Rationalising benefits, and increasing charitable income

Until now, all personal members (except Starter members) have automatically been covered by the Society’s Public Liability Insurance (PLI). Most members do not organise events and are not personally engaged to appear in events, so do not need this benefit.

If you do not need PLI then you can help us to save costs and also generate income as:

• Members’ insurance cover is an add-on to our own insurance policy, and the cost is based on the number of eligible members.
• The inclusion of PLI in all personal membership categories disqualifies EFDSS from claiming Gift Aid, as PLI is too big a benefit for charitable giving. Gift Aid would add 25% to each eligible membership subscription made by a UK taxpayer, at no cost to them: we project the additional income to be at least £7,000 per year.

Therefore, from January 2024 insurance cover will only be offered for members who renew or purchase a Standard (Individual and Joint) membership and request the PLI cover. This will enable us to maximise both the extra income from Gift Aid and the reduction in insurance costs.

When your membership subscription for 2024 is due for renewal, we will remind you of this change to the insurance benefit. If you currently have Standard membership (either Individual or Joint), your membership will renew under the Standard (Supporter) strand unless you tell us that you require PLI. If you currently have concessionary-priced membership and require PLI, you should renew at the Standard (Practitioner) rate: the extra cost to upgrade (the difference between Senior to Standard is £19 for Individual, and £29 for Joint) is still exceptionally good value compared with the price of PLI on the open market. So Standard members can continue to benefit from PLI, without any additional cost.

All current Life members will continue to benefit from PLI, if required.

PLI cover for eligible group members will not change.

A change of benefits is not a voting matter as specified by the EFDSS constitution. For clarity, we have published this explanation in advance of the AGM, when this change will be tabled as a discussion item under Any Other Business.

Lorna Aizlewood, Chair, adds:

This slightly quieter summer period gives our staff a chance to think about new ways of doing things. This year the focus is heavily on increasing income and decreasing costs – just as it is for households and organisations everywhere. We are fortunate to own a building in London, and the income from external venue hires increasingly subsidises our nationwide activities. We are maximising revenue-generating opportunities by planning our own London-based activities into periods which are less popular with lucrative hirers; and we are reorganising some rooms to create more hireable space.

We are going on a membership recruitment drive – and thanks to the generosity of Gerry Flynn Events we can offer a holiday prize draw for anyone who joins between now and mid-December.

We are also making a small change to the benefit of Public Liability Insurance for personal membership which should improve our bottom-line by the best part of £10,000 a year. PLI cover will still be available for any member who needs it, but it will no longer be included automatically within all memberships. In brief, from next year PLI will be available on request as a benefit of Standard membership, and at no additional cost. We’ll be tabling a discussion item at this year’s AGM. Please be assured that there are no changes to the Group membership PLI entitlement.