The 71st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance was held in the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th October 2025.
Scotland Branch was represented at the AGM by Christine McGiveron, on the Executive Council, Michael Kirby as the Branch delegate and Linda Kirby as Sponsored Representative.
The AGM was opened by the Town Mayor of Kenilworth and followed by a welcome by the Chair, Les Priestley. This was followed by the report of the Standing Orders Committee (SOC) and the appointment of Tellers. Adoption of the report of the 2024 AGM and the 2024 Annual Report followed. The National Treasurer, Mike Sparham, then presented the statement of accounts for 2024 and stated that recruitment has increased significantly possibly due to the new Travel Insurance scheme provided by CSIS and the fact that Civil Servants are concerned about the imminent change of pension provider from MyCSP to Capita. He also said that CSPA may have to increase the membership subscription at the 2026 AGM to offset the loss in overall membership numbers. The Chief Teller, John Hickey, informed the Chair of the number of votes available at the AGM in the case of a card vote. The total voting number was 21,652 which were represented by Branches and Groups in attendance at the AGM. 10,827 would constitute a majority, and 14,435 a two-thirds majority on Constitutional motions. The Scotland Branch total was 2755 members, representing 7.94% of the total membership.
The ballot was opened to elect new Executive Council members and the main AGM got underway.
All Motions were carried apart from Motion X4, X6, X13, X33 & X34 which were deemed “Out of Order”, Motions B21 & B32 indicating that the motion is in line with existing CSPA policy and is accepted without debate. Motion C24 indicating that the motion would reverse a decision made at the previous year’s AGM and is not for debate. Motion D12 indicating that the motion could be dealt with by correspondence and is not for debate. Motions A9, A14, A16 & A23 which were remitted to the Executive Council. Motion A15 fell due to Motion A5 being carried and motion A27 fell due to Motion A26 being carried. Motions A10 & A46 were lost.
On Wednesday evening the AGM Gala Dinner was held which provided a chance for everyone to catch up with friends from other parts of the U.K. Certificate of Merit awards were given out to those that met the criteria including one for Christine McGiveron. Scotland Branch also received a framed certificate as an “Honourable Mention” in the Newsletter of the Year competition. Marion McAuliffe, from Head Office, was given a rousing round of applause for her CSPA service as she announced her retirement which will take place in December.
The Guest Speakers at the AGM were:-
Matthew Boyd – Connect
Verity Williams – Charity for Civil Servants
Jan Shortt – NPC.
At the start of the morning session on Thursday, the result of the election to the Executive Council was announced by the Chair, Les Priestley.
At 14:45 hours on Thursday the AGM was closed by the Chair.
If you want to see the motions in detail, they were issued as a supplement in the Autumn 2025 edition of the Pensioner magazine.
Michael Kirby
Scotland Branch Delegate.
