General Meetings

27. At least 21 clear days' notice shall be given of all General Meetings of the College specifying the place, day and hour of the Meeting and the nature of the business to be transacted. All notices of Meetings shall be sent to the addresses of all the Members as entered on the Roll but the accidental omission to give any such notice shall not invalidate any resolution passed at any General Meeting.

Clear notice of 21 days must be given of each General Meeting of the RCN, specifying the date and place of the meeting, and the subjects it will cover. Notices of meetings must be sent to the addresses of all members, as they appear on the membership roll. Decisions reached at these meetings are still valid, even if notice is accidentally not given to a member.

28 a) The Council may in its discretion convene an Extraordinary General Meeting.

b) The Council shall, on the requisition in writing, whether consisting of one or more documents, signed by at least 1,000 Members of the College, which requisition shall specify the nature of the business to be transacted at the Meeting and be delivered to the Secretary of the College, convene an Extraordinary General Meeting, provided that the Council shall be deemed to have complied with such requisition if it shall cause the business specified in such requisition to be included on the Agenda for the next Annual General Meeting of the College or the next Meeting of the Representative Body of the College (if that Meeting is competent to deal with the business), always provided that a meeting to which the business shall be referred shall be due to take place within three months of the date on which the requisition shall have been delivered to the Secretary of the College, and that the Council shall have advised the requisitionists of the action to be taken in response to the requisition.

c) If the Council shall not take action as aforesaid in response to any such requisition nor be deemed to have complied with the same as aforesaid, the requisitionists may themselves convene an Extraordinary General Meeting, and the expenses of convening such a meeting shall be borne by the College, but any Meeting so convened shall not be held after six months from the date of delivery of the requisition.

The Council can decide to call an Extraordinary General Meeting.
The Council can call an Extraordinary General Meeting if it is requested to do so in the form of one or more written documents signed by at least 1,000 RCN members. This document must state the subjects to be discussed at the extraordinary general meeting. In some instances, the Council can add the issues raised to the agenda of the next AGM or meeting of a representative body of the RCN (if it is deemed competent to deal with the issues raised). The Council can only add the issues to the agenda of an already scheduled meeting if 1) the meeting is to take place within three months of the written request, and 2) if it informs the signatories of its intention to do so.
If the Council receives such a written request, yet fails to hold an extraordinary general meeting, the signatories can hold their own extraordinary general meeting at the expense of the RCN. This must be done within six months of issuing a written request for an extraordinary general meeting.

29. With every notice of every Annual General Meeting shall be sent a copy of the Annual Report of the Council on the affairs of the College which shall be signed by the Chair or Vice-Chair of the Council and counter-signed by the Secretary or other officer as the Council may designate. A copy of the balance sheet and accounts and report of the auditor shall be available to all Members on request and at the Annual General Meeting.

An Annual Report of the Council on the affairs of the RCN must be sent out with each notice of every AGM. If must be signed by the Chair or Vice Chair of the Council and counter-signed by the Secretary or another officer. A copy of the RCN' s financial records for the year should be made available to all members on request, and at the AGM.

30. The business of an Annual General Meeting shall be to receive the Annual Report of the Council, the balance sheet and accounts and report of the Auditors, to receive the result of the ballot for Members of the Council in those years when an election has taken place and to discuss matters of a professional character which in the opinion of the Chair of the Meeting are of importance in the interests of the Members.

The purpose of an AGM is to:

Receive the Annual Report of the Council.
Receive the accountancy records of the Council.
Receive the result of the ballot for members of the Council (during years where this is applicable).
Discuss professional matters.

31. 150 Members of the College personally present shall be a quorum for a General Meeting and no business shall be transacted unless a quorum be present. If within half an hour from the time appointed for the Meeting a quorum is not present, the Meeting, if convened on requisition, shall be dissolved, but if an Annual General Meeting it shall stand adjourned until such time not later than two months from the date fixed therefore as the Chair shall think fit and if at such adjourned Meeting a quorum is not present then any Members of the College who are personally present shall form a quorum and transact any business for which the Meeting was called.

A quorum of 150 members is required for business to be transacted at a general meeting. In the case of a requested meeting, if 150 members are not present, the meeting should be dissolved. In the case of an AGM, the meeting should be adjourned for no longer than two months. If the quorum of 150 members is not present at the adjourned meeting, then it will legally go ahead with those who are present.

32. The President or, in the absence of the President, the Deputy President or, in the absence of the Deputy President, the Chair of the Council shall take the Chair at any General Meeting and if none of these is present within 15 minutes of the time appointed for the Meeting, the Members of the College personally present shall choose another Member to take the Chair.

Meetings must be Chaired by the President. If the President is absent, the Chair is the Deputy President. If the President and the Deputy President are absent, the meeting is Chaired by the Chair of the Council. If all three are absent, the Council must appoint a Chair.

33. Subject to the provisions of the Charter, every question submitted to a General Meeting shall be decided in the first instance by a show of hands, unless a poll is (before or on the declaration of the result of the show of hands) demanded by the Chair or by at least ten Members present in person and in the case of equality of votes the Chair of the meeting shall on a show of hands or at a poll have a second or casting vote.

In meetings, decisions are generally reached by a show of hands. Sometimes the Chair of the meeting, or members (at least 10 of them) can ask for a poll. If there is an equal number of people on either side of an issue, the Chair can call a second show of hands or poll.

34. The Chair of a General Meeting may, with the consent of the Meeting, adjourn the same from time to time and from place to place, but no business shall be transacted at any adjourned Meeting other than business left unfinished at the Meeting from which the adjournment took place.

The Chair of a General Meeting can adjourn the meeting. However, at the later adjourned meeting, the only things that can be discussed are the items that were on the agenda at the original meeting.

35. Votes may be given personally or in the event of a poll either personally or by proxy. The instrument appointing a proxy which shall be valid only for the Meeting specified therein or its adjournment, shall be in writing and signed by the appointor and shall be deposited at the office of the Secretary of the College not less than 48 hours before the time for holding the Meeting or adjournment (as the case may be) at which the person named in such instrument proposes to vote. No person may be appointed a proxy who is not a Member of the College. When an official form of proxy is supplied that form shall be used.

Votes can be made in person, or in the case of a poll, in person or by proxy. Any person wishing to appoint a proxy should do so in writing. The request should arrive in the office of the Secretary of the College not less than 48 hours before the meeting or adjourned meeting. Only members of the RCN can be appointed as proxies. When an official proxy form has been supplied, it should be used.

36. On a show of hands every Member of the College present in person shall have one vote and at a poll every Member present in person or by proxy shall have one vote.

There is one vote per member, whether in a show of hands, by poll or by proxy.

37. Where an issue being referred by the Council to the College in General Meeting shall be considered by the Council to be of such importance that all Members of the College should be accorded the opportunity to vote upon it whether or not present in person at the General Meeting the Council may request the President as Chair of the Meeting or such person as may act as Chair of the Meeting in the absence of the President to demand a poll in order that proxy votes may be counted. In such an instance the Council shall ensure that the issue to be voted upon, which shall generally be in the form of a resolution or resolutions put forward by the Council, shall be notified to all Members of the College if possible at the time of giving formal notice of a General Meeting but in any event not less than 21 clear days before the date on which the Meeting is to be held; a proxy voting form and instructions in respect of proxy voting shall be issued at the same time. As required by Bye-Law 35 the official proxy voting form shall be deposited at the office of the Secretary of the College not less than 48 hours before the time for the holding of the Meeting. Where a poll is to be called for in the circumstances described above, the Council shall appoint a Returning Officer who shall not be a Member of the College to record the votes received either by proxy or in person at the Meeting and to report to the Chair of the Meeting the outcome of the voting.

When the Council feels that an issue is so important that all members should vote on it, the Chair of the meeting can be asked to initiate a poll so that votes by proxy can be included in the count. If the Council decides to do this, it should alert members no less than 21 clear days before the vote, sending them instructions and a proxy voting form.
The proxy voting form must be returned to the office of the Secretary of the RCN not less than 48 hours before the meeting is scheduled to take place.
When a poll like this is initiated, the Council must appoint a returning officer - who is not allowed to be an RCN member - to count the votes and to report the outcome to the Chair of the meeting.