for his or her predecessor.