Impact Report 2008-09 by Leeds University Union

2008 09 Impact Report

Leeds University Union NUS Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Union of the Year

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

‘This year has been tough. Thanks to committed staff and enthusiastic members, we’ve emerged as a stronger, more effective union.“ Jak Codd Chair of the Board of Trustees

Leeds University Union NUS Students’ Union of the Year

Now, as we enter the final year of our current plan, we can reflect on the successes it has brought us. From SUEI Gold to NUS Higher Education Union of the Year – our plan has made us the most effective students’ union in the country. Our new vision from 2010 will keep us at the cutting edge of the student movement. Together, we’ll ensure that every student loves their time at Leeds. My personal thanks go to the people who make this possible: the University of Leeds, the LUU staff, the board of trustees and all of our volunteers.

Impact Report 2008/09 About this report.

Our year.

This report shows how Leeds University Union makes a positive contribution to the lives of students and local communities in Leeds. It celebrates what we have achieved with our members between August 2008 and July 2009. It also outlines some of the major challenges that we have faced and how we have overcome them.

We have worked hard to achieve our vision of becoming the most effective students’ union in the country by 2010. This year was the most challenging year that we have faced within our current plan. The recession and new commercial competition brought new financial concerns and we had to dig deep to make sure that we continued to provide high quality member led services and effective representation for our students. Being awarded NUS Students’ Union of the Year 2009 was the highlight of our summer and was testimony to the hard work of our students and staff during this difficult year.

Contents. Introduction

Representing & Empowering our Members

Making University life easier for our Members

Listening to our members and Keeping them Informed

Supporting the Leisure Time of our Members

Providing Key Services

Awards and Achievements

Financial Statement

Our Vision

Jak Codd Chair of the Board of Trustees

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

“The credit for our achievements goes to the energy and involvement of our members, and effort and innovation of our staff.” Aidan Grills Chief Executive

“Putting campaigning back at the heart of everything we do.” It’s an exciting and rewarding time to be a student executive officer at Leeds University Union. We have the opportunity to make a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of students, the chance to make the changes our members asked for in this year’s strategic review. In 2009 we carried on the good work done by last year’s student executive. We represented students at the most senior levels of the University; continuing with highly successful initiatives such as the union community rep scheme, and we continued to defend and extend the rights of students at Leeds.

“Our commitment to students and support from the University of Leeds kept us focused on achieving our mission for students.”

But we’re not content just to keep things as they are. We’ve made a concerted effort to put campaigning back at the heart of everything we do. From our fees campaign to our voter registration drive, we’re striving to make life even better for the students of Leeds. There are many challenges ahead of us – the parliamentary review into tuition fees, restricted finances both nationally and on campus, and a changing higher education landscape. As an executive, we’ll continue to adapt — ensuring we stay relevant to the students of Leeds.

Like many organisations, we have had to make some hard decisions this year. We have maintained a focus on achieving our vision and importantly, continued to deliver great activities and support for students, with a positive impact on the local community. Local residents told us that we made a real difference during the student changeover period. Our members made us the first higher education organisation in the UK to ban the sale of still bottled water. We also took the first steps on our new journey by completing our second strategic review. Our members told us that they were proud of their union. They also showed us areas for improvement, reflecting their daily concerns

Photos L-R: Madeline Harris-Smith, Welfare Officer, Mike Gladstone, Education Officer. Hannah Greenslade, Community Officer, Jak Codd, Communications and Internal Affairs Officer, Josh Landy, Activities Officer, Sophia James, Equality and Diversity Officer.

The Executive Committee Mike Gladstone, Hannah Greenslade, Jak Codd, Sophia James, Madeline Harris-Smith, Joshua Landy

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

about getting a job after graduation in such financially testing times. Our staff have had to work especially hard this year, finding savings while still delivering a high quality service to students that has been recognised in a record number of awards. Each one of these recognises outstanding achievement and demonstration for best practice of which we should all be very proud. None of this would be possible without the critical support of the University of Leeds and our community partners. The credit for our achievements goes to the involvement of our members and effort and innovation of our staff.

Aidan Grills Chief Executive

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Representing and Empowering our Members. Our students contribute positively to local and global communities. They also have a responsibility to each other and local residents. So we make sure that we support the local communities our students live in and address environmental issues that affect us all.

“This bold student-led initiative tackled two topical sustainability issues – the needless purchase and use of bottled water, and the volume of student waste going to landfill. The solutions devised challenged the status quo, offered clear leadership and well thought out practical solutions.” Green Gown Award Judges 2009

Greener Streets and a tidier City This year our volunteering and community team coordinated the second Green Streets project – an annual initiative to collect and recycle unwanted items from students. In 2009 we targeted 12,000 households in Leeds, covering halls of residence, private landlords and local residents. The Green Streets team saved over 22 tonnes of waste from going to landfill.

“I would like to say how much cleaner and tidier Leeds has been left this year by departing students.” A local resident’s email

Our waste campaign, Leave Leeds Tidy, advised students on how to manage their house move in order to avoid creating waste in the local area.

Banning Bottled Water. As well as considering our local community, we’re also addressing global issues. This year the Union made headlines by becoming the first higher education organisation in the country to join the worldwide movement to ban bottled water. In November 2008, students voted to ban the sale of still bottled water in our shops, replacing it with free water fountains around the Union building. This followed weeks of non-stop campaigning by four of our members who proposed the change at the referendum, proving that students can create significant change when they get involved with their union.

“This vote shows that we’re taking a stand against the big issues affecting the world today – climate change and scarce water resources. Hopefully other unions will follow suit.” Student Guy Mitchell quoted in the Ecologist, 11th August 2009

The campaign made a big splash. It sparked debate in the national media and on comment boards across the web. The ban is likely to lead to an estimated loss of over £36,000 in our shops so our retail teams have worked hard to find ways to replace this income once the ban comes into force.

the support of Residential and Commercial Services in the University and particularly their support for the great awards event enjoyed by around 250 students in May.

The Guardian estimated that our decision will mean 146,365 fewer plastic bottles going into landfill sites every year. It will also save 632,443 litres of water and 22,587 litres of oil.

Award-winning work. As a result of our work in these two areas we won a prestigious Green Gowns Award for Best Student Initiative. The award recognised the positive results we were able to deliver for local people by working in partnership with the Access and Community Engagement team at the University of Leeds.

Residents’ Committees Our efforts to give students in halls a great experience has grown with more social, sporting and environmental activity led by Residents’ Committees. This work wouldn’t happen without www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Black Students’ Officer of the Year.

One volunteer, one big difference.

The Union’s executive team works hard to represent students at the University of Leeds. This year, the exemplary support offered to black students by Maryam Ahmed, LUU’s Equality and Diversity Officer 2008-09, was recognised by the NUS.

The success of our initiatives relies on the hard work of volunteers. One person in particular has been the driving force behind Green Streets: Jami Dixon. In 2005, Jami set up the project with a small team of volunteers recycling unwanted items from halls of residence. Today, Green Streets collects over twenty two tonnes of waste each year and diverts it from landfill. It has attracted external funding to expand the work including £15,000 from Leeds City Council.

Maryam won Black Students’ Officer of the Year at the NUS Black Students Conference. She was nominated by students at the University of Leeds and given the award in May 2009.

“I’m so pleased to have won the award for Black Students’ Officer of the Year – it was such a fantastic surprise! It means so much to have recognition for the work that I’ve been doing, and I’m really glad that it has come from one of the groups that I’ve been actively representing this year.”

“I am very impressed with the work that volunteering projects like Green Streets and Green Fingers bring to the community in Headingley. The benefit these projects bring, not only to the people they directly touch, but for relations with the whole community are immeasurable. A massive congratulations to Green Streets and Green Fingers for their successes at the Community Civic Pride Awards, definitely well deserved.”

80% of our members say that the Union makes a positive contribution to their university experience (Annual Research 2009).

Making University life easier for our Members. We’re here for students, so it’s great to know that over 80% of members say that the Union makes a positive contribution to their university experience. (Annual Research 2009).

16%

36%

Academic Concerns

Housing

36% of Student Advice queries were about Housing

23%

International Student Queries e.g. Immigration

In 2009, Jami was awarded the Over 18s Individual of the Year award at the Leeds City Community and City Pride Awards for her work volunteering in the local community and managing the Green Streets project.

25%

Other Enquires e.g. Financial Pressure Fig. 1

A graph to show what percentage of queries our Student Advice Centre recieved over this year. www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

“The help I got was crucial to me and my family as it assisted us financially with an amount that we strongly needed at the time.” Closed Case Feedback to the Advice Centre, June 2009.

Maryam Ahmed

Councillor Jamie Matthews Leeds City Council

Together with colleagues at the University of Leeds, our advice centre’s guidance workers address students’ concerns. This advice can help students who find themselves in the most distressing of circumstances. When an overseas student needed to return home due to the death of their child, our advice workers were able to arrange financial support and flights.

This year, 36% of its enquiries were about housing, 16% were about academic concerns, and 23% were queries from international students about issues such as immigration. The remaining 25% were made up of other anxieties including financial pressure. In the centre’s feedback report, 78% of students using the advice centre rated the friendliness of staff and the clarity of advice as excellent (July 2009).

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Listening to our Members and Keeping them Informed. We always listen to our members. This year we involved over 4,300 students in our five-year review – an opportunity for students to tell us what they want from their union. We ran focus groups with students from all backgrounds in December and March and also issued an online questionnaire.

2014 Our Vision for 2014: Together, we’ll ensure that every student loves their time in Leeds.

What our members told us. Using information from the focus groups and questionnaire, managers and student officers set up nine project groups of staff from all levels of the Union to create a five-year plan of action. By the end of July 2009 a draft plan was approved by the Board that covered nine areas of work to guide the Union to achieve a new vision for 2014. You can see our plan online at www.leedsuniversityunion.org. uk/vision2014.

Keeping students informed. To help give students a better understanding of the Union and how they can get involved, we put up 79 branded information boards across campus and in halls of residence. The boards are updated by our team of four Student Brand Managers (SBMs) - students who each work eight hours a week in our marketing team, talking to students to gain valuable insight. We also began work on developing our websites by asking students and staff how they wanted to access the Union’s services and information digitally. By the end of July we had developed a new structure, database and navigation system for our website. We replaced the old fashioned luuonline. com with our new address leedsuniversityunion.org.uk, to reflect our not for profit status.

4,300 Over 4,000 students completed the online review and 300 took part in focus groups, making the 2009 LUU Review the most participative in the national students’ union movement.

Helping to be Green

5% Health & Well-Being

26%

Health & Well being

Fun

9% Making Friends

26%

of students primarily want the Union to help them have fun!

Managing Debt

17%

Help into work

12% Help into work

To keep our members informed and help our students get a better understanding of the Union we put up 79 branded information boards across campus and in halls of residence.

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Safety

Religious/ Cultural Needs

13% Academic Success

Fig. 2

The single most important aspect of our members university life that the students’ union could help them with.

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Supporting the Leisure time of our Members Our members tell us that they are proud of their union and that we contribute positively to their life in Leeds. Some of the most positive contributions, both for our members and our local neighbours, come through our successful volunteering projects.

1,350 University of Leeds students took part in this years Varsity competition playing in over 50 different sports.

7,000 Students turned up to get behind their teams and see The University of Leeds Rugby team beat Leeds Met Carnegie 26 to 7 at Leeds Carnegie stadium, home in October 2009.

22 This year, our Volunteering and Community team co-ordinated the second Green Streets project. In 2009 we targeted 12,000 households in Leeds. The team save over 22 tonnes of waste going to landfill.

In addition to Green Streets, featured earlier in this report, we ran many volunteering projects. One of these, based at the University of Leeds’ Bardon Grange allotment, involved our members getting muddy with local primary school children to find out about where their food comes from. Teamwork is an important part of university life. We work closely with the University of Leeds’ sports and physical activities staff to give our members access to a wealth of sporting opportunity – both competitive and friendly. We give our members access to over 50 different sports – with a total of 1,350 students taking part. Every year we talk tactics with colleagues from Leeds Metropolitan University Students Union to host the Varsity Competition. Varsity sees hundreds of students from both institutions going head to head for the honour of becoming champions of Leeds. Students compete in everything from interfaith football to a huge rugby league match attended by over 7,000 students and held at the Headingley Leeds Carnegie stadium, home of

Providing Key Services In tough times we’ve had to work hard to keep providing great services to our members. Our staff worked together to make savings that protected the spending we make each year on student services. As a result, our annual research for 2009 showed that 92% of our members rate the Union as good or very good.

Super League champions Leeds Rhinos.

92%

“A lot of people play Varsity down, assuming games in the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) league must be a bigger deal. I can tell you without doubt that Varsity is the biggest game of the year. The atmosphere, the passion, the hope of victory; it’s the genuine highlight of many players’ careers.”

Figures from our annual research found that 92% of our members rate the Union as good or very good.

180k We lost approximately £180,000 in sales to the opening of the O2 Academy in October 2008.

Chris Hammill, Captain Mens’ Rugby Team, Leeds University Union

Student Media Student Media groups have gone from strength to strength, recruiting more enthusiastic and skilled students than ever before. We have taken great pride in Leeds Student TV collecting the award for Best Student TV Station at their national conference.

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

95% Figures from our annual staff survey found that 94% of staff said that they enjoyed their jobs and 95% rated Leeds University Union as a good place to work!

Our bottom line is about more than money, and we’ve continued to prosper in terms of diversity and responsibility to the environment. LUU was awarded a gold standard in the Sound Environmental Impact Awards, which celebrates environmental best-practice in students’ unions. We were also accredited with Investors in Diversity, a standard which recognises organisations that embrace diversity.

The Refectory, losing the Union approximately £180,000 in sales.

At a time when responsible drinking and licensing has featured prominently in the media, we continue to achieve high standards in this area. All union bars and venues achieved Best Bar None accreditation in 2009 and all were finalists at the annual Best Bar None awards for West Yorkshire. Our security team won the overall award for Best Door Team.

None of this would have been possible without the Union’s staff. The regard LUU has for its people is reflected in the results of our staff survey – with 94% saying they enjoy their jobs and 95% rating the Union as a good place to work. Last year, we were also accredited with a ‘One star’ status in the Sunday Times Best Companies Award for the first time.

The increases in the national pay award for staff were difficult for us to afford. We offered a voluntary redundancy scheme, restructured our convenience retailing and closed our Mine food service. We’ve improved the way we review our results against targets and forecast our financial position on a regular basis.

However, students weren’t immune to the recession and the financial pressures they experienced were reflected in our shops, bars and venues as well as the advice centre. The figures haven’t made for cheerful reading. The opening of the O2 Academy venue in October 2008 seriously affected the live music programme in www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Awards and Achievements

Financial Statement

We’re delighted that the difference we make to our students, the local community and the environment has been recognised in the awards we’ve won this year.

Leeds University Union is a not for profit organisation. We use all of our profits to fund the services we provide for our members. Each year we budget to make a small overall profit which ensures our sustainability.

01. Investors in Volunteering.

06. Investors in Diversity Standard Level 2.

The UK quality standard for all organisations which involve volunteersin their work.

A new quality standard which recognises organisations that truly embrace and work towards improving diversity.

02. Times Best Companies One Star Status. 02

Our one star status reflects our commitment to our people and work culture.

03. Gold Sound Environmental Impact Award. 03

An environmental accreditation scheme designed specifically for students’ unions. Only two have achieved gold.

04. NUS Higher Education Students’ Union of the Year. One of our proudest achievements in 08/09. The NUS Awards celebrate excellence in the union movement.

05. Community & City Pride Awards: Reduce and Reuse Project of the Year.

07. Green Gown Award. These awards recognise exceptional initiatives being taken by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable.

08. Best Bar None Award: Best Security Team. Our security team are officially the best in Leeds. Best Bar None rewards good practice in the licensed trade industry.

09. Best Student TV Station: LS:TV (Leeds Student TV). We have taken great pride in Leeds Student TV collecting the award for Best Student TV Station at their national conference.

An award that recognises and rewards people and projects who are making a real difference to the environment in Leeds - helping to turn it cleaner and greener.

After a particularly difficult year, we are pleased to report a small surplus of £8,000 for 200809. This is below the budgeted surplus of £44,000 but is a real achievement in the economic climate. Despite the recession, we have been able to maintain returns from our commercial activities, which we will invest in our student services.

Good commercial performance. 2008-09 was a year of challenge and change at LUU. The opening of the O2 Academy in Leeds affected our Refectory venue. With only three concerts being held compared to the anticipated 16, revenue for the year was £334,000 (91%) down on 200708. We recovered some of this by hosting more live music in our Stylus venue. Financial performance was strong in our bars and other venues with an overall increase of £357,000 (16%) on last year. This was largely thanks to the Terrace Bar (+29%), the Old Bar (+16%), and Stylus (+14%). In terms of retail performance, Gear – our clothing, gift and souvenir shop selling University of Leeds branded goods – also had an excellent year with a turnover of £230,000 (+15%).

Vital funding from the University. Funding of the Union’s work comes from two main sources: the University and LUU’s commercial operations. Without the direct support both financially and non-financially from the University of Leeds we wouldn’t be able to deliver such a positive experience for our students. In 2008-09, the block grant provided by the University rose by 2.5% to £1,918,000 (2008 £1,871,000) and is clearly critical to our strategy. Self-generated income decreased by 12.6% to £882,000 (2008 £1,010,000). The Union’s overall turnover from commercial operations remained at similar levels to 2008 with surpluses decreasing by an overall £123,000 (13.6%). As a result of the work on reducing our cost base, described earlier in this report, our expenditure was reduced to £2,792,000 from £2,956,000 in 2007-8. This balanced our reduced income (our 20078 income was buoyed by a one-off VAT rebate of £173,000). Capital expenditure was £134,000 in the past year. This is lower than in recent years and has allowed the organisation’s cash balances to stabilise and its net current assets to increase whilst benefitting from the investments of previous year.

Investing for the future. It is clear that such a low level of investment in our physical asset is not sustainable in the long-term if we are to provide the facilities our students expect. The Union building is evolving and we will need to make improvements based on the emerging priorities from the 2010-14 strategic plan. Net current assets stand at £1,064,000 at 31 July 2009, with total reserves of £4,401,000 and a general fund of £456,000.

The future. 2009 is the final year of our current four-year plan. Although the end of year financial position for 2008 looks stable, it gives us little room to develop our plans for the next four years. We need a revised financial strategy. We will develop this strategy by looking ahead at our income and expenditure in-line with the 2010-14 plan and ensuring we have a sound reserves policy for financial sustainability. Although we will continue to review our costs, we must also find new sources of funding. We will be required to register as a charity over the next 12 months. This should reinforce our mission and open up new fund-raising opportunities. You can download the Union’s full financial report online at www. leedsuniversityunion.org.uk/ aboutluu/publications

www.leedsuniversityunion.org.uk

Leeds University Union IMPACT REPORT

Our vision. By 2010 the vibrancy of LUU, the strength of our services and our ability to engage with, motivate and empower all of our members will mean that we are the most effective students’ union in the country.

Our mission. To provide effective representation and a range of member-led services that are of consistently high quality and embrace the needs of our members.

Our values. Democracy Quality Responsibility Diversity Fun

“Have a great time and get involved in as much as possible... after the next three years everything will have changed, almost definitely for the better.” Little Boots Leeds alumnus and pop star Little Boots gives our freshers some advice in an exclusive interview for the Union’s Gist magazine

Designed and written by Leeds University Union’s marketing team. If you would like to know more or if you require this report in any other format please contact Tom Salmon on 0113 380 1390, t.salmon@leeds.ac.uk.