SU finances back in the black

Warwick’s Students’ Union (SU) has managed to recover its entire £750,000 deficit from 2008, allowing it to incorporate as a charity in line with new legal requirements.

Two years ago restricted access to the SU because of construction works which resulted in a “reclining bar trend” caused this “planned” deficit, Andy Glyde, then the SU finance officer, said to the Boar in October 2008. This deficit was “planned” whilst the Union had “positive cash reserves,” said the current Finance Officer for the Union, Stuart Stanley, but as a result of a building delay the costs were “more than intended,” which then exhausted the SU’s financial reserves.

Stanley said that the debt was a result of closing nearly all of the Union’s commercial operations over the course of the building work, at one point only leaving a temporary pub open, whilst still having to pay all of the overheads such as employing the same number of full time staff. “The re-opening of the building helped”, said Stanley, but “an issue with the longer term sustainability,” resulted in “staff reconstructing” in the summer of last year. Many staff were laid off, and entire departments restructured.

The Union’s building is owned by the university, the rent for which is “a fairly considerable sum,” said Stanley.

Because of the Charities Act 2006, all “exempt charities,” of which the Warwick Students’ Union was one, were no longer able to exist in the same way. The SU made the change ahead of dates set by the government.

“Every students’ union in the country is going through the same process,” said Stanley. This change now means that as well as continuing to be a charity, the SU has its own charity number and its trustees’ liability is “limited by guarantee.” This means that in case of the SU amassing another huge debt, their trustees, made up of the Sabbatical team, some Student Trustees and other lay trustees who advise the Union, would only be liable for a “very small” portion of that debt.

Whilst becoming a charity has not directly had a “big effect,” according to Stanley, the SU is “now able to start to apply for more grants,” which he added that he has already begun to look into, including inclusion in the Warwick University Student Caller scheme.

When asked about the long term prospects of the SU’s finances, Stanley said “I think they’re very good, we’ve had a good start to the year.” Because of the closure of the rest of the SU for part of last year, the Dirty Duck had “phenomenal” success, and this year “everything’s going really well…though we’re never sure in this political climate.” Stanley added that he expected the surplus this year to be “small”, which will primarily be used to build up reserve funds in case “something did go wrong.”

“The Union is here to support its students,” said Stanley, who added that the “commercial outlets are here… [in order to] put money back into the Union.”