Proposals for Updating the Articles of Association

 

The Articles of Association are the legal documents that set out how the Students' Union operates, including its purpose, membership, governance, decision-making processes, and how it represents and advocates on behalf of students. 

LSESU is excited to share its proposed new Articles of Association. As with all of the work taking place through our ongoing LSESU Transformation Project, these have been developed in response to student calls for greater transparency and accountability, helping to create a Students’ Union that is more accessible, accountable, and easier for members to understand and engage with. 

These new Articles represent one of the key outputs from the initial stages of the Transformation Project, which focused on ensuring LSESU's foundational documents and processes are robust, fit for purpose, and accessible to members.  

What's changed? 

The proposed changes to our Articles do not represent a change in LSESU's charitable mission or purpose. 

Instead, they seek to provide our members with an up-to-date, accessible, simplified document that makes it is easier to understand what we do, how we operate, and why. Our move toward a new format for this document brings us in line with developments in charity law and governance best practice in line with the expectations of the Charity Commission and the wider students’ union movement. 

This work is about ensuring LSESU works better for its members.  

There are a number of small changes included in the new Articles which clear up some issues from the old model. These include:  

  • Moving detail of processes into the Byelaws to better future-proof the Articles 

  • Adjusting the number of trustees needed to make a decision 

  • Fixing the size of the Board as: 

  • The sabbatical officers (four) 
  • Four Student Trustees 

  • Six External Trustees 

  • Allowing for some student trustees to be appointed to the Board, offering a better spread of undergraduate and postgraduate voices. 

  • Removing referendum as a way of removing non-sabbatical trustees 

  • Improving the ability of the Board to make majority decisions without meetings, to allow for more agile decision-making 

The proposed new and improved Articles of Association can be found here. Our current articles can be found here.

Next steps 

If you have any questions or would like any clarifications on any aspects of the proposed new Articles, we encourage you to get in touch via this form which will be open for 14 days. The form also allows you to suggest amendments for consideration.  

The 14-day consultation period runs from 10am on 5 October until 10am on 19 October. 

All questions and proposed amendments received during the 14-day consultation period will be reviewed and considered before the final proposal is presented for approval. While we welcome all feedback, please note that the submission of a proposed amendment does not mean that it will automatically be included in the final proposal. Some elements of the articles reflect legal, regulatory and governance requirements and may offer limited scope for change. 

We will publish a consultations outcome document following the consultation period. This will summarise questions and proposed amendments received, provide responses from LSESU, explain which proposed amendments have been accepted, partially accepted or rejected; and provide the rationale for those decisions. 

You will be able to consider the final proposal at the Additional Student Members' Meeting (ASMM), currently planned for 1 December, 2026. 

The proposed new and improved Articles of Association can be found here

Our current articles can be found here 

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