Grey College Junior Common Room Constitution
Bye-Laws
Part III
Finance, Complaints Procedure &
Miscellaneous Provisions
Finance
1) General
a) All JCR Bank Accounts, and those of individual clubs, teams and societies must be maintained as to require dual
signatories for all financial payments. At least one of the two signatories should be the JCR President or JCR
Finance and Commercial Services Officer or the JCR Assistant Treasurer.
b) Permitted signatories on the JCR bank accounts are as follows:
i)
All JCR Accounts: JCR President, JCR Finance and Commercial Services Officer, Assistant Treasurer,
Master, Bursar.
ii) JCR Social Account: JCR Social Treasurer
iii) JCR Ball Account: JCR Ball Treasurer
c) JCR Members shall not be permitted to undertake agreements, contracts, or rentals pertaining to the JCR that
have, or potentially have, financial implications, without agreement from the JCR Finance and Commercial
Services Officer and JCR President. Contracts lasting in excess of 3 years shall not be undertaken without consent
from the JCR through a motion at a JCR meeting.
d) JCR members may only make purchases on behalf of the JCR with authorisation from the JCR President, JCR
Finance and Commercial Services Officer or Sub-treasurers. Members making purchases or agreements without
the correct authorisation retain responsibility for that purchase and are not guaranteed reimbursement.
e) JCR members financially in debt to the JCR may be prevented from, with prior notification of their debt,
partaking in JCR activities and use of JCR facilities. This includes, but is not limited to, use of the Bar, and JCR
social events.
2) Budgets
a) All relevant clubs, societies and committees of the JCR shall submit their estimates of expenditure to the JCR
Finance and Commercial Services Officer before the budget Finance Committee meeting in the Michaelmas term.
b) Preliminary decisions made by the JCR Finance committee regarding the budgets should be made available to the
appropriate officials of the clubs and societies for comment. The JCR Finance committee shall then reconvene to
discuss the comments, and then agree on the final budgets. If these estimates are not received, funding for the
club or society may be suspended until they have been received.
c) After the JCR Finance Committee has set the budget for a year, any proposal for further expenditure must be
submitted to the JCR at a JCR meeting for further ratification via financial motion.
d) Anybody receiving money from the JCR should be accountable to the JCR and the JCR Finance Committee. Each
club or society must be able to produce a report outlining income and expenditure, with documentation when
required to by the JCR Finance and Commercial Services Officer or the JCR Finance Committee.
e) Clubs and societies receiving JCR funding must co-ordinate with the Sports and Societies Representative once a
term to publicise their existence.
f) Any club or society that does not comply with any of the above provisions is liable to have their funding
suspended immediately.
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Grey College Junior Common Room Constitution
Bye-Laws
g) The JCR Finance and Commercial Services Officer shall have the power of veto over any item of expenditure not
approved at a JCR meeting.
h) Non-routine Expenditure
i)
The following persons are authorised to spend the following sums on a one off, non-routine single transaction:
j)
Any member of the Executive Committee in agreement with the JCR Finance and Commercial Services Officer,
up to £100.
k) The Executive Committee after a discussion and vote at a meeting of that committee, up to £300.
l)
Any non-routine expenditure above £300 shall require the agreement of the JCR at a meeting.
3) JCR Complaints Procedure
a) The JCR Chair shall head the JCR Complaints Procedure and can advise impartially on all the points below.
b) In the event of any member of the JCR being dissatisfied in their dealings with the JCR, one of its members or
officers, they may have recourse to the JCR Complaints Procedure.
c) In the first event they should approach informally the relevant JCR officer who shall attempt to deal with the
complaint to the satisfaction of the complainant.
d) Where the complainant remains dissatisfied, or chooses not to approach the relevant JCR Officer, they should
approach the JCR President who shall attempt to deal with the complaint to the satisfaction of the complainant,
and bring the matter to the attention of the Executive where appropriate.
e) Where the complainant remains dissatisfied, or feels unable to approach the JCR President, or where the
complaint concerns the JCR President, they should approach the JCR Chair who shall attempt to resolve the
matter to the satisfaction of the complainant.
f) Where the complainant remains dissatisfied they should either submit a motion of no confidence or motion of
censure to a full meeting of the JCR.
g) Where the complainant chooses not to present a motion to the JCR, and the matter remains unresolved, the JCR
Chair shall be required to investigate and present to the JCR a summary of their findings. The JCR shall have the
right to discuss the complaint but may not vote upon the matter unless a motion is brought before the JCR.
h) Where the complainant remains dissatisfied in their dealings with the JCR after following the normal complaints
procedure, the complainant should approach the Master of the College, who will arbitrate between the individual
and the JCR.
i)
Throughout the complaints procedure the complainant has the right to remain anonymous, except where the
complainant brings a motion of no confidence or a motion of censure to the JCR, which must be proposed by the
individual or individuals concerned.
4) Honorary Life Memberships
a) Students in their final year who have made an exceptional contribution to the JCR may be awarded Honorary Life
Membership.
b) Contributing JCR members may make a nomination to the outgoing JCR President when he requests nominations
at the end of the Easter Term.
c) The outgoing JCR President, assisted by the JCR President-Elect, shall exercise discretion and select up to a
maximum of 8 members of the JCR to receive an Honorary Life Membership.
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d) The Honorary Life Memberships shall be awarded by the outgoing JCR President, ideally at the Phoenix Ball in
Easter Term, but may be awarded at another time if necessary.
e) Honorary Life Members shall be exempt from the JCR levy once they have left the University and are entitled to
other benefits as decided by the JCR President, acting in consultation with the JCR Trustee Board and Executive
Committee.
f) Honorary Life Members may attend JCR Meetings in a non-contributing capacity.
g) Honorary Life Members shall not be granted the right to propose or nominate candidates for JCR elections.
h) The outgoing JCR President shall automatically receive an Honorary Life Membership at the end of their term of
office.
5) JCR Clubs and Societies
a) Foundation
i)
In order to set up a Grey College sports team or society a general motion must be put to the JCR. The motion
will require a simple majority to pass unless there is a request for money in which case it shall require 2/3rds.
ii) Once a club or society is established by the JCR it shall be entitled to use the name ‘Grey College JCR’.
iii) It shall be incumbent upon the Sports and Societies Representative to monitor from time to time whether a
sports team or society is still active. Evidence of this may be a request for a budget as detailed below.
b) Finance
i)
A JCR sports team or society shall be entitled to submit an annual budget to Finance Committee for
consideration, if submitted before the end of Michaelmas Term.
ii) A JCR sports team or society may apply for additional funding through use of a financial motion.
iii) A JCR sports team or society will be given its own JCR virtual account.
c) JCR Meeting Attendance
i)
All JCR Sports Teams or Societies must ensure that a number of JCR Members equal to 10% of their total
number of active members attend every JCR Meeting. It is not necessary that these members be the same
members at every meeting.
ii) A JCR Member must prove that they are in attendance of the JCR Meeting on behalf of a Sports Team or
Society by signing in on behalf of that Team or Society at the beginning of the meeting. The Sports and
Societies Representative shall be responsible for the process of signing in.
iii) A JCR Member may not sign in on behalf of more than one Team or Society at a single JCR Meeting.
iv) Attendance on behalf of a Team or Society shall be monitored and may have an effect upon the annual budget
allocation to that team or society.
d) Constitutions
i)
A club or society is encouraged to have its own constitution (template in Appendix H).
ii) A club or society constitution may not conflict in any way with the JCR Constitution or Bye-Laws. In the
case of any conflict the JCR Constitution is sovereign.
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