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Pictures from the Workshop by Mingma Norman
Keeping it Legal Workshop
was held on Friday 21 February 2025
PROGRAMME
| 10.30 | Housekeeping and Welcome | Angie Grain Pat Collard | |
| 10.35 | Introduction | Mingma Norman | |
| 10:40 | Data Protection | Maria Gabrielczyk | |
| 11.10 | Safeguarding | Mingma Norman | |
| 11.40 | Short Break | ||
| 11.50 | Managing complaints and Disciplinary processes in u3as | MG | |
| 12.30 | BUFFET LUNCH (Please allow those with special dietary requests to go first) | ||
| 1.00 | Accessibility | Mingma Norman | |
| 1.40 | Insurance | Kate Cowan | |
| 2.10 | Copyright | Maria Gabrielczyk | |
| 2:30 | Advice & Support | Kate Cowan | |
| 2:35 | Questions | All | |
| 2.45 | Conclusions and Actions to take away | PC | |
| 3.00 | Close | ||
ISSUES RAISED VIA E-MAIL (copy/pasted)
| 1 | SAFEGUARDING I am emailing you with a specific question about a hypothetical situation which I hope the legal team can answer: When ( if ever ) can our duty to help someone with a Safeguarding issue (eg someone perhaps with what appears to be dementia who also is causing significant disruption within a group, effectively stopping the group from pursuing their main focus) override our need to protect their information ( the information we would hold in this respect would be the person’s behaviour)? I think I already understand that medical / social care authorities could be alerted ( without specific authorisation from the individual concerned) if we felt that the person was putting themselves into danger or very likely to do so. How do we stand if we considered talking to a relative who is, at the time of the incident(s) living with the person? Would it make any difference if the other person ( the person at home) was a u3a member or not? Question submitted by u3a Leeds (actually by Jo Turner who is the Groups Coordinator) |
| 2 | Two issues which arose today at a Barnsley u3a risk assessment meeting. Travel Groups Like many u3as we have an organised travel group where members pay the travel agent directly to avoid the issues of being a travel agent. However, two somewhat related queries Some groups in an ad hoc way may hire a coach occasionally, with a member of the group collecting money from members and hiring the coach. In such instances, where does any liability rest? Last year for the festival at York, some groups hired a coach and our u3a part subsidised the cost from central funds, with the invoice being paid from Barnsley u3a funds, again, where does the liability reside? Keeping Registers Is keeping registers of attendance at groups a strict requirement or good practice. The message to keep groups’ attendance registers for three years is quite impractical. For outdoor groups like walking and cycling even taking a register can often be a problem in inclement weather. Asking groups to retain paper work for three years is a big bureaucratic ask. Can the advice be challenged by TAT? NIALL CLARKE (Barnsley u3a) |
| 3 | COPYRIGHT ISSUE (i) Issue for guitar plus group is that we, like many music groups nationally, download lyrics and chords on a Google Drive that we share. Perhaps 2-300 songs, all modern. I’ve never received a straight answer from u3a as to whether this is legal in copyright terms. If it would help, I can copy you into the list so you have direct access. Various members upload these songs… Peter Mate (Ilkley & District u3a) |
| 4 | COPYRIGHT ISSUE (ii) I use copyrighted images (mostly from Google Images) within Powerpoint presentations for my Art Appreciation group. We used to be able to post them on the Group’s web page of Ilkley’s website, but have now taken them down. Don’t feel confident that I can even distribute within the group for the benefit of anyone who missed the meeting. Are we legal ? Do we need to change our practices? Angie Grain (Ilkley & District u3a) |
| 5 | DATA QUERY We can have the details of our members such as full name (christian and surname), address, telephone number (land line and mobile) next of kin but not date of birth or even year of birth. Is there a reason why the DOB cannot be asked for? It makes knowing the demographic of my u3a difficult Regards Pauline Buttling Chair Barnsley u3a |
| 6 | SAFETY We have recently been working on our policies and their implementation. Safeguarding and Finance in particular. Hard to define members’ own responsibility for their own and others’ safety. Helen Wilberforce (Holme Valley u3a) |
| 7 | INSURANCE & COPYRIGHT We pay for Insurance cover with an excess of £1500. What exactly does this cover insure our u3a for. Does a claim have to be shown to be negligence on a u3a group’s part or does it cover for accidents. Such as a member just falling and injuring them selves? We pay for copyright protection. Does this mean one of our groups can use any music to say sing or play at a members meeting? John Arnott (Treasurer) – Garforth, Kippax and District u3a |
| 8 | SAFEGUARDING My question/issue Looking at Safeguarding the law seems to be aimed at professional people and organisations rather than voluntary associations like u3a. We have a welfare officer but do not go beyond offering support to members suffering illness or bereavement. I question how appropriate it is to interfere in our members’ private lives unless asked directly for help and even then we are not trained to deal with such issues. Lorna Pope Sherburn&Villages u3a |
| 9 | REGISTERS Our understanding from the last Workshop on Data Retention (which I was unable to attend so this may not be completely accurate,) is that all Open Meetings & Interest Group meetings need a full record of attendees and that these records are required to be retained for three years. Our CYGNet Network and no doubt others we believe, are not able to use Beacon to record non -members. With the interchanges of members which is now taking place within CYGNet, though small just now but increasing, this is a major issue to our Group Leaders and U3A Managements. If the Beacon system currently is not able to record visiting members from other u3a’s nor potential new members on “Taster” visit’s then this at best is inconvenient and at worst difficult to operate and prone to errors. Having to resort to bits of paper, possibly with new designs of tables should not be needed. We would urge that our Beacon guru’s would add another capability to cover this matter. An example is that the system can accommodate Associates, so why not Visitors? John Richardson Former (still acting) Groups Coordinator – Selby & District U3A |
| 10 | INSURANCE could you include a discussion of insurance for members (and non members – i.e. guests) Brian Lawrence – Sherburn u3a |
| 11 | RISK ASSESSMENTS Is it a requirement for insurance purposes for all members to sign for the receipt of the risk assessments for all activities in which they take part?What are the arrangements for assessing the risks of road-based activities such as bicycling and motorcycling? Jean Embury Barnsley u3a |
YAHR 