Local Institutes are unincorporated associations and as such require their own constitution which sets out their purpose and how they operate.
As unincorporated associations Local Institutes have no legal personality, this means the individual members of each Local Institute are personally responsible for their actions, debts, and any contractual obligations.
The CII Charter and Bye-Laws state that Local Institutes are independent of the CII, but the CII has a constitutional obligation to provide an annual grant to each Local Institute within the UK, Channels Islands, and the Isle of Man.
The CII has prepared a model constitution for use by local institutes. Our aim is to produce a model that is flexible and works for all Institutes, from the smallest to largest, and that will remain relevant for the foreseeable future.
In the interests of consistency, our preference is that local institutes adopt this model constitution, but you are of course welcome to revise if you consider it necessary, although we ask that you run proposed amendments initially past your Regional Membership Manager.
Every local institute secretary (and indeed council member) should be familiar with their institute’s constitution.
The model constitution can be downloaded below. Any questions regarding the constitution should be directed to your Regional Membership Manager.