England Athletics statement following UKA Members' EGM

UKA Members' EGM statement

UKA is pleased to confirm that following the UKA Members’ EGM that was held this morning the proposed changes that were outlined here received the required number of votes for those changes to be agreed. The revised Articles of Association will shortly be published on the UKA website and at Companies House. Jason Gardener, President of UKA has welcomed the changes: “I am very pleased that these changes have been agreed and that I hope we can now look forward and continue to work together for the benefit of athletics in the UK.”

In relation to the UKA Members’ EGM statement above, the England Athletics Board has issued the following:

“The England Athletics Board acknowledge the decision taken at today’s UK Athletics EGM (28 January 2022) to approve the latest proposal to amend the membership model of UK Athletics.

“We believe that this proposal as approved enables all parties to now look forward and we naturally remain committed to working positively and constructively with UKA, the other Home Country Athletics Federations and the UK Athletics Member club and road running representatives, who we will actively engage with positively and regularly to seek their views.

“We believe the priority focus now, for all parties concerned, should be on further building the resilience of our sport as we emerge from the significant impacts of the pandemic and in growing and developing the sport for the benefit of every club, athlete, coach, official, volunteer, and administrator.

“From the perspective of England Athletics, having voting rights increased from one vote to three significantly increases the voice of our members thus enabling greater levels of engagement and representation of all our clubs across the country and at every level of the sport through our member-elected Regional Council network which is a fundamental pillar of our democratic structure in England.

“In addition, having four representative Directors from our member clubs on the England Athletics Board further illustrates that we have a governance structure for the sport in England which is collaborative in its ability to influence the work of UK Athletics and athletics and running across the UK in general.

“At England Athletics, we will continue to help support and develop all our affiliated clubs and member bodies – as evidenced in our 12-year strategy for the sport through to 2032.

“Furthermore, as key delivery partners of the established UK wide ‘Athletics Unified Strategy’ (2020-2032), as an organisation we have a clear and growing influence over wide aspects of the sport such as the domestic competition calendar, competition licensing, talent development, and coach and officials’ development pathway.”