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LOCAL
EXCHANGE TRADING SCHEME
LETSlink UK’s MODEL RULES
in development
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VERSION
1
The name of
the Group can be inserted before “LETS” where appropriate
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VERSION
2 |
VERSION
3
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| A. The LETS is
a non-profit membership society or club. It is organized
by the LETS Organizing (or Management) Group, who act on behalf
of the members. |
1. _____ LETs is
a non-profit organization whose rights and authority are
vested in the members who delegate that authority to the Management
Group who act on their behalf. The Management
Group accepts all who may seek to join in good faith, but may
also reserve the right to deny membership to an applicant in
exceptional circumstances at their discretion. |
1. Bath LETs is
a non-profit organization whose rights and authority are
vested in the members who delegate that authority to the Management
Group who act on their behalf according to the provisions laid
down in the Constitution.
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2. The Management
Group accepts into membership all who seek to join in good
faith, normally those who are resident in the locality of Bath
and North East Somerset, and others in special circumstances,
but reserves the right to deny membership to an applicant in
exceptional circumstances at their discretion. |
| B. The LETS provides
an information service through which members can exchange
goods and services. It maintains accounts of all LETS transactions,
publishes the accounts regularly to the members, and maintains
and publishes accounts of any sterling used in running the scheme. |
2. _____ LETs provides
an information service through which members can exchange
goods and services, and maintains a central account of those
exchanges for the benefit of members in an agreed unit of account
called - - - - . Members may be individuals, couples, businesses,
voluntary organisations or projects, who can delegate authority
to a representative to act on their behalf in respect of managing
a group account. Individuals may have an individual and a business
account where appropriate. |
3. Bath LETs provides
an information service through which members can advertise
and exchange goods and services, and maintains a central account
of those exchanges for the benefit of members in an agreed unit
of account called olivers. |
| K. The LETS gives
no warranty or undertaking as to the value, condition or quality
of services or items offered. Members should seek to determine
for themselves the quality or standard of workmanship offered
before agreeing a transaction. LETS publishes a directory of
resources and services made available by members, but as with
any directory or newspaper, it cannot be held responsible for
the quality of goods and services on offer. |
12. No warranty
or undertaking as to the value, condition or quality of services
or items exchanged is expressed or implied by virtue of
the introduction of members to each other. _____ LETs publishes
a list of the resources and services made available to members
but cannot be held responsible for the actual goods and services
offered. Members should therefore seek to determine for themselves
the quality or standard of workmanship offered before agreeing
a transaction, by asking for references in the normal way. |
4. No warranty
or undertaking as to the value, condition or quality of services
or items exchanged is expressed or implied by virtue of
the introduction of members to each other. Bath LETs cannot
be held responsible for the actual goods and services offered.
Members should therefore seek to determine for themselves the
quality or standard of workmanship offered before agreeing a
transaction, by asking for references in the normal way. |
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4. The - - - -
is considered to represent the nominal value of £1 for the purposes
of trading goods. N - - - - are considered to represent
one hour's work, which is considered to be the standard rate
per hour for those who wish to use it. |
5. The oliver is
valued at 25 units per hour of work. This is the standard
rate for those who wish to trade on an equal basis, but is negotiable
between members who agree otherwise for a particular trade,
and where goods or services being traded are not strictly related
to hours of work. |
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6. Members may be individuals, couples,
businesses, voluntary organisations or projects, who can
delegate authority to a representative to act on their behalf.
Individuals may have an individual and a business account
where appropriate. Members of the Management Group will have
a separate account for their role in managing Bath LETS, in
addition to their own trading account (see below).
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| C. Members agree
to the LETS holding their details on computer and distributing
those details to other members for the purpose of exchange.
(This is a legal requirement of the data protection act. To
comply with this, a clause must also be included in the membership
form to be seen and signed by prospective members as follows
“I agree to the conditions of the ___ LETS Rules, and to
__ LETS holding my details on computer and distributing to other
members those details relevant to the purposes of exchange”
If a LETS Directory is to be circulated to non-members, the
names and means to identify members should be kept separately,
so that they can be removed). |
3. Members agree
to _____ LETs holding relevant personal details on computer
and online and making available to other members those details
relevant to the purpose of exchange, according to the provisions
of the Data Protection Act. This will include an indication
of members' location without giving out their street address.
Members also agree to the directory of goods and services being
visible to the general public for publicity purposes without
contact details of individuals being displayed. |
7. Members agree
to Bath LETs holding relevant personal details on computer and
online according to the provisions of the Data Protection
Act, and making available to other members only details
relevant to the purpose of exchange, including an indication
of members' location without giving out their street address.
Members also agree to the directory of goods and services being
visible to the general public for publicity purposes without
names or any other details of individuals being displayed. |
| D. Members may
give or receive from each other credit in the LETS unit of account
called ___________. These units are recorded on the LETS
accounts. |
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9.
The Management Group is authorized to charge a joining fee in
sterling and to vary the amount of that on a cost-of-service
basis as the situation requires in consultation with the advisory
group - currently £10 or £5 concessions, and also to waive or
reduce the fee in cases of hardship at the discretion of the
membership secretary, and instead to levy the equivalent in
- - - - . |
8.
The Management Group is authorized to charge a joining fee in
sterling and to vary the amount of that on a cost-of-service
basis as the situation requires in consultation with the advisory
group - currently £10 (or £5 concessions), and also to waive
or reduce the fee in cases of hardship at the discretion of
the membership secretary, and instead to levy the equivalent
in olivers. |
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11. The Management
Group is authorized to accept donations from grant-giving organisations
or individuals and to authorise the equivalent in local
currency to be placed in a project account to be used for community
purposes. These project accounts form the basis for LETS Work
Together activities and a Project Leader may be delegated to
manage each of these accounts. |
9. The Management
Group is authorized to accept donations from grant-giving organisations
or individuals and to place the equivalent in local currency
in a project account to be used for community purposes. These
project accounts form the basis for LETS Work Together activities
and a Project Organiser may be delegated to manage each of these
accounts. |
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10.
The Management Group is authorized to charge service charges
in - - - - on a cost-of-service basis - currently one -
- - - per month - and may vary that rate in consultation with
the membership or advisory group. These - - - - are paid to
individuals to carry out specific tasks in relation to the management
of the scheme. |
10.
The Management Group is authorized to charge monthly fees in
olivers on a cost-of-service basis - currently five oliver
per month. These olivers are paid into the system account, from
which payments are made to individual or project accounts to
carry out specific tasks in relation to the management of the
scheme. |
| G. No interest
is charged on accounts. The Organising group is authorized
to charge reasonable joining and renewal fees in LETS units
and/or sterling. It may also levy reasonable service charges
in LETS units on members’ accounts. All charges are on
a nonprofit, value-for-money basis, agreed in consultation with
the members or their Advisory Group. |
6. No interest
is charged or paid on balances but members are expected
to manage their personal accounts in a responsible and fair
manner in terms of reciprocal activity, and within limits which
may be specificed from time to time. A member going outside
these limits, may expect to have a voluntary limit placed on
their account until it is brought to good order. |
11. No interest
is charged or paid on balances but members are expected
to manage their personal accounts in a responsible and fair
manner in terms of reciprocal activity, and within limits which
may be specificed from time to time by the Management Group.
A member going outside these limits, may expect to have a voluntary
limit placed on their account until it is brought to good order. |
| H. All accounts
start at zero. Members are not obliged to have credit in
their account before issuing another member with credit, subject
to any debit limits that may be set by the Organising Group. |
5. All accounts
start at zero. Members are not obliged to be in receipt
of any credit before issuing another member with credit from
their account, subject to any limit that may be set by the Management
Group from time to time. |
12. All accounts
start at zero. Members can issue olivers from their own
account directly to the account of another member in payment
for goods and services, or as a donation at their discretion,
and are not obliged to be in receipt of any olivers before issuing
another member with olivers. Their account will go minus to
the same value as the number of olivers transferred. Therefore
all accounts in the system, including administration accounts,
some positive and some negative, will have an overall zero sum. |
| J. All members
will receive details of the balances and turnovers of all the
other accounts. The Organising Group will publish the balances
and turnovers of all accounts at least every six months, and
will also make the balance and turnover of any account available
to any member on request. It will also regularly publish Treasurer’s
reports on the sterling accounts. |
13. All members
will have access to the balance and turnover of all other
members' account on an ongoing basis, and in order to ensure
transparency in the activities of the Management Group, where
substantial activities are carried out by individual office-holders
on behalf of the scheme, these will be recorded in separate
accounts for the duration of that office-holding thus enabling
budgets for specific activities and projects to be set. |
13. All members
will have access to the balance and turnover of all other
members' account on an ongoing basis, and in order to ensure
transparency in the activities of the Management Group, where
substantial activities are carried out by individual office-holders
on behalf of the scheme, these are recorded in separate accounts
for the duration of that office-holding thus enabling budgets
for specific activities and projects to be set. |
| E. Money is not
deposited into or issued from the LETS accounts. Members
may engage in any transaction entirely in LETS units, or on
a art cash basis, but only LETS units are recorded on the LETS
accounts. |
7. Members may
engage in any transaction entirely in - - - - , or on a part
- - - -, part cash basis, especially where there are sterling
expenses that need to be defrayed, but only - - - - are recorded
on the system. Transactions may be for the purpose of obtaining
goods or services or donating to other accounts, at the discretion
of the account holder. |
14. Members may
engage in any transaction entirely in olivers, or on a part
oliver, part cash basis, especially where there are sterling
expenses that need to be defrayed, but only olivers are recorded
on the system. Transactions may be for the purpose of obtaining
goods or services or donating to other accounts, at the discretion
of the account holder. |
| F.
Only the account holder can authorise the transfer of units
from their account to that of another (except for essential
service charges, which may be transferred by the accountant
from members’ accounts to the LETS administration account). |
8.
Only the account holder can authorize the transfer of units
from their account to that of another, and this is done
directly by each individual where electronic transfer is used.
However this task may be specifically delegated to a personal
buddy by sharing an email account and password, or by default
to a member of the management committee by means of a signed
paper cheque, or fixed value voucher. |
15.
Transfer of olivers is normally done online by each individual.
The LETS accountant maintains an overview of transactions,
and may accept cheques from individuals as an instruction to
act on their behalf. Alternatively, the task of managing member
accounts and reciving email messages may be delegated to a personal
buddy who sets up an email account and password for the member,
on a temporary or permanent basis. Anyone who needs help or
assistance in managing their account should contact a member
of the Management Group for help. |
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16. Members are
entitled to some form of handwritten receipt (conveniently
on a timesheet downloadable from the website), pending the transfer
of olivers. During trading events, trading lists or vouchers
can be used as an interim record, pending the updating of members'
accounts. |
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17. The Management Group decides on the
roles which are necessary for the functioning of the scheme,
and may re-organise roles or co-opt members, or ask members
to assist with particular functions. The current management
group roles in Bath LETS are: Co-ordinator, Secretary, Treasurer,
Membership, Broker, Administrator, Information Officer, Outreach,
Project Managers, Local Representatives. The names of post-holders
and brief job descriptions are set out here.
Members of the Management Group will, however, give an individual
account of themselves, on the basis of which they will either
seek re-election, or give prior notice of their intention
to resign from the management group at the Annual General
Meeting.
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18. The Management Group will arrange and
publicise the dates of Meetings. The purposes of meetings
will be made clear, eg Management Group Meetings, Introductory
Meetings, Training Events, Social Meetings, Excursions, Work
Sessions, and Trading Days, to be held at such venues as enable
as many members as possible to attend them.
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19. All Members are entitled to arrange
events and charge entrance fees in olivers, by way of
their normal trading activities. The Management Group may
authorise some such meetings to be counted as official meetings,
and instead of the member having to charge entrance fees,
will make payment from a designated fund at an agreed rate
for the members time, as long as the meeting is conducted
in the agreed way. In order to have such meetings made official,
the member concerned will apply for this to be considered
at a Management Group meeting, and may attend in purpose to
explain their proposal and make their case.
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| N. Members have
the right and are encouraged to attend any meeting of the Organising
Group, and to participate in decision-making. Members have
the right of appeal on any management decision, both directly
and by representation via an Advisory or arbitration Group member. |
19. Members have
the right and are encouraged to attend any meeting of the Management
Group and to participate in decision making. Members have
a right of appeal to the Advisory Group on all management decisions.
There will be a formal opportunity to hear reports from office-holders
at an Annual General Meeting. |
20. Members have
the right to attend any meeting of the Management Group,
to request that items be placed on the agenda and to make their
views known, but not to formally vote - nor do they have the
right of veto. Any member who has not been able to get satisfaction
at a meeting of the Management Group has the right to call an
Extraordinary General Meeting, by making a request supported
by at least three other members, to a member of the Management
Group, who will follow the procedure for conducting such a meeting
laid down in the Constitution.
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| I. No member is
obliged to accept any particular invitation to engage in any
transaction whatsoever with other members. On leaving the
LETS, however, members with outstanding commitments are obliged
to balance their accounts (if necessary in sterling). |
16. No member is
obliged to accept any particularly invitation to trade,
or to engage in any transaction whatsoever with other members.
However, they may be encouraged by an office-holder to engage
in trading activities in order to assist them in managing their
account. |
21. No member is obliged to accept any
particularly invitation to trade, or to engage in any
transaction whatsoever with other members. However, they may
be encouraged by an office-holder to engage in trading activities
in order to assist them in managing their account.
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| M. The LETS administrators
may decline to record a transaction or directory entry considered
inappropriate for legal or other reasons. |
15. The _____ LETS
administrators may decline to record (or in extreme circumstances
may reverse) an account or directory entry considered inappropriate
for legal or other reasons. In the case of dispute between members
arising from any cause, which cannot be resolved with the help
of an individual office holder, members are entitled to have
recourse to the Mediation Group. |
22. The management group may decline to
record (or in extreme circumstances may reverse) an account
or directory entry considered inappropriate for legal or other
reasons. In the case of dispute between members arising from
any cause, they will seek assistance from the LETS Accountant
in the first instance.
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| L. Members are
individually responsible for their own personal tax liabilities
and returns and for any benefits entitlements. The LETS
has no liability regarding members’ tax or benefits entitlements,
and has no obligation or liability to report to the tax or benefits
authorities or collect any payments on their behalf. |
14. The vast majority
of LETS activity is of no interest to the Tax or Benefits authorities.
However, those members who are engaged in business activity
are individually responsible for their own personal tax liabilities,
and may for this reason have separate personal and business
accounts. _____ LETS has no liability regarding members' tax
or benefits entitlements, and has no obligation or liability
to report to the tax or benefits authorities or collect any
payments on their behalf. |
23. The vast majority of LETS activity
is of no interest to the Tax or Benefits authorities.
Members who are engaged in business activity are individually
responsible for their own personal tax liabilities. They are
advised to have separate personal and business accounts and
to spend out of their business accounts on items related to
the business without generating profit, ie keeping their business
account close to zero, as is normal good practice. Bath LETS
has no liability regarding members' tax or benefits entitlements,
and will not give out information about members to the tax
or benefits authorities or collect any payments on their behalf.
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| O. The Organising
Group reserve the right to deny membership to an applicant or
organization in exceptional circumstances at their discretion.
They may act on behalf of the LETS in seeking explanation or
satisfaction from a person whose activity is considered to be
contrary to the interests of the membership. They may, in consultation
with the Advisory and/or Arbitration Groups, suspend membership
in such cases or in cases of delinquent accounts, report the
incidents to a national and/or regional a network of other LETS
groups, and in the last resort may remove members from the scheme. |
17. The Management
Group may act on behalf of members in seeking explanation
or satisfaction from a person whose activity is considered to
be contrary to the interests of the membership. The Management
Group, in consultation with the advisory group, may suspend
membership in the case of delinquent accounts and as a last
resort may remove members from the system. |
24. The Management Group may act on behalf
of members in seeking explanation or satisfaction from
a person whose activity is considered to be contrary to the
interests of the membership. The Management Group, in consultation
with the advisory group, may suspend membership in the case
of delinquent accounts and as a last resort may remove members
from the system.
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18. On leaving
_____ LETs, members with commitments outstanding are obliged
to balance their account (if necessary in sterling). Positive
balances may be bequeathed to other member or project accounts.
Alternatively, the organisation may apply through LETSlink for
the transfer of a members's balance to a group elsewhere, if
this group is willing to accept the individual into membership. |
25. On leaving
Bath LETs, members with commitments outstanding are obliged
to balance their account (if necessary in sterling). Positive
balances may be bequeathed to other member or project accounts.
Alternatively, the member may request the transfer of their
balance to a group elsewhere, and if this group is willing to
accept the individual into membership, the administrators will
follow the procedures in place at the time to effect such transfers
through the national network. |
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20. This agreement
may be updated, changed or modified at the discretion of
the Management Group after due consultation with the members.
Proposals for major changes or innovations in the administration
of _____ LETS will be formally notified to all members for discussion
at an Annual General Meeting, or Special General Meeting before
a final decision is taken. |
26. This agreement may be updated,
changed or modifiedby the Management Group following normal
procedures for communication with members and considering
their responses at meetings. Proposals for major changes or
innovations in the administration of Bath LETS will benotified
to all members for discussion at an Annual General Meeting,
or in emergency at an Extraordinary General Meeting, following
the procedures laid down in the Constitution.
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21. Membership
in _____ LETs implies acceptance
of the conditions of this agreement. |
27. Membership
in Bath LETs implies acceptance of the conditions of this agreement.
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P. Members agree
to be bound by the conditions of these Rules and those embodied
in the constitution of the LETS.
JOINING FORM: Name, Contact details, and initial Offers &
Wants are included, with the phrase: “I agree to the conditions
of the ___ LETS Rules, and to __ LETS holding my details on
computer and distributing to other members those details relevant
to the purposes of exchange” The form is duly signed and
dated by the applicant. |
If you are happy
with the above please continue and complete the Joining Form.
If you still have queries, please attend a meeting and raise
your concerns - feedback and ideas are always welcomed. Dates
are advertised here or here. |
If you are happy with the above please continue and complete
the Joining Form.
If you still have queries, please attend a meeting and raise
your concerns - feedback and ideas are always welcomed. Dates
are advertised here.
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