Votes of No Confidence

Created by Sam Baran, Modified on Mon, 9 Dec at 9:35 AM by Thomas Weller

Student Groups are run on a democratic basis, meaning members should have a say in the running and direction of the club or society. They do so by voting and electing the committee they feel are best suited for the roles.

If the membership of a society or a committee are not satisfied with the performance and output of a committee member formal steps can be taken to vote to remove the committee members in question. This is known as a Vote Of No Confidence or VONC.

This is the process that should be carried out for Votes of No Confidence:

1. Motion of No Confidence

A motion of no confidence can be called against any committee member of a Student Group.

Only Standard Members can call motions of no confidence, sign petitions or take part in any voting.

A motion of no confidence can be called by either:
- a petition signed by at least 15% of the Standard Members within the Society or 10 Standard Members (whichever is greater). Membership numbers can be confirmed through the group’s Secretary
- by a committee member of that Student Group

Please note: at this stage no vote or decision will be taken to remove a member of committee, this is purely to gauge whether there are suitable grounds for the Vote to take place.

2. Informing the Union and Committee member in question

If a motion of no confidence is called meeting the previous requirements, then the SU must be informed.
The committee member in question must be notified of the motion of no confidence.

3. Voting procedure for Votes of No Confidence

If a no confidence motion is called via petition from non-committee members of the group:

An online referendum will be held through the SU website, unless the vote of no confidence happens to be timely with an EGM or AGM
An online referendum will be held through the SU website, unless the vote of no confidence happens to be timely with an EGM or AGM
Only standard members will be eligible to vote in the referendum
All standard members will be notified of the vote and how to participate
In order for the vote of no confidence to be successful, a simple majority (>50%) is required.
The member(s) initiating the vote should make an argument for the vote of no confidence, detailing within reason why the committee member in question is unfit to fulfil their role.
The committee member in question should make an argument against the vote of no confidence, detailing why they believe they should remain in post.

If a no confidence motion is called by a committee member:
- A vote will be held at a committee meeting
- Only committee members will be eligible to vote. The committee member in question, and the committee member who called the vote are both eligible to vote.
- In order for the vote of no confidence to be successful, a simple majority (>50%) is required.
- The member(s) initiating the vote should make an argument for the vote of no confidence, detailing within reason why the committee member in question is unfit to fulfil their role.
- The committee member in question should make an argument against the vote of no confidence, detailing why they believe they should remain in post.

4. Outcome of Vote of No Confidence

The group’s committee must inform the committee member of the outcome of the vote

The group’s committee must inform the SU of the outcome of the vote. The SU will assist with upholding the outcome.

If a committee member is removed in this way the committee should take due diligence to change passwords or revoke access to any accounts where appropriate. To change website passwords, please contact the Students' Union