The Society’s Policy for Fee Reductions or Waivers
Introduction
Our Fellows pay a one-off joining fee when they are first accepted into the Society and thereafter, an annual subscription fee. These fees provide an important source of income for the Society and its work.
However, we want to ensure that fees are not a barrier to Fellowship. Both Fellows and Nominees for Fellowship may therefore apply for a fee waiver or reduction at any time.
This policy explains how we will handle all requests fairly, equitably and confidentially.
Fee reductions that are automatically applied:
• The Society will waive all fees for Fellows who are over 85.
• The Society will reduce fees by 50% for all Fellows over 70.
Fee waivers or reductions that require a Fellow (or someone on their behalf) to approach the Learned Society to request:
• Where a Fellow (or Nominee for Fellowship) feels that the fee is/would be a barrier to their involvement, the Society will consider waiving some or all fees for an agreed period.
• When informed that a Fellow is seriously ill, the Society will normally waive their fees until notified that a full recovery is made.
There are no specific parameters under which such an application may be made. Instead, each application by a Fellow or nominee will be considered on its own merits.
Acceptance of a fee waiver or reduction will not impact on a Fellow’s status within the society. They continue to receive any benefits and may participate in the organisation in same way as all our Fellows including use of the post-nominal title as awarded on election.
Process for Fee Reduction or Waiver Requests:
1. Any Fellow or Nominee who wishes to apply for a waiver or reduction should complete the ‘Fee Reduction or Waiver’ form and send it directly to the Chief Executive [oharrison@lsw.wales.ac.uk], marked Confidential. Nominees may, alternatively, ask their Proposer to make this application if they prefer.
2.The Chief Executive will consider the application with the Strategic Engagement Manager, the staff member responsible for the Society’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy, and will normally respond to the applicant within 3 weeks with a decision. The offer of a reduction or waiver will include an outline of what period of time this covers. They will treat the information provided with confidentiality.
3. The offer, if granted, will be shared with the Finance Officer. The Finance Officer will only receive the financial outcome of the fee reduction/waiver, not the details of the request. The applicant’s original Fee Reduction or Waiver form will be deleted once this has taken place.
4. The Chief Executive and Strategic Engagement Manager will treat as confidential all details of the application. However, we will keep an anonymised log of decisions to help us make consistent future decisions. This log, and individual anonymised requests, will be shared with the Society’s Clerk and Treasurer for governance purposes.
5. Ordinarily, where the request for a waiver/reduction exceeds one year, we will ask successful applicants to re-apply annually to ensure our financial records are up to date. In some circumstances we will waive this – you will receive notification of this in your application response.
Withdrawal or modification of relief
If a Fellow or Nominee’ circumstances change after a fee reduction or waiver has been granted, such that it is no longer required, the Fellow or nominee should inform the Chief Executive at the earliest opportunity.
Additional notes for Nominees
In some cases, Nominees may not wish to proceed with a nomination unless they know that a reduction or waiver will be granted. Such Nominees should apply at least one month before the deadline for Fellowship nominations, to allow time for a decision. To ensure they can meet the deadline, we advise Nominees to continue working on the nomination while awaiting a decision. This request will not be shared with the Scrutiny Committee or Special Council who make the recommendations for Fellowship and will not have any bearing on their decision.
A decision to grant a fee reduction or waiver to a Nominee is intended to provide financial reassurance only. It does not give any indication of the Nominee’s likelihood of election to the Fellowship.