Advocacy Consortium UK

Terms of Reference

Stakeholders

All those organisations and individuals involved in working with Advocacy to improve people’s lives.

Name

Advocacy Consortium UK (ACUK)

Membership

The members of this group either represent national Third Sector organisations providing support to independent advocacy schemes, or local/regional support networks or organisations/individuals operating at national level working with independent advocacy.

Agreed Principles

We aim to be informed by service users, all types of advocacy and organisations throughout the UK to:

1. Meet as a group and offer mutual support and share information and best practice.
2. Collaborate and consult on relevant initiatives impacting on good advocacy practice.
3. Create partnership opportunities for members to work together.
4. Be inclusive and open to all who meet the above membership criteria.

Scope / Jurisdiction

The scope of the group is to share advocacy expertise and intelligence, offer mutual support with members, and create opportunities to promote and enhance advocacy provision across the UK.

Reflecting Grassroots Advocacy

1. The consortium is about being a national body that, through its constituent members, could reflect the needs and aspirations of the grassroots at a national level to government.
2. Members support one another but are not in a position to support individual members.
3. We do not dictate policy but reflect the policies of the members that in turn reflect the needs of their membership.

The group will operate on resources currently available from within its membership, and secured through funding applications.

Governance

A volunteer identified at a prior meeting will chair the Group and act as contact for ACUK until the subsequent meeting.

Minutes will be taken by funded support or a volunteer identified at a prior meeting will minute the meetings when funding support is not available.

The Chair will be responsible for circulated requests for agenda items and creating the Agenda for the meeting (s)he Chairs.

There will be some permanent agenda items:

1. Outcomes from previous meetings
2. Who’s Who introductions
3. General updates from each member – last 6 months and forthcoming 6 months activity
4. Finance Report
5. Membership Update
6. Project Reports

The group, based on consensus, will agree decision-making.

For decisions relating to the operation of the group and its work-plan, consensus will mean a general agreement of the members present at the meeting with no strong opposition and the decision making framework agreed in November 2008 will be followed.

In any communication with an external body, those members supporting the statement will be named on that statement. This means that statements will be made relating to agreement reached at ACUK rather than by ACUK.

Additional Notes

• Meetings will alternate between London and elsewhere.
• Meetings will take place quarterly e.g. October, January, April and July.
• Timings of meetings will allow for travel arrangements and will generally be between 11.00am and 3.00pm.
• Papers for any meetings will be provided to the group a minimum of 2 weeks in advance by email whenever possible.
• Advonet will manage a group member’s list and circulate documents to the group.