Q&A relating to recent changes at Lord’s Taverners

The Trustees have considered these points at length and are unanimous that the solutions are in the best interests of the Lord’s Taverners and the young people we serve.

Not everyone will agree that the strategy is the right one, but Lord’s Taverners truly believes that a charity that is equal for all, inclusive and forward-looking with a diverse membership is the right course of action for a healthy organisation, for our Members, for our stakeholders and most importantly for the young people we seek to serve.

1. The Impact of the Lord’s Taverners

Our shared objective is to serve the needs of disabled and disadvantaged young people and to give them access to sport and all the physical, psychological and societal benefits that go with it. More than ever, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to our communities and the way we deliver our charitable programmes. But we are delighted to say that we have risen to these challenges and in 2020, we actually increased our year-on-year participation levels across our three core programmes of Wicketz, Super 1s and Table Cricket. This is an incredible achievement, and our thanks go to all the amazing people that moved heaven and earth to deliver the programmes and raise the essential funds required to make them happen.

You will be able to read more about out life changing work in our latest Impact Report which will be published in March.

2. The Lady Taverners

It is true that the Lady Taverners Council has been disbanded. The external Governance Review concluded that the then existing governance arrangements were unwieldy and remarkably complex for a charity of our size and recommended a reduction in the number of committees to the four principal committees we now have. It was for this reason, and this reason only, that the Council was disbanded. Despite some assertions,, there is no kind of an attempt to “axe female membership” or to deny in any way the remarkable fundraising activities of the Lady Taverners.

Quite the opposite. Women are, and always have been, a crucial part of our membership. We want structures in which women and men play active and important roles in the future of the Taverners. As befits any charity relevant to the society of which it is a part, we are promoting and ensuring women’s equal rights and standing. We are implementing a proper equality and inclusion programme that ensures there are no prejudices – real or perceived – in the way we are organised and structured.

It goes without saying that women will continue to be on regional committees, sub-committees, and the Trustee Board. Last autumn, the Board was strengthened by the appointments of Sandra Verkuyten OBE as Vice Chair, along with Julie Norris and Suzy Christopher as Trustees.

We welcome all people with a passion for our charitable programmes, cricket and entertainment to be Taverners, regardless of sex, age, race or any other characteristic. Our future will continue to include events that women attend and enjoy. We want our female members to continue to organise events just as before, provided that they are open to all Taverners. We want women and men to be united under one brand - the Lord’s Taverners.

3. Our London Office/HQ

There has, again, been recent correspondence from Members who remain passionate about the sale of the Buckingham Place property back in 2013/14 and the divisions it caused. Some members link the sale of Buckingham Place with the current Governance Review and Change Management Programme that we are undertaking. There is no link between the two. Neither the Chair, nor the overwhelming majority of Trustees, were in post during the time of the sale. We cannot change the past. We encourage members to put the matter behind us and look to the future. 

That said, given the severe cuts in revenue as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, without the property sale, the Lord’s Taverners would now be struggling to survive financially. With the dramatic fall in events income in London and around the Regions due to public health regulations, our programmes for young people (some of which were able to continue in modified forms, reaching MORE people in 2020 than in 2019) would have had to close and further redundancies been necessary, were it not for the healthy state of the charity’s reserves. We will continue to draw down on them until revenue from events recommences – making the role of members generous with their time and gifts all the more important in this area.

4. Corporate Partners

We continually consult and communicate with our corporate partners about our progress and direction of travel. They are all very well briefed by us and we are fully briefed on their requirements too. Despite comments by some members, we know that our Governance Review and Change Management Programme are fully supported by all of our partners. Our partners respect our internal decision-making, just as we respect their independent funding criteria. We are confident they will keep us informed of their official view of our work and our recent conversations with them suggest they remain very positive indeed.

5. Chief Executive

Paul Robin stepped down as CEO, as announced, and is replaced by Nick Roseveare MBE as Interim CEO. This interim appointment was made because the Trustees believe that it is essential to the ongoing work of the charity, especially in these difficult times. This is not the time to weaken the leadership structure of a charity as it seeks to weather the storms of the current environment. Nick has had a long and successful career in the charity sector and his knowledge, experience and ways of working will be vital to us over the coming months until a permanent new CEO is recruited. Nick will be introduced to you in greater length through all means/channels possible.. The speculative correspondence that we have seen from some Members regarding Paul Robins decision is unwarranted, untrue and unhelpful. We look to the next generation leadership to move us forwards now.

6. Costs

Some Members have commented (and speculated) on the costs related to these different kinds of changes. As a charity, the Trustees are mindful of the need to keep costs to a minimum, ensure effectiveness is at a maximum and to direct maximum funds to the programmes of which we are so rightly proud. Wherever possible, much of the work related to the changes has been performed by our existing management, staff and the volunteers that sit on our principal committees, and we are grateful to them. However, not all change and development can be achieved without the involvement of external professional support, or the settlement of commitments. Wherever that has happened, we are persuaded both that the cost was necessary and the best terms were negotiated.. 

Such changes and the costs associated with them are not recurrent, and the Trustees regard these costs as an investment in ensuring that the Lord’s Taverners is match fit for the future, the benefits of which will be seen in the years to come.

QUESTIONS

1. Will you be publishing the governance report?

A: The governance review was commissioned by the Trustees to help provide the reference points required for the Lord’s Taverners to be match-fit to give the young people we serve the best possible future opportunities. It is just one part of the jigsaw of analysis and decision-making and not designed to be a public-facing document and will not be published. Tim Luckhurst, Chairman of the Trustees presented the findings in detail at the November members’ zoom meeting.

2. Why have you created a Change Management Committee, who made the appointments to that committee and why have you appointed consultants RSM?

A: We have prioritised this work and we need a team comprising of Trustees, Chairs of committees and senior executives to ensure we get it right. RSM is a highly regarded company that can help us along the way. Their work is now completed.

3. How much has the review of governance cost the charity? Shouldn’t all the charity’s money be used on good causes, especially during COVID-19, rather than on administrative processes?

A: The governance review was specific in noting how prudently the charity’s finances have been managed. Our accounts are publicly available. The cost of the review has been extremely reasonable and when possible, pro-bono services have been used. Our strategy is to put frontline first and to maximise the money and resource spent on our charitable programmes for the good of young people. To do so the charity has to be match fit and efficiently managed. The governance review will help ensure we are ready for the future.

4. Why are you making these changes now?

A: Tim Luckhurst was appointed Chairman of the Trustees on 21 May and in his welcome statement he said he wanted to drive our charitable programmes forwards and widen their impart. The review is an important part of ensuring we are best-placed to deliver these really important, life-enhancing, programmes for thousands of young people. Last year was our 70th anniversary and we are undertaking the review to ensure the next 70 years are even more productive than our first.

5. Isn’t this just about axing the Lady Taverners?

A: No. This is about proper equality, diversity and inclusion. It is about unifying the Lord’s Taverners and eliminating the gender divisions – real or perceived - that have been present for too long. We intend to publish our Diversity Action Plan later this year.

6. The Lady Taverners currently pay £65 per year membership and Lord’s Taverners full membership is £100, will this change?

A: Yes, our membership committee recommends that all new members of the Lord’s Taverners (women and men) pay the same fee, which will be £100. For existing Lady Taverners there will be a tapering of their fees and they will pay £80 this coming membership year, and £100 in 2022 to bring them into line with existing Members of the Charity.

7. What other changes will men and women Taverners see?

A: Men and women who are Members of the Charity, including voting and any other rights set out in our Bye-Laws and Articles. Otherwise, there will be very few noticeable changes. The way people support the charity through events, cricket matches, fundraising initiatives and social media will stay the same in practice but be unified under the single brand – the Lord’s Taverners.

8. How many Lady Taverners are there and are you making them full members of the Lord’s Taverners?

A: There are currently approximately 600 Lady Taverner supporters, each of whom have been written to at the end of February confirming that they are being made full members of the Charity with immediate effect. Their subscriptions are being increased gradually such that in April 2022 they will be on the same £100 pa subscription as existing members. They automatically became full members of the Lord’s Taverners following the adoption of the new Bye-Laws in February.

9. Women can currently join the Lord’s Taverners as a member, and can, if they wish, elect to have a designated Lady Taverner number to identify them as a 'Lady Taverner'. Since this puts men and women on equal terms – why change?

A: We are a single charitable body, with a single group of supporters. In terms of attracting individuals the two categories of member/supporter creates unnecessary confusion.  In this day and age, it is simply an anachronism to have categories of membership which appear to be defined by sex – even if the ‘small print’ allows either sex to join either group (which further undermines the case for having differentiation between them).

10. Trustees last looked at membership in 2018 – and the current structure (retaining a Lady Taverners number and retaining the supporter group – but closing that group to new entrants) – a few years later this is being amended again. What has changed?

A: The Governance Review gave us an independent look at the organisation from the outside. This highlighted a number of perceptions that the charity has been grappling with and the view of the Trustees is that we have spent too long stepping back from making the obvious, inevitable, change to our membership structure in accordance with modern values and in accordance with expectations around equality, diversity and inclusion.

11. You are reducing the number of committees to four, how many will include (former) Lady Taverners?

A: Yes, we are streamlining the number of committees from eight to four to allow greater focus on our core activities. Once we have completed the review we will confirm the composition of the committees, but for now we can confirm that we want our committees to be skills-based and to be representative of the wider population. We invited all former Lady Taverner Council Members to be members of these new committees and some of those invitations have been accepted. Our main aim now is to ensure that all of our committees reflect our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

12. Is there confusion around your name, the Lord’s Taverners?

A: We were founded in 1950 at the Lord’s Tavern, next to the famous Grace Gates at cricket HQ, and our name reflects our origins. We hope there is no confusion with other references to either 'lords' or 'taverns!' We believe our name, Lord’s Taverners, is still appropriate and relevant but as part of our ongoing brand management we may review it from time to time.

13. You talk about streamlining our legal structure – what does that mean?

A: We are reviewing the structure of our Board of Trustees and looking into the option of moving on from the historic, elected model, to a skills-based structure. This would ensure our Board has the requisite skills, experience and diversity appropriate to our role in society. There will be no beneficial interest for Trustees to gain from our new legal structure, but it will make us more nimble and give us the skills required to run the charity in this competitive environment.

14. In the past there has been mention of a Foundation Model, what does that mean?

A: The Foundation Model whereby the whole of the Board of Trustees is appointed based on skills has been considered and the Board has decided not to proceed down this road for the foreseeable future.

15. How will a member’s voice be heard?

A: All members are invited to attend the AGM, of course, and will receive appropriate advance notification of dates and agendas as required by law – and it is an opportunity to air views and speak to Trustees and executives, and there is the ongoing opportunities for consultation at our events, cricket matches and other activities which will continue as now across the country. Other meetings are held for members on an ad hoc basis.

16. If the committee structure is being revamped, will the Membership committee be retained? And if not, who within the committee structure represents the members?

A: We have several categories of supporters of the charity – the longest standing and most 'Tavernerish' are our members. Their voice will continue to be heard around each of our committees – Governance & Finance, Membership & People, Charitable Purpose and Fundraising – as well as at Board level. As well as our registered members – reflective of our history and committed to our programmes going forward – we do need to recognise that we have thousands of regular supporters, people who attend our events around the country each year – who are not members and do not wish to be so.

17. To implement the changes proposed requires member approval – how will this be managed?

A: Elected Trustees stand until the end of the relevant Annual General Meeting. We are proposing that the Annual General Meeting is held in summer 2021 and that we hold a General Meeting in the spring to put the proposals and resolutions to the membership.

18. As a member of this charity I recognise that there is always room for improvement in the way we run things – but from where I sit everything seems to work and the members are proud of the Lord’s Taverners and how we operate – why change?

A: The charity world is more competitive now than ever before. Over the last decade we have diversified our income streams (aiming to increase sustainable overall income) and so  fundraising events have become a lower proportion of our total income. The amount we raise, and the number of events has remained – but we have sought and won additional income from the likes of ECB, Foundations, Peoples Postcode Lottery, Berkeley Homes, Ford, Investec, etc). This diversity has protected us in the current environment. Understandably, those organisations expect us to have a rigorous, transparent, compliant and professional governance structure – Board members appointed based on skills and experience, with equality of opportunity assured. We oversee charitable programmes, targeting hard to reach communities and young people living with disabilities. Our last elections produced 11 candidates all of similar ethnicity, age, and demographic profile – a clear signal that our approach was not fit for purpose.