annual report OFFICERS President: Professor Keith Ewing Chairperson: John Hendy QC Treasurer: Geoffrey D Shears Director: Carolyn Jones
2018 INTRODUCTION The year 2017 was full of promise at IER but also problems.
Trade unions, individuals and political parties from Labour to the Greens to the SNP all welcomed our work around the Manifesto for Labour Law. Our materials promoting those ideas were distributed throughout the labour movement and our expert speakers addressed numerous meetings up and down the country, outlining and explaining our proposals. At the same time, and in the absence of our Director, some of our income streams dropped and our reserve fund disappeared, leaving us in a precarious situation, reflected in a financial deficit for the year. Our determination to ensure that we not only survive but also prosper as we head towards our 30th Anniversary, has led to a series of meetings being organised with our trade union friends at which we hope to convince them that investing in IER’s work will help them to achieve the positive and progressive changes in labour law they want for their members. ADMINISTRATION Although our staffing levels remained constant in 2017, for most of the financial year (AprilJanuary) the Director was off on sick leave. That meant staffing was reduced to 1 full timer (James Harrison) and one part timer (Sarah Glenister).
4th Floor, Jack Jones House, 1 Islington, Liverpool, L3 8EG Tel 0151 207 5265 Fax 0151 207 5264 email office@ier.org.uk www.ier.org.uk
The Director returned to work in January 2018 working 3 days a week. The money saved is being invested in a temporary assistant working 2 days a week, focusing on driving forward our sales and promotions plans. Congratulations and appreciation should be recorded for the hard work shown by Sarah and James during that period. MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS Our membership figures currently stand at 76 (–1), of which 36 are trade union representatives (no change).
We have a total of 489 (+10) subscribers on our database. Of those, 261 (+24) are individuals, 140 (-17) are trade union branches, 17 (same) are
Subscriber Numbers International 3% Libraries 3%
Individual 54%
Free 7%
TU branches 29%
Free trial 4%
commercial libraries, 16 (+3) are international, and 32 (-23) are free subscriptions gifted to our speakers. There are 21 free trial subscribers who will start paying in 2019-2020. Reduced rate subscriptions (mainly students paying £25) now stand at 66(+9). Although the number of subscriptions has gone up since last year, subscription income was down as new subscribers took advantage of our free year offer. We hope that once this promotional period is over, the predicted extra £800 will help stabilise our subscriber income. On the positive side, the increase in reduced rate subscribers reflects our success in reaching out to students and retired union members. Over 5,400 readers are now subscribed to our electronic subscription list to receive weekly news briefs and promotions. Our online payment facilities have recently been separated between Eventbrite for conferences and PayPal for publications and subscriptions. This year, PayPal sales increased by 9% to £12,205 and £2,593.26 has been taken through Eventbrite in its first month of operation. Overall online sales have thus increased by 23.3% to £14,798. While most paid subscribers continue to manage their accounts offline, 109 subscribers currently pay their dues through PayPal, up 6% on last year.