I’m about to start as civilian committee member.
I was wondering if there any way to progress.
Ie education courses, development courses etc
As a CivCom member?
In short, no.
Yeah, at present no. However, Wg Cdr Matterface (the regular officer appointed to lead training transformation) is looking at adult training at the moment. I’m not sure if that includes Civ Coms, but it might be worth reaching out to her if you have ideas she might be able to use. Her email is on Bader.
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We don’t have anything specific.
However local councils and local voluntary group bodies do run courses for trustees from time to time.
It’s worth looking at what is in your area.
There’s quite a few online courses too, I can’t vouch for them (especially the free ones) but NCVO runs one at relatively low cost:
https://www.ncvo.org.uk/about-us/our-services/training/elearning-roles-duties-trustees/
It is not specific to RAFAC of course but your OC and chair should be able to fill in the gaps and give you access to the ACPs etc.
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Hello @Paul6368,
There are a number of things you could do that will put you ahead of many others. Firstly, “Civilian Committee” is an expression that is gradually being deprecated - it doesn’t exist in charity law. The original vision of Civilian Committees is not compatible with the Charity Commission’s role of trustee. Whilst committees can exist and committee members can be trustees, bah… this is a mess. Ultimately the Charity Commission will get their own way but not for a while yet as neither they nor us have the resources for it. As a newcomer it’s more useful to think of yourself as a trustee than a civilian committee member - let’s leave it at that!
Read this FIRST:
Then go to Sharepoint on Bader to the “Civilian Committee” section and read CCP 10 and CCP 11 (Formerly ACP). If you do read these, you will have done something that almost no trustee ever has! These are quite out of date documents (despite recent updates!) that treat Trustees almost as staff members as was the fashion in the 1980s and 90s when the core of the content was defined. Much of what is detailed in here you will struggle to do under modern charity structure and safeguarding rules or without causing a conflict of interest. You will not even have access to the information needed to do much of what it suggests and even with the best will, it will be some time before you pick up the rules of what Cadets are even allowed to do (and it changes regularly! And you’re not even on the mailing list for that information!). It can be used as a source of inspiration, however and you can definitely help your squadron staff with things that it suggests but you very quickly find your hands get tied in the 21st Century compared to when I first started.
Do however focus on the Appendices in CCP 11 - the constitution is the most relevant and legally correct part of the publication and contains a lot of useful information about your role and how it is appointed. Some of it is not especially useful given that it’s about sacking your co-committee and that doesn’t happen too often (though it’s useful to know where to look if you do end up with someone who sticks around like a bad smell on paper but never actually turns up) but it will tell you about the AGM, EGMs, why they may be held, how you should hold one, who your association are and so forth.
You may also like to read ACP 300 - the Finance Manual. It is written in a foreign language but will tell you how money is apportioned, who gets it, why they get it, when they get it and how it is calculated. This document includes details about public as well as non public funds so is quite interesting although it may not make sense to you at first. This is in general an effective and accurate document having recently been updated to account for the creation of the Air Cadet Charity. ACP 300 is useful if staff ask for money from squadron funds when it should be claimed from public funds. Almost no trustees read this which is a shame.
Finally, visit HMRC and read about Gift Aid - the single easiest and most effective fund raiser you can do at a squadron. Every moment spent claiming gift aid, ensuring you are registered and ensuring details are up to date is a moment well spent. Sometimes it can be slow sorting these things out so it’s useful to have a head start.
If your squadron is a registered charity (rather than an excepted charity - Check ACP 8) then you should also read about VAT and charities as there are benefits you can take advantage of.
As a trustee, the Corps will provide you with almost nothing as your role is already largely defined in the public domain + specifics from the Constitution in CCP 11. That said, your Wing or Region must provide you with regular training and support - a requirement given that most squadrons in the UK (not Scotland) are excepted charities and the requirement is on your parent (the Wing) to ensure you are capable of carrying out your obligations effectively. This should be at least annually.
Hopefully that gets you started! This is the bread and butter stuff of a good trustee/committee member.