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t c a p m I l a u n n A 9 1 / 8 1 t r o f p o e t R r a e e c h n e ie h r t e p t x a e e t r ’ n e e w d u y t h W rdiff s a C the
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Contents 04 Our Strategy 2018-20 07 Wins for students 08 Chief Executive Students’ Union
15 Our Departments and Services 22 Our Themes 30 Our Enablers
10 President
40 Financial Update
12 Student Engagement and Satisfaction
42 Trustees 2018-19 and Senior Staff 43 An award winning year
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Working with every Cardiff student to enhance their University experience.
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A LEADING STUDENTS’ UNI N
In 2018, Cardiff University Students’ Union launched a new three-year strategy, laying out the organisation’s priorities that will confirm its place at the heart of the student experience. Not only does the strategy focus on creating more opportunities for the Students’ Union to have an impact on students’ lives, it also seeks to develop a sector-leading, inclusive and engaging student and learner experience, in partnership with Cardiff University. As we come to the end of the first year in the life of the strategy, it seems a perfect time to report on the progress made so far in reaching our aims and to look at what the next phase will be.
OUR STRATEGIC VISION orking with every Cardiff student to W enhance their University experience.
OUR VALUES tudent leadership S Inclusion Partnership Diversity
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OUR PURP SE Cardiff University Students’ Union advances the education of students at Cardiff University for the public benefit by: Promoting the interests and welfare of students at Cardiff University during their course of study and representing, supporting and advising students;
B eing the recognised representative channel between students and Cardiff University and any other external bodies; and P roviding social, cultural, sporting and recreational activities and forums for discussions and debate for the personal development of its students.
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The Sabbatical Officer team 2018-19
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Wins for Students Each year, our students elect a team of Sabbatical Officers to represent them and their academic interests. The Sabbatical Officer team work on a number of projects throughout the year, from lobbying the University to change and improve the things our members care about like library opening hours and extra study space, to campaigning on the issues that matter to students like housing and mental health, and representing the voices of students at Cardiff University.
Student Wins 2018-19: “We’ve lobbied the University to increase the number of books that students can borrow. You can now borrow up to 35 books instead of 15!” “We worked in partnership with the University to get approval for the Radiology and Haematology Seminar Rooms in the Main Hospital to be refurbished. Watch those spaces in 2019!”
“We worked with the libraries team to ensure that the ASSL is open 24 hours a day over the Christmas and Easter holidays, so you have somewhere to study if you’re staying in Cardiff.” “We’ve listened to feedback from student groups and as a result we’ve extended the opening hours of meeting rooms on the 4th floor until midnight each day!” “We got a clear ‘yes’, a commitment from First Minister Mark Drakeford AM to ban letting agency fees by September 2019” “Following feedback from the students in the Law school, we supported their Student’ Staff Panel Representatives in requesting a reading week during the Autumn semester and are pleased to announce that this will go into effect during the 2019-20 academic year” “We secured funding from the University to expand our Black History month
07. activity, meaning we could host more events and increase the visibility of this great campaign.” “For the first time from September 2019, societies and sports club committees will receive professional fundraising training from Cardiff University Development and Alumni Relations Division!”
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Chief Executive I am delighted to introduce this report and reflect on an amazing year of achievement for the Students’ Union. In addition to further improving student satisfaction and reaching new levels of student engagement, we achieved real change for our members and won national awards for our work. Last September we launched our new strategy – the heart of the Cardiff student experience – and we have already started to see considerable progress: the Centre for Student Life building is beginning to take shape, we have completed phase one of the Great Hall development (the Great OverHall), and we have established a Heath Park Campus student engagement team to help reduce the gap in student experience between the two campuses. Operationally, we achieved 14 of our top 20 targets for the year and partially achieved another four, including all of our financial targets. In the past few years we’ve taken strides to diversify our income sources. We have become less dependent on selling alcohol to fund our activities and last year saw record high levels of non-alcohol related income. Highlights include winning the NUS Wales Students’ Union of the Year Award, re-entering The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-for-Profit Organisations To Work For 2018, entering the National Centre for Diversity Top 100 Index, securing
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a commitment from the Welsh Government to ban letting agency fees by September 2019, and being ranked 3rd Best Students’ Union in the UK in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2019. Looking forward, the next year will see lots of physical changes to our environment with the Centre for Student Life nearing completion, the Maths and Computer Science building being constructed on our car park, and hopefully the progression of phase two of the Great OverHall. I am confident that these changes will help elevate the Cardiff student experience to the next level whilst consolidating the Students’ Union at the heart of Cardiff University.
“We have established a Heath Park Campus student engagement team to help reduce the gap in student experience between the two campuses. ” - Daniel Palmer, CEO
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SU President 2019-20 Our Annual Impact Report looks to present all the amazing things the Students’ Union does to ensure that we are at the heart of every students’ experience and I am delighted to introduce this year’s report. Another rollercoaster of a year has gone by which saw a record-breaking Spring Elections where more candidates than ever ran and produced our largest voter turn-out in Students’ Union history. We also saw the largest number of engagements in our Speak Week campaign where 3,809 cards were collected. This was a massive win for the Students’ Union as every bit of feedback collected feeds into our Student Written Submission where the University will then act to improve things based on this data. We always end the academic year with a series of Awards celebrations! We reward everything from students celebrating outstanding staff at the University to acknowledging the amazing work from our student volunteers. Our Athletic Union Ball saw all our wonderful sports teams come together after a stunning win over Swansea University at the Welsh Varsity tournament and we threw a huge party for our exceptional societies where we saw the largest number of affiliations to date.
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All this record breaking and celebrating could not have happened without a team of dedicated staff. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at the Students’ Union who drive the impact of the Union and support the Elected Officer team. The achievements outlined in this report would not have been possible if it not for a dedicated and supportive workforce. We now look onwards to a positive and productive year ahead with the new Elected Officer team 2019/20 who cannot wait to get stuck in. I hope you enjoy reading about the work we have done and how we have contributed to improving the lives of so many students.
“We also saw the largest number of engagements in our Speak Week campaign where 3,809 cards were collected. ” - Jackie Yip, SU President 2019-20
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Student Engagement & Satisfaction Engagement Data Our vision is to work with every Cardiff student to enhance their University experience. A key part of achieving our vision is reflected in how many students actively engage with our activities and use our services. For the 7th consecutive year overall student engagement increased, with more students using more of the services we offer. The total number of individuals engaged is lower than last year, however once NUS Extra card sales were removed (these were not counted in 2018/19) and a like-for-like comparison was made, we saw a slight overall increase. Changes in service usage followed last year’s trend of sharp increases in students seeking advice through our Student Advice service. These increases are in line with our expectations and follow our campaign work to
destigmatising mental health and making it easier for students to find and access help when they need it. In addition, we saw a rise in the number of students enrolling in our Jobshop service. With 71% of all students having a relationship with the Union, we have more students engaged than there are undergraduates at the University. Although some further gains can be achieved, we are unlikely to see major increases year on year. It is difficult to make comparisons to other students’ unions but we believe our levels of engagement are amongst the highest of any students’ union in the UK.
Satisfaction The Union prioritises student satisfaction and sets stretching targets to continually improve. This includes establishing specific engagement activities for groups of students not
highly engaged. The Union aspires to achieve 90% satisfaction via its internal surveys and in other national satisfaction surveys conducted by third parties. In recent years, we have seen increasing numbers of national league tables for Students’ Union satisfaction. Although the Union doesn’t set targets for league table rankings, we expect to be, and regularly are, ranked within the top five in the UK and the number one in Wales.
“With 71% of all students having a relationship with the Union, we have more students engaged than there are undergraduates at the University.”
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Student Engagement 2018-19 by department. Varsity | 6,518
Student Advice | 5,289 Academic Reps | 925 Annual Members Meeting | 633 Associations | 132
Voter | 7,540
Athletic Union | 5,278
Cardiff Student Letting | 1,977 Cardiff Volunteering | 1,293 Driver | 143 Election Candidates | 166 Give it a Go | 4,644
Venues | 11,299
Union Volunteers | 844 Student Led Service | 234 Student Media | 308 Student Senate | 25 Skills Development Service | 1,951
Guild of Societies | 8,159
Jobshop | 5,036
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Our staff are the beating heart of our organisation.
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Our Departments and Services STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TEAM Our great staff are led by the Chief Executive and a broader Strategic Management Team that includes the Deputy Chief Executive, the Director of Communications, Director of Engagement and Participation and Director of Finance.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION The Student Engagement and Participation Directorate facilitate student activity including sport, societies, democracy, representation, support and welfare at the Students’ Union. The work undertaken in these areas has a lasting impact on the student experience at Cardiff University, with
over 20,911 students engaging in some form of activity.
Activities The Activities Department plays a significant role in enhancing the student experience at Cardiff University. The team facilitate the activity of over 200 societies, 66 sports clubs, the four sections of student media and our Give it a Go programme. Over 14,000 individual students are engaged in this activity each year which makes the department a dynamic and exciting one to be part of. Extra-curricular activity is a very important part of student life, for both physical and mental wellbeing, and we are extremely proud of the offering we have here at Cardiff University Students’ Union.
“In 2018-19, membership of the Athletic Union grew to 5,278 – an increase of 3%! ”
Cardiff Volunteering The Cardiff Volunteering team offers students a wide of variety of different and exciting volunteering opportunities. By building strong relationships with local and national charities and organisations, they are able to place students in volunteering projects in and around the local community. The team also supports students to develop their own volunteering projects, and runs fundraising events and initiatives throughout the year.
“In March 2019, one of our Lead Volunteers was selected for the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award.”
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Jobshop Jobshop is responsible for providing all kinds of part-time and temporary paid work for our students which will fit around their studies. It represents an essential service for many students, not just as a source of extra income, but also in terms of valuable work experience which will enhance their future employability.
“In 2018-19, Jobshop registered over 5,000 students – a record number! “ Skills Development Service The Skills Development Department provides students with a range of training courses and sessions that are designed to build their confidence, improve transferable skills and increase employability. Our team is made up of full-time career staff and student peer trainers.
“In 2018-19, the Skills Development Service engaged with Healthcare cohorts to deliver bespoke certification – 292 certificates of Personal Development were issued across the academic year. “
Student Voice
Student Advice
“In 2018-19, our Student Voice team achieved the highest number of election candidates and voters in both the Autumn and Spring Elections, taking engagement with democracy to an all-time high.“
The Student Advice Department provides free, confidential, independent and impartial guidance to the students of Cardiff University. The service empowers students with objective information, and explains options, so that they may make decisions in their own best interests. The team also accompany and represent students through University disciplinary and regulatory procedures.
The Student Voice Department works in partnership with Cardiff University students to have their voice heard; from the Academic Representation system, democratic services, policy and campaigns, to providing support for the Elected Officer team. We work with colleagues from across the University and NUS to provide students more opportunities to be represented.
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The Student Engagement and Participation directorate engaged with over 20,911 students in 2018-19.
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COMMERCIAL The Union’s activities are managed within a group of three companies, Cardiff University Students’ Union (CUSU), Cardiff Union Services Limited (CUSL) and Cardiff Volunteering (CV). CUSU is a charitable company, bringing in funds through commercial activity that go towards providing the other services the Students’ Union offers to students. The Students’ Union operates a number of venues and facilities including a letting agency, a nightclub live music venues, a pub, catering outlets, a clothing store and a Post Office.
Venues Team The Venues Department welcomes hundreds of thousands of customers through the doors of the Students’ Union and are the one stop shop for student entertainment. As well as providing a first class food and drink offering and a full entertainment calendar, they also employ almost 300 part-time student staff.
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“Attendance at our weekly Wednesday club night grew to 76,779 meaning more students than ever had a great time hitting the dance floor.“ Love Cardiff Love Cardiff is the Students’ Union’s popular retail store, offering Cardiff University branded merchandise, stationery and gifts, and houses a Post Office.
“Love Cardiff saw sales increase by 9.5%, making it the most successful year to date!”
Cardiff Student Letting
Heath Park
Cardiff Student Letting opened in 2006 and was one of the first Students’ Union or University owned letting agencies to open in the UK. The main aim was to provide a free housing service to students (by not charging agency fees), and to work with landlords to improve the quality and standard of student accommodation.
Our Students’ Union at the Heath is our second site dedicated to our students that are studying at the Heath Park hospital site, providing activities and support to those students studying on Medical, Dental and Healthcare courses.
“In 2018-19, Cardiff Student Letting let an additional 40 houses above their target for the year, which meant 160 extra students found a home.”
This year a new strategy was developed for the Heath Park campus, creating a new Heath Park department and staffing team.
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SUPPORT SERVICES
hard services (building maintenance and building projects), soft services (cleaning) and IT support to departments and services within the building.
As well as our student-facing teams and our commercial services, the organisation has a number of support teams who work internally with staff and services to support them in what they do.
“In 2018, our Facilities team achieved a reduction in CO2 emissions from our activities and less waste was sent to landfill.”
Customer Services and Sales The Customer Service and Sales Department manages the customer journey for all our members. They are responsible for the formation and implementation of customer service standards across the organisation and oversee external advertising partnerships and sponsorship requests.
Facilities and IT The Facilities and IT Department are a core central team at the Students’ Union. This department encompasses
Executive Office The Executive Office is responsible for overseeing and facilitating the governance functions of the organisation, as well as supporting the Sabbatical Officer team and Chief Executive in their roles.
Finance The Finance Department delivers the accounts function for the Students’
Union and its trading subsidiaries. It covers a wide range of activities from basic bookkeeping to providing information and assisting managers in making strategic decisions.
Human Resources Our Students’ Union aims to recruit exceptional staff with high level skills, abilities and personal qualities to share and achieve our commitment to providing high quality services to students. The Human Resources Department supports over a 100 career staff undertaking a wide variety of roles.
“In 2018, we achieved Investors in Diversity Level 2 accreditation and ranked 94th in the National Centre for Diversity Awards. ”
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Marketing and Communications The Marketing and Communications Department has the exciting job of driving communication between the Students’ Union and our 30,000+ student members. They are also responsible for marketing the great things that Cardiff University Students’ Union does in a creative and innovative way, conducting research to understand what students want, and developing our brand and subbrands.
Web Development and Data The Web Development and Data Protection Department provides the support and technical ‘know how’ to ensure our website and web related services run securely and intuitively. Our department also has the overall responsibility of managing the most engaged communication platform ‘cardiffstudents.com’.
“Pageviews to our website grew by 18% this year, totalling 6,449,604 from 1st August 2018 to the 31st July 2019.”
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OUR THEMES
The heart of Student Life Maintain our place at the heart of student life and prepare for the Centre for student life The Centre for Student Life is a serviceled project delivered in partnership between Cardiff University and the Students’ Union, and is the biggest campus upgrade in a generation. The Centre will provide a new home for Cardiff University student support services offering additional social study spaces, consultation rooms, a large auditorium and quiet spaces.
Due to the proximity of the project to the Students’ Union Cathays site, and with enabling work beginning in 2018, our focus has been on minimising the impact on our students, maintaining our brand presence and increasing and diversifying our engagement in other ways to ensure the organisation remains successful during this period of change.
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OUR PROGRESS Increasing our activities and services at the Heath • During 2018-19, a major review of Heath Park engagement took place across the organisation, resulting in a new Heath Park strategy being approved at the Board of Trustees. This instigated a restructure and refocus on how we engage with our students at the Heath Campus and lays the ground work for increased activity in the years to come.
90% of students are satisfied with the Union • We’re well on our way to achieving this by 2020. In the Welcome to Cardiff survey (December 2018) 87% of new undergraduate students were satisfied with the Students’ Union. We were also ranked in the top three of the WhatUni
Student Choice Awards 2019 for the first time.
80% of students have engaged in our activities and services during their time at University. • We hit an all-time high of student engagement in 2018-19. 22,377 students engaged with the Students’ Union, representing 71% of the student population.
All students are aware of the help, support and guidance they can receive from the Union, the University and others. • Our Student Advice team supported 5,289 students over the course of the academic year which represented 2,500+ hours of 1-2-1 contact and 1,157 extenuating circumstances advice
sessions. Their campaigning work also resulted in 2,000 engagements with students during Sexual Health Week and 29,000 engagements on social media through ‘Alright Mate?’, a campaign targeted at awareness and prevention of male suicide.
WHAT’S NEXT The Centre for Student Life project will go into a new phase towards the end of 2019, and the main entrance of the Students’ Union will move as the front steps are demolished to make way for the new building. This will represent a period of disruption for the Students’ Union and minimising impact on students will continue to be a focus. We are also aiming to embed the Heath Park Students Strategy, evidenced by recruitment and consolidation of the dedicated staff team, new engagement plans and an increase in satisfaction with students.
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OUR THEMES
Home of the Student Voice We will develop our role as the home of the student voice, cultivate our relationships across the University and enhance communications with our stakeholders. OUR PROGRESS Our students feel more empowered and assured that their voices will be heard. • More students than ever before completed Speak Week cards telling us about their experience at Cardiff University. 3,813 cards were completed
and 7,535 comments were gathered providing a solid base of research for our annual Student Written Submission that is produced by the Sabbatical Officer team. • Student democracy had a successful year with more candidates running in our Spring Elections in 2019 than ever before, and our highest voter turnout was achieved with 6,960 students casting their votes. Increasing
engagement with Elections helps to establish us as the independent representative body for students and represents a greater awareness of democracy.
The Union will be regularly communicating and working with a range of University staff at all levels of the institution. • The Sabbatical Officers and Student Voice staff have played a key role in the Partnership Projects designed to enact student feedback on everything from the international student journey, to academic support, and even the way in which the university communicates.
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• The Students’ Union has also supported the Officers and our Academic Reps to deliver change across the University. Examples of positive impacts resulting from this include supporting Student Staff Panel Reps to lobby for a reading week in their school, supporting students to run cohort-wide surveys on ideas and issues important in their school and partnering with the University and students at the National Software Academy to develop a prototype of a feedback processing tool as part of the Improving Assessment and Feedback Literacy partnership group.
WHAT’S NEXT 80% of students will be satisfied that we represent their academic interests
• Each year, the National Student Survey asks final year students to rate their agreement with the statement ‘The students’ union (association or guild) effectively represents students’ academic interest.’. In 2019, the whole students’ union sector took a dip in their scoring, and while we haven’t reached our 80% target, we are significantly above the students’ union benchmark and 3rd in the Russell Group overall. Further work will take place this year to look at increasing the score and this year to communicate our impact in this area.
Developing relationships with academic and professional services staff beyond the University Executive Board. • The Students’ Union is developing a University Relationship Strategy to strengthen our partnership going
forward and we will be increasing our communication with key University staff.
More support is offered and used by a fully recruited cohort of Academic Reps. • Our Student Voice team developed a Student Academic Reps Communications Strategy in partnership with the University, which sought to create a consistent approach to how we talk to our Academic Reps. This strategy ensured that we didn’t ‘spam’ our Reps whilst also making sure they received the key messages from across the University and Students’ Union. It allowed them to know about opportunities, events, and the support available to them.
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OUR THEMES
Sector-leading Facilities and Services We will create and support the development of sector-leading activities and services that help make students succeed. OUR PROGRESS Sector-leading Facilities • The Students’ Union takes its environmental impact seriously which was demonstrated by the Board of Trustees declaring a Climate Emergency in June 2019. At an operational level, the Facilities Department has reduced CO2 emissions from our activities and decreased the waste sent to landfill. Electricity consumption has decreased
by 14.4%, gas has reduced by 8.8%, water usage has reduced by 6.8% and landfill diversion is at 88.3%.
Sector-leading Services Student activities and services are used by 80% of all students. • Our Give it a Go programme saw a 39% increase in Spring Semester Engagement (2019 vs 2018). A new schedule of trips was developed in July and August 2019
to cater to students whose courses or study commitments continue during the Summer recess. This includes those students based at our Heath Park Campus, postgraduates and Presessional English Language students who have previously not engaged with the Students’ Union.
The Union’s activities and services are recognised for their high quality, efficiency and student leadership. • The Transport team trained 135 students to drive Students’ Union vehicles, which was a 25% increase on the number trained in 2017-18. This will increase the independence and ownership of the activity undertaken by student groups, and helps to build the experience and CVs of those who
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76,779 in 18-19. The Venues Department have worked to meet this demand, including opening the doors an hour earlier each week and working to improve queuing systems. The increased revenue made from this popular event goes towards funding the diverse activity provided by the Students’ Union.
We will have partnerships with external organisations choose to become registered drivers. This also has a positive impact on student group budgets by reducing the need to source external drivers and vehicles. • Attendance at our Wednesday student club night has seen a 6% increase across the year, rising from 72,457 in 17-18, to
• In October 2018, Cardiff University Students’ Union embarked on an exciting new partnership with community organising charity, Citizens Cymru Wales. This initiative, spearheaded by the 2018-19 Elected Officer team, marked a new commitment to supporting students in campaigning on issues that matter in their everyday lives. This partnership has already been instrumental in driving forward the
legislative changes in Wales that saw the removal of letting agency fees for tenants (September 2019).
WHAT’S NEXT Ensuring that students studying at the Heath, Newport and elsewhere in the City can access equivalent, high quality provision in locations suitable to their needs. • Over the next 12 months, we will be building on research that has already taken place into our disparate campus locations to establish a Students’ Union presence in partnership with the University teams in those areas.
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OUR THEMES
Engaging our less-engaged communities We will engage with Heath Park and less-engaged student communities so that the Union means something to every Cardiff student. OUR PROGRESS Heath Park, International, Welsh Speaking, postgraduates and students based in other locations are engaged and satisfied with the Union. • In order to increase our engagement with the postgraduate student community, our Give it a Go programme
launched bespoke day trips targeted at this group. 369 postgraduate students attended these trips, providing opportunities for them to engage with their Students’ Union and also helping to increase their sense of community. • The Marketing and Communications Department worked with the VP Heath Park Students and staff team based at the Heath Campus to redevelop the Heath Park microsite on cardiffstudents. com and produced a video tour of the Heath Park campus. As well as increasing
web traffic to the microsite (3,069 page views in 17-18 increased to 4,005 in 18-19), it is hoped that improved web content will also help students based at this campus feel a valued part of the Students’ Union community. The video will be used at Open Days and the start of the academic year to create a deeper connection with students from their first day. • The Guild of Societies increased engagement with their Societies Forums to gain valuable feedback from student groups. They did this by providing multiple sessions rather than just one, with a session held specifically at the Heath for Heath-based Societies and students who couldn’t attend the Cathays sessions. 161 students attended over the course of 2 weeks, an 18% increase on the previous year.
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This represented an increase in the ideas and opinions heard by the Students’ Union and realising the importance of engaging with these events. Feedback from the Heath session was positive with students feeling they were bettered catered for than previous years. • We engaged with more students than ever during their academic induction, providing tailored talks to the different segments for the student population. 61 talks were delivered in total, attended by 5,517 students, as well as a Panopto recording of a talk that could be accessed by distance learners. This is a very positive step, increasing students’ awareness of their Students’ Union membership and the services we provide.
WHAT’S NEXT Developing and delivering engagement plans for Heath Park students, postgraduates, Welsh speakers, international students and those studying at Central Square and in Newport. • During 2018-19, work went into developing a Heath Park Strategy which was approved by the Board of Trustees. Over the next 12 months, work will begin on a new Postgraduate Students Strategy to increase our engagement and create a meaningful impact on this group of students. • We will also be building a clearer picture of who our unengaged students are by
analysing the data we currently hold. • In November 2019, students will be given the opportunity to vote on the structure of the Sabbatical Team moving forward following a vote at the 2018 AGM to include a Welsh Language and Community Officer in the team.
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OUR ENABLERS
PEOPLE THE UNION WILL PRIORITISE PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENSURE THAT ITS VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF HAVE THE RIGHT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES TO DELIVER ITS STRATEGIC VISION. Student employees will have a great experience that meets their pay, personal development and flexibility aspirations. • Our Venues Department employs around 250-300 students each year. Student staff retention has increased in this team by 11% during 2018-19 compared to the previous year with
166 staff members being retained. This has helped to build a more engaged student staff group, fostering a positive team environment where we receive open and honest feedback that is used to continually improve the working environment experienced by students.
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At least 90% of career staff, student staff and volunteers agree that the Union is a great place to work. • We are pleased to report that Cardiff University Students’ Union ranked 98th in The Sunday Times Top 100 Not-forProfit Organisations to Work for in the UK. We received our highest survey response rate from staff and the data received is valuable in the development of future action plans. • The Students’ Union took part in the NUS Engagement Survey and saw improved overall engagement levels amongst staff.
The Union achieves Level Three Investors in Diversity status.
We are also proud to have achieved Investors in Diversity Level 2 accreditation and ranked 94th in the National Centre for Diversity Awards.
WHAT’S NEXT • Over the next year, we are aiming to ensure that 90% of all Senior Staff and Heads of Department have undertaken coaching and mentoring training to improve the support provided by line managers within the organisation and strengthen our leadership skills. • The Students’ Union will also be focusing on its induction programme for new staff, and developing a support package for internal staff who are promoted into management positions.
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OUR ENABLERS
Finance THE UNION WILL DEVELOP ITS FINANCIAL RESOURCES SO THAT IT CAN PROVIDE A STABLE FOUNDATION FOR THE ORGANISATION TO GROW. OUR PROGRESS Developing reserves to continue investment in new facilities and projects • We achieved our budget target for the third year running, and invested surplus funds in developing the first floor lobby area as part of the initial phase of the Great Hall project. • The Students’ Union achieved a cash
INCOME
surplus of £267,606 and now holds total reserves of one million pounds (£1,008,172).
Diversifying income streams to be less reliant on alcohol sales • The Union’s income was just under £10 million in the year. We experienced growth in income through alcohol and events sales, as well as growth in other commercial areas including retail and our letting agency.
Block grant Other grants/ donations
Retail, letting agency and advertising Rental income
Jobshop
Venues Participation fees student activities
Investments
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• The Union continued to seek alternative sources of income. In the year, £12,481 was fundraised towards installing ablution facilities in the building, and a £4,300 grant was obtained for Black History Month events. In addition, we introduced a venue restoration levy on ticket sales to fund improvements to our live music provision.
WHAT’S NEXT • We will be submitting a funding request to the University to support our renovation plans for the Great Hall. • The Students’ Union will continue to budget for cash surpluses to reach our reserves target of £1.3 million by 2023. This is the minimum level of reserves required to ensure the long term financial sustainability of the Students’ Union.
1,400,000
FREE RESERVES
1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 -200,000 -400,000 -600,000 2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
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OUR ENABLERS
Facilities THE UNION WILL COMPLETE THE MODERN REDEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION BUILDING OUR PROGRESS All of the Union building’s public spaces will have been redeveloped within 10 years. • Phase one of the Great Hall redevelopment was planned and completed. During the summer recess 2019, the 1st floor area around the Great Hall was redesigned to expand the space and increase the flexibility of use for our clubs and societies and to expand the night club space during events.
• During 18-19 our Facilities department made great strides to improve the presentation facilities in meetings rooms that are used by student groups, staff and external organisations. AV systems were replaced in the Sir Donald Walters Board Room and meeting room 4J to improve connectivity options and reliability for users. • The Facilities department also work to modernise our Park Place building infrastructure and during the last 12 months have removed the roof top water tank and replaced it with a direct fed system. The impact of this is to
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achieve mains pressure hot and cold water at all taps, which is safe to drink and reduces maintenance costs in the future.
A greater range of social, study and performance spaces will have been developed. • We listened to feedback from student groups and as a result we extended the opening hours of meeting rooms on the 4th floor until midnight each day.
WHAT’S NEXT • Over the next year, we will be seeking to continue work towards installing ablution facilities within the building by refining the existing plans, producing a budget to match the money available,
and seeking support from the communities that will benefit from the spaces. • We will also be turning our efforts to phase two of the Great Hall development. This will involve developing our exciting vision for the space, how it can positively impact on the student experience and seeking investment opportunities to turn the vision into reality.
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OUR ENABLERS
Digital Technology THE UNION WILL ENSURE THAT IT UNDERSTANDS WHO ITS MEMBERS ARE AND WILL DEVELOP ITS DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY. OUR PROGRESS Developing and providing tools for students and student groups. • Thanks to constructive feedback from both tenants and landlords, the Cardiff Student Letting (CSL) website was completely redeveloped to integrate it into the lettings housing database allowing CSL much greater control and freedom over content.
• Ground work also took place behind the scenes on the Students’ Union website, cardiffstudents.com, to ensure we are getting the most out of our online membership platform provider, MSL, as well using new concepts, technologies and approaches. The Web Development Department also worked with Cardiff Volunteering to bring them onto the MSL platform. • Improvements were also made to the Welcome Team portal to support the recruitment and training of over
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200 student volunteers who help the Students’ Union deliver its Welcome and Freshers’ Week activity.
Creating an online infrastructure that is supported and accessible away from the Union premises. • The Web Development and Data Department set up new servers and migrated services to reduce costs, increase speed of service, increase security and introduce a professional deployment process.
Generating new efficiencies • The department have refactored the code base for the Welsh Varsity website, improving security, ease of use and added extra functionality, which now
allows other teams to update content live from the tournament without any coding knowledge required.
WHAT’S NEXT Making the Union’s communications more prominent and driven by demographics, circumstances and engagement. • The new Freshers’ website development for August-September 2019 will show students the variety and diversity of activities available to them. The new design will highlight daytime, evening and nightclub events to improve engagement and awareness of alcohol-free activity. We will also be trialling integration with Facebook ads to target site visitors and
increase ticket sales. • The first phase of testing and development has been completed on an exciting tailored customisation of content on the Students’ Union website. This will allow relevant content to appear that is tailored to the user who is logged in. The Web Development team will look to launch this system in January 2020, bringing us closer to students feeling that the Union knows who they are as individuals.
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The Union will be asking Cardiff University to invest in the student experience over the next three years so that teaching and learning quality and student support are prioritised.
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Partnership OUR PROGRESS Each year, the Students’ Union and the University work together through a number of partnership groups. The focus of these groups is guided by the Student Written Submission produced by the Sabbatical Officer team based on feedback gathered from students. The partnership groups are attended by selected staff from both organisations and Sabbatical Officers.
2018-2019 Partnership Groups
WHAT’S NEXT
• Academic Support for Learning • International Student Journey
2019-2020 Partnership Groups
• Enhancing the Personal Tutor System
• Catering
• Supporting Assessment and Feedback Literacy
• Pastoral Support for Postgraduate Researchers
• Communicating Effectively with our Students
• Transport and travel • Libraries
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Finances
Income and Expenditure 2019 Unrestricted 2019 Restricted 2019 Funds £ Funds £ Total Funds £
2018 Total Funds £
2,925,000 2,468,637 4,516,928 7,541 9,918,106
16,781 - - - 16,781
2,941,781 2,468,637 4,516,928 7,541 9,934,887
2,956,583 2,115,210 4,500,911 787 9,573,491
Raising funds Charitable activities Total expenditure:
6,160,460 3,757,400 9,917,860
- 13,862 13,862
6,160,460 3,771,262 9,931,722
6,064,629 3,246,819 9,311,448
Net Income/ (expenditure) and Net movement in funds
246
2,919
3,165
262,043
8,759,739 8,759,985
21,796 24,715
8,781,535 8,784,700
8,519,492 8,781,535
INCOME FROM: Donations and legacies Charitable activities Other trading activities Investments Total income:
EXPENDITURE ON:
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward
Total income amounted to £9,934,887 (2018: £9,573,491) with total expenditure of £9,931,722 (2018: £9,311,448) in the year. Overall this resulted in a net income of £3,165 (2018: £262,043). This includes restricted grant income of £16,781 and expenditure of £13,862. The Union’s trading subsidiary, CUSL, continued to grow its income in 2019 with turnover of £4,516,928 (2018: £4,500,911) despite a challenging environment. Overall the trading company made an operating deficit of £-1,256,541 (2018: £323,781), following a significant reduction in grant income. The reduction corrects overpayments made since the Union’s companies were consolidated in 2015.
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Balance Sheet 2019 £
2018 £
FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets 12,049,699 12,426,877 Investments 73,563 73,563 Total fixed assets 12,123,262 12,500,440
CURRENT ASSETS Stocks Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Total current assets
70,786 825,778 1,655,788 2,552,352
39,936 539,582 1,174,851 1,754,369
CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors: amounts falling due (1,593,028) (1,065,570) within one year Net current assets/ (liabilities) 959,324 Total assets less current liabilities 13,082,586
688,799 13,189,239
Provisions for Liabilities (4,297,886) (4,407,704) Net assets 8,784,700 8,781,535
CHARITY FUNDS Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Total funds
24,715 8,759,985 8,784,700
21,796 8,759,739 8,781,535
At 31 July 2019 the Union Group’s free reserves (i.e. unrestricted funds not represented by fixed assets) amounted to £1,008,172 (2018: £740,566) and the Trustees are satisfied that the Union has a sound financial base from which to pursue its objectives and activities. In addition, a further £24,715 (2018: £21,796) was held in restricted funds. During the year the company’s pension liability fell to £4,297,886 (2018: £4,407,704) after deficit contribution payments and unwinding of the discount. The deficit arises from the Company’s future obligations towards the Students’ Union Superannuation Scheme (SUSS) pension scheme, which was closed to future accrual in 2011. The Trustees and Directors are satisfied that it has the funds to meet the obligations to the fund as they fall due over the life of the scheduled deficit recovery plan up to 2033.
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Trustees 2018/19 & Senior Staff SABBATICAL TRUSTEES • President: Jackie Yip (from 1 July 2019) • President: Fadhila Al Dhahouri (to 1 July 2019) • VP Societies and Volunteering: Orla Tarn (from 1 July 2019) • VP Societies and Volunteering: Henrietta Page (to 1 July 2019) • VP Sports & AU President: Jude Pickett (from 1 July 2019) • VP Sports & AU President: Georgie Haynes (to 1 July 2019) • VP Education: Tomos Evans (from 1 July 2019) • VP Education: Jackie Yip (to 1 July 2019) • VP Heath Park: Shekina Ortom (from 1 July 2019) • VP Heath Park: Jennifer Kent (to 1 July 2019) • VP Postgraduate Students: Nick Fox (from 1 July 2019) • VP Postgraduate Students: Jake Smith (to 1 July 2019)
• VP Welfare and Campaigns: James Wareham (from 1 July 2019) • VP Welfare and Campaigns: Amr AlWishah (to 1 July 2019)
EXTERNAL TRUSTEES
STUDENT TRUSTEES
• Denise Rich
• Megan Perkins (to 1 July 2019) • Lewis Rigley (to 1 July 2019) • Niall Yasseen (to 1 July 2019) • Gabriella Gropper (from 1 July 2019) • Daniel Onafuwa (from 1 July 2019)
• Richard Roberts CBE • Bethan Walsh Registered Office: Park Place, Cardiff, Wales. CF10 3QN Registered Company Number: 07328777 Registered Charity Number: 1137163
SENIOR STAFF
• Ryan Singh (from 1 July 2019)
• Chief Executive: Daniel Palmer
UNIVERSITY NOMINATED TRUSTEES
• Director of Finance: Christine Akers
• Jayne Sadgrove (from 15 May 2019) • Ray Singh CBE (from 13 November 2018)
• Deputy Chief Executive: Ben Eagle • Director of Communications: Raechel Mattey • Director of Engagement and Participation: Steve Wilford
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An award winning year We’re proud that our hard work is paying off for the benefit of our student members, and are pleased that this has been recognised over the last year. In a year of rapid change both locally and nationally for students, the Union prioritised impactful campaigning activity to tackle issues that are negatively
affecting the student experience. The campaigns this year have been the best the Union has ever seen and have involved mobilising hundreds of students on a variety of issues. Ensuring student voices are heard both within the University and in the local community is core in students’ unions – and we are proud to have delivered on just that.
We strive to achieve national recognition to showcase our successes. This year alone, the Union has achieved the below sector awards, achieving some of our highest rankings to date. We’re proud that we keep working to achieve more and we want to ensure all Cardiff students find a home here.
Students’ Union of the Year
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