The annual ECF Finance Council Meeting on 27/04/2019 will be considering the Board's proposals regarding fees for 2019/20, and other related proposals from others. Papers for the meeting can be found on the internet at https://www.englishchess.org.uk/about/ecf-council-and-board/.

Individual ECF Membership fees, and other fees, are being proposed by the Board as in the first “2019/20” column of the table below. (The 2020/21 proposals are for an “indicative” vote to facilitate planning, and still require a binding vote in a year's time.) Current, 2018/19 rates are shown for comparison. Regarding the “NCCU” column, see lower down.

	Current	Board Proposals		NCCU
	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20
Platinum membership	£70	£75	£80	£71
Junior Platinum membership	£70	£75	£80	£71
Gold membership	£34	£39	£41	£35
Junior Gold membership	£17	£19.50	£20.50	£17
Silver membership	£23.50	£27	£30	£24
Silver Junior membership	£5	£6	£6	£5
Bronze membership	£16	£18	£20	£16
Bronze Junior membership	£5	£6	£6	£5
FIDE Rated Events	£10.50	£11	£11
Congress Pay to Play	£7.50	£9	£10
Congress Pay to Play Junior	£2	£2.50	£2.50
Non-Members Game Fee *	£16	£18	£20
Non‑Members Game Fee Junior *	£5	£7.50	£7.50
Organisation Membership	£60	£64	£70	£61

* for 4 games or more

Increases in Bronze membership fees have hitherto been £1 every 2 years (average 50p per year). Board proposals are now in gear for £2 per year.

A motion from the Northern Counties Chess Union proposes as an alternative approach:

(a) That increases in ECF membership fees for the 2019/20 season should be limited at maximum to a rise in line with CPI inflation rate, and preferably to no increase.

(b) That the ECF investigate with great haste the best and quickest way to release trust fund monies to support their proposed youth development plan, and to publish these facts for membership’s awareness as soon as possible.

Part (a) would ideally say which month's Consumer Price Index 12-month inflation rate is to be used. That of January 2019 was 1.8%, and that of February 2019 was 1.9%. (That for March is due out on 17th April.) The proposal also fails to mention rounding. The above table uses 1.9% as the inflation rate, and assumes rounding to the nearest pound, 50p being rounded up, though one could go to the nearest 50p. Part (b) seems superfluous since, as far as I can see, the ECF Board strives its hardest to get as much money as possible from the trust funds being referred to.

Laudable though the ECF Board's objectives may be, many members, especially at Bronze and Silver level, feel they should not be called on to finance activities they neither participate in nor derive benefit from. Admirable though the International Director's achievements have been (in my eyes), the main area of ECF expenditure which comes under fire from “grass-root” players is that of the International Directorate, mainly the funding of teams representing England. (See also “Joe Public” on another page.) Accordingly, the Delegates representing Bronze and Silver members, 2 for each category, have tabled a motion

“that the contribution to International Chess from the ECF's own funds is capped at £30,000 per annum for 2019/20 through to 2021/2022 (for three years) after which it should be subject to review.”

As the YCA delegate to the ECF attending this meeting I shall e-mailing YCA-league team captains, club secretaries, and YCA officers for guidance as to how they think the YCA's 3 votes should be cast.

Steve Mann

12/04/2019