Election of AEP General Secretary

Candidates must seek nomination by eligible members of the AEP (see below) and submit their nomination forms to the Scrutineer in accordance with the procedure detailed below. 

A nomination must be supported by twenty eligible members - that is Full, Trainee or Assistant EPs members - of the AEP, as required by Section J (4) of the Constitution.   Only those who are Full, Trainee or Assistant EP members on the closing date for receipt of nominations will be deemed valid signatories.  A member may nominate only one candidate in this election.

Nominations must be submitted using the appropriate nomination form(s) and an accompanying contact form; these can be downloaded from the AEP website or obtained by emailing the AEP office.  Nominations can be submitted electronically, or as hard copies.

A candidate may submit a nomination with more than twenty signatories, but only the names of the first twenty confirmed to the Scrutineer as being eligible members of the AEP at the closing date will be published.  It is the responsibility of Candidates to ascertain that their signatories are qualified to nominate them.  If in doubt, please contact the AEP office.

Nomination forms must be sent to the Scrutineer and not to the AEP office. They must be received at the office of the Scrutineer by noon on 13 March 2025.  Any forms received after this deadline will be declared invalid. You are advised to submit your nomination forms in good time before this closing date, especially if sending by post, and to check with the Scrutineer’s office directly to confirm that your nomination has been received (see contact details in the relevant tab below).

Section 13 of the Employment Act 1988 gives candidates in trade union elections the right to prepare an election address and have it distributed free of charge with voting papers.  An election address must be submitted to, and received by, the Scrutineer before the closing date for receipt of nominations.

Candidates have the right to submit the election address in their own words but attention is drawn to a resolution of the 1981 Annual General Meeting of the AEP.  This stated that candidates should include within their election address their views on the major professional issues of the day, a delineation of the areas of their professional and trade union interests and a statement on any long-term strategic policies they would wish the AEP to pursue.

It may be helpful to members if candidates also include, as appropriate, the full title of their present post and the name of their employer or state if they are self-employed, and how they meet the requirements of the post as outlined in the job description. 

An election address must not contain statements of a discriminatory, disparaging, racist or sexist nature or that make accusations against members or staff of the AEP.

Candidates wishing to have an election address distributed are asked to note that the election address must:-

1. not exceed 1,250 words in length
2. reach the Scrutineer (details below) by noon on 13 March 2025

Candidates should note that the National Executive Committee has decided that all election addresses will be published to members, even where a candidate is elected to office unopposed.

In the event of only one valid nomination being received by the published closing date, that candidate will be deemed elected.   If more than one valid nomination is received, the Scrutineer will conduct a postal ballot of all eligible Full, Trainee and Assistant members of the AEP as specified by Section J (4) of the Constitution.  In the case of three or more candidates standing in the election, the ballot will employ a ‘single transferable vote’ system to decide the outcome.

Section 15 of the Employment Act 1988 requires Trade Unions to appoint an independent scrutineer to conduct any ballots in connection with the election of a General Secretary.  The AEP has appointed Civica to act in this capacity. The Scrutineer may be contacted as follows:

Postal address:     Civica, The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, N8 0NW
Telephone:           0208 8899 203            
email:                   nominations@cesvotes.com

Notice of election published to members - W/B 13th January 2025
Last date for receipt of nomination forms by the Scrutineer - Noon on Thursday 13 March 2025
If uncontested, result declared - Friday 14 March 2025

IN THE EVENT OF CONTESTED ELECTION:

Ballot papers dispatched by Scrutineer - W/B 24 March 2025
Closing date for return of ballot papers to Scrutineer - Thursday 1 May 2025
Ballot result declared  - Thursday 8 May 2025