Members questions for AGM

How will the governance review embed member leadership and democratic decision-making at all levels of organisational structures and processes?

The governance review is inherently about member leadership. The governing body of BAOT is comprised of occupational therapy members elected by the wider membership. The review aims to enhance the governing body’s decision-making via an improved constitution, better support, diversification of skills and improved structures and processes around Council, the RCOT Board and their committees. Embedding member democracy at all levels of the organisational structures and processes is not a stated objective of the governance review.

RCOT, as the subsidiary charity, already has many mechanisms for members to share their views and shape our work through:
•    membership surveys, research and polls
•    member’s participation and input shared during meetings, events and workshops
•    questions, queries and feedback shared with us through all our communication channels 
•    dedicated working groups established 
•    a new member impact panel to gather comments and thoughts from members on a variety of issues and topics.

We also have RCOT Advisory Groups supporting our Workforce Strategy implementation across all four nations, Expert Advisory Groups where members with lived experiences provide recommendations, guidance and challenge and volunteers who have shaped and are leading our new professional, practice and regional networks.  

Will RCOT commit to answering every question, asked by every member, at every AGM and publish minutes within week?

Members can submit questions in advance by email or post or ask these live during the AGM if you are attending in person. 

Submit questions by email: Send your questions to Odeth Richardson, Chair of Council to [email protected] Please use AGM in your email subject line.

Submit questions by post: Send these for the attention of Kate Monro, Head of Governance and  Compliance, British Association of Occupational Therapists Limited, 106-114 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB. 

We have 35 minutes for members questions during the AGM and we'll respond to as many questions as we can during this time.

We won't be responding to AGM questions on social media. We'll publish questions and answers on this page. Some questions may take longer to answer and where questions cover similar topics we may group these together. 

AGM and Council meeting minutes are approved by Council at their next meeting and published after. The AGM minutes will be approved by the end of July and published after. 

I would like to know why the AGM is not a hybrid event that the wider membership can attend.  There has been a push from the communities project to improve the digital offer and seek wider engagement with members, so having at the AGM as an in person event seems to go against widening participation for all members.

After several years of virtual AGMs, this year, the AGM will be held in person as part of our members’ day. The costs of livestreaming an in-person event, particularly an AGM are prohibitive as we have to meet additional legal requirements, and we feel would not represent the best use of member’s money. 

With the introduction of RCOT Communities, an in person Members’ Day and AGM complements the online engagement this platform provides and means we are offering a mix of online and in-person opportunities for members. 

 We know the in-person AGM won’t suit all our members and for that reason we’re holding three governance drop-ins in advance of the AGM for members to come and meet with Council members and SLT and discuss any issues relating to the resolutions – or other matters.  Attendance at these drop ins will help us assess demand for a hybrid event next year. Register for a governance drop-in. 

All members can vote for the resolutions by proxy if they are unable to join us for the AGM. This includes an option to vote online. 

Since the specialist sections were closed in September last year, the number of events that members can access has significantly reduced and of the vents advertised in OT news these carry a significant cost. We are now more than 6 months on since the specialist sections have closed and there seems to have been little progress in developing and implementing the communities of practice, and in fact I am finding that RCOT is offering a poor level of support and opportunities to engage will fellow members with similar interests.

Together with members and our volunteers, we’ve been reimagining our communities and creating a model which builds on the strength of the Specialist Sections to offer more inclusive, diverse and equitable communities for our members to benefit from as part of their membership. New volunteers have been recruited and we have been working together to shape the design of the new networks and RCOT Communities to ensure it works for our occupational therapy profession prior to launching to the wider membership.

RCOT Communities is now live and available for members and you can now join a range of practice, professional and regional networks. Look out for your activation email that will support you to create your account on the new website and access and explore the networks.. If you would like support to help identify suitable networks to join based on your interests and specialisms please let us know.  

One of the first priorities within our new networks is to understand who network members are and what their needs are to help inform the planning of CPD activities and events both in person and virtually both within networks and across networks, identifying common themes and ways to meet these needs impactfully.

Please provide a detailed breakdown of membership numbers for each specialist section prior to dissolution:

7,477 members chose to pay an additional fee to be part of one or more Specialist Sections in 2023/2024 and there were 9,709 Specialist Section memberships in total. This was made up of:

Children, Young People and Families - 2,185
Housing - 456
Independent Practice - 1,453
Major Health Conditions - 575
Mental Health - 1,180
Neurological Practice - 1,648
Older People - 685
People with Learning Disabilities - 543
Trauma and Musculoskeletal Health - 557
Work - 427

Please provide a detailed breakdown of volunteer roles and numbers of volunteers for each specialist section prior to dissolution:

There were 106 members registered as RCOT volunteers in Specialist Section roles during 2023/2024. Each Specialist Section had a mix of volunteer roles including core National Executive Committee (NEC) volunteers, additional NEC roles, co-opted roles and regional leads. We’re aware that some Specialist Sections may have engaged other members who took on active roles who are not included in these numbers. In addition, across the 10 Specialist Sections, six core roles were shared by two volunteers. Total volunteers are:

Children, Young People and Families - 12 
Housing - 8
Independent Practice - 11
Major Health Conditions - 5
Mental Health - 10
Neurological Practice - 12
Older People - 5
People with Learning Disabilities - 12
Trauma and Musculoskeletal Health - 8
Work - 17

Please provide a detailed breakdown of monies in each account for each specialist section prior to dissolution:

At the end of the reporting period to 30 September 2024, RCOT held £1.16m in reserves in relation to Specialist Sections and regional groups. This is broken down into £1.06m for Specialist sections and £0.1m for regional. Specialist Sections did not own their own bank accounts. This money was held by RCOT and ringfenced for our communities. 

Please provide a detailed breakdown of the previous year's income from membership fees for each specialist section prior to dissolution:

The additional fees required to join a Specialist Section represented an annual income of ~£290k per annum for RCOT. Under the new communities’ model, members can join as many practice, professional and regional networks as they would like to, all included in their membership. 

Please provide a detailed breakdown of the proposed spending plan relating to the monies centralised and ring fenced as taken from each specialist section:

All the funding allocated to communities remains ringfenced for our new communities. Since October 2024 we’ve:

• Developed a online community engagement platform RCOT Communities, with members and volunteers to ensure it works for the occupational therapy community and launched it for all members to join
• Created a more inclusive and connected communities model consisting of practice, professional and regional networks for members to join
• Built a growing volunteer community  to lead our networks

We continued to fund pre-agreed Specialist Section activity in this financial year as part of our transition to support volunteers to represent their profession and deliver planned activities for their members, including three conferences. 

We continue to support communities and are using member insights and shared professional priorities to take a system-wide approach which includes:

• Support learning and development opportunities across networks
• Fund member-led events and resources
• Support our network leads and volunteers
• Respond to the needs of our diverse profession

All our spending plans are reviewed and approved by Council and scrutinised by our Audit, Investment and Risk Committee to ensure alignment with professional priorities.

Please provide a detailed breakdown of the cost of refurbishment of Phoenix house as a rentable office space:

The cost of refurbishing Phoenix House into a commercial office space including planning, design and development totalled £2.5m. Following this investment, the property valuation increased by £3.2m, to £7m giving us an appreciating asset, that is maintaining value.

Please provide a detailed breakdown of the proposed revenue projected prior to the project (including any projections as part of a business case) and the actual revenue taken:

We have had a slower than expected start to seeing returns from the building strategy. The flexible office market has been very competitive, with demand outweighing supply. In the first two years, income was £0.3m. With the current occupancy, we now have an income of £1.01m. Despite a challenging start, this approach has enabled us to diversify our income.