Seeking new Directors for the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance CIC
Deadline: 11am on Monday 28th October
You can read a pdf version of this information here.
You can hear an audio version of this information here.
For an informal conversation about this role, contact [email protected]
Introduction
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is the sole free-to-join membership organisation for creative health across England. We provide networked, collaborative advocacy, support and resources, supporting health and wellbeing for all through creative and cultural practice. We are based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. We have been funded as a sector support organisation for the cultural sector by Arts Council England since 2018, and became an independent Community Interest Company in late 2020. We are seeking 2–3 new Directors. We would like one of these to be a co-Treasurer, and one to be a co-Chair.
Our vision
A healthy world powered by our creativity and imagination
Our mission
We want to build a common understanding that creativity and culture are integral to health and wellbeing. This is an approach that engages with prevention and health-creation not just treatment and disease; is asset-based and holistic; and is communal, collective and co-produced.
We want to lead by building national, regional and local collaboration to strengthen the collective power of our members.
Our values
We use the Creative Health Quality Framework to guide our work, which rests on eight Quality Principles that drive quality and good practice:
- Person-Centred: Value lived experience and enable potential.
- Equitable: Work towards a more just and equitable society.
- Safe: Do no harm, ensure safety, and manage risk.
- Creative: Engage, inspire and ignite change.
- Collaborative: Work with others to develop joined-up approaches.
- Realistic: Be realistic about what you can achieve.
- Reflective: Reflect, evaluate, and learn.
- Sustainable: Work towards a positive, long-term legacy for people and planet.
CHWA has 6 paid staff (5 part-time) and an active Board of 6 Directors. The Board is often observed by a member of our partner organisation, the LENs, who work to ensure the voice of lived experience is central the arts, health and wellbeing movement, and occasionally by our funder, Arts Council England.
This is a hard-working Board constantly considering ways to better support our membership and to build a more equitable Alliance. The CHWA Memorandum of Association can be found here. You can read more about our work at culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk
Role of a Director
In line with the Creative Health Quality Framework (2023), we believe that
Governance means being clear and accountable for achieving goals safely. It ensures responsibility, accountability, transparency, and fairness. Good governance underpins effective, equitable, collaborative, realistic and sustainable organisations, working practices, and work. (p.9)
For CHWA, this means maintaining and developing CHWA's vision, mission, and values (above) – all of which guide decision-making around processes, finance and activity.
As a Director of CHWA, you’re also legally responsible for running the company and making sure information is sent to Companies House on time. This includes:
- the confirmation statement
- the annual accounts - even if the company is dormant
- any change in your company’s officers or their personal details
- a change to your company’s registered office address
- any change in your company’s people with significant control (PSCs) or their personal details
The Executive Director will work with the Board to ensure these are submitted in a timely fashion. CHWA also works with Relative Accountancy, who prepare our company tax returns for HMRC for approval by the Directors. (Unlike charities, CICs are liable for Corporation Tax on profits.)
As a Director of CHWA, you are protected from financial liabilities beyond a limited amount of £1.
The directors have an additional obligation to prepare an annual community interest company report to be filed with their accounts, to show that the CIC is still satisfying the Community Interest Test, and engaging appropriately with its stakeholders in carrying out activities that benefit the community. (See Information Pack, Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, p.31.) Again, the Executive Director will work with the Board to ensure this is completed.
Further notes on Company Directors’ responsibilities can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/being-a-company-director
CHWA's policies can be found here: https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/policies-procedures and are subject to review every two years.
Your commitment
We are seeking 2–3 new Directors to serve 3-year terms, with the option to extend this term to up to 6 years. We are open to negotiation on the initial term if necessary.
We currently hold 4 formal Board meetings per year. Three meetings are online (3-4 hours each) and the fourth is an all-day, in-person meeting. The board is based all over the UK and in-person meetings are usually held in the Midlands or London.
The minimum requirement is attending these meetings and preparing for them, but there is likely to be additional support required including communication between meetings, commenting on documents, sitting on working groups. There may also be times when the Board has to come together to meet unexpected challenges and may need to meet more frequently.
Our current priorities: Equity and sustainability
CHWA is fortunate to have core funding in place until at least April 2026.
We are focused on CHWA's resilience and development beyond this point and we’re keen to appoint Board members who will be able to help us think through how we can manage the organisation's stability in a challenging funding environment.
We are also concerned with building a more equitable and representative organisation, which can support the wider sector to address health and structural inequalities with skill and confidence. We will be seeking Directors’ support with our developing Equality Action Plan (our current EAP can be found alongside our policies, here).
Payments and expenses
This is primarily an unpaid role. CHWA recognises the structural inequality in this sector, however, and has recently published a new Policy on Board Payments to address this. This is a partial payment system to recognise the value Board members bring to organisations. Payments will apply only to Directors who are:
- working in a freelance or self-employed capacity
- unwaged
- on a low wage[1]
- on a part-time wage that does not cover their time spent as a Director
CHWA will offer a fixed fee to the above Directors only for attendance at standard quarterly Board meetings. This fee is calculated according to our Paid engagement with freelancers, unwaged, part-time or low-waged individuals policy, which can be found here.
The fee will be £75 per hour up to a maximum of £150 per half-day or £250 per full day. Most Board meetings are held online and will likely necessitate a fee of £150. We will hold one in-person away-day per annum which will necessitate a fee of £250.
For clarity, CHWA offers reimbursements for reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by any Director whilst working on CHWA business (for example, travel to an in-person Board meeting), provided this is agreed beforehand. CHWA will also provide vegetarian or vegan refreshments at any face-to-face meetings.
Director Person Specification
Inclusivity and representation on our Board
CHWA is committed to building a diverse, inclusive Board so that we can be as effective and relevant as possible to those supporting health and wellbeing through culture and creativity. In line with CHWA's ambition to become a more equal Alliance (see our roadmap here), we are keen to ensure not just that our Board is representative, but also that it reflects lived experience of the impacts of health inequalities. Our surveys suggest that the sector has a particularly urgent need for better representation of people of African and Caribbean heritage; people of Gypsy, Roma or Traveller heritage; Disabled people; young people; and men.
Each Director must have:
- Integrity and creativity
- A commitment to CHWA's vision, mission and values
- A clear understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of Directorship
- The capacity and willingness to devote the necessary time and effort to their duties as a Director
- Willingness and ability to work effectively as a member of a team
- Willingness to be the public “face” of the organisation as appropriate
Based on the current makeup of the Board, for this round of appointments we are particularly interested in hearing from people with experience of health and/or social care systems, heritage and / or libraries.
If you are interested in being a Co-Treasurer…
We also expect the Co-Treasurer to have experience in finance, accounting, and budget management.
This is a new role for CHWA which we expect to evolve over time. Currently, the Board Treasurer meets the Executive Director and Finance Officer quarterly to prepare our reports to Arts Council England, and also produces a finance report each quarter for the Board. We would like the Co-Treasurer to share these tasks.
If you are interested in being a Co-Chair…
The new Co-Chair will share this role with an existing member of the Board:
- Providing leadership for the Board
- Working with the Executive Director to plan meetings and wider governance work
- Chairing meetings
- Supervising the Exec Director
- Occasional additional strategic meetings with CHWA, its partners, and/or funders
The Co-Chairs will establish how best to divide these tasks in discussion with each other and the Exec Director.
How to apply
Please send a CV and brief covering information explaining why you think you'd be suitable for the role. Please refer to the Role, Commitment and Person Specification above; we're always interested in any transferable skills and your interest in learning new skills, as well as experience you already have.
The covering information can be submitted as an email, an audio recording or a video recording as you prefer. We would prefer a written CV, but if this isn't possible for any reason, please let us know and we can adapt accordingly. Applications should be sent to [email protected] by 11am on Monday 28th October.
Please also let us know whether you would be interested in being a Co-Chair or Co-Treasurer.
Please tell us about any access needs we can meet to support your application process. We’d also appreciate it if you could click on this link and fill out this Equality, Diversity & Representation form when you apply. This is anonymous and we won’t be able to connect it with your application, but it helps us assess whether we are reaching a wide pool of candidates. If the link doesn’t work for you, let us know and we will find an alternative.
When you apply, please let us know whether you would be able to attend an interview during the week of 18 November (we are happy to hold interviews during the evening if that’s easier for you). If you can’t make this week and are shortlisted, we will aim to find another mutually convenient time with you.
We are committed to ensuring our organisation is as diverse and representative as possible and use the IncArts Unlock tool to support all our recruitment processes. We have outlined CHWA’s priorities in relation to representation and diversity above, but we want to encourage applications from people identifying with any of the protected characteristics as defined in the 2010 Equality Act, or who are from less affluent socioeconomic backgrounds.
If you would like an informal conversation about becoming a Director, Co-Chair, or Co-Treasurer, please contact [email protected] to arrange a conversation with the team or Board members as appropriate.
Applications will be reviewed by the Executive Director and Board of the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance.
Applications deadline: 11am, 28 Oct 2024
Interviews: w/c 18 November 2024
We hope to appoint in time for a Board meeting in January 2025.
[1] By ‘low wage’ we refer to a wage two-thirds of or less than the national average. This is based on the Office for National Statistics definition of ‘low pay’ as two-thirds that of the median pay (ONS 2021). The ONS suggests that average pay is currently £637 per week, or £33,124 per annum (ONS 2024), making a low wage £425 per week or under, or £22,083 per annum.