The Board recently reviewed the current situation of overdue payments, and decided to remind members of their financial obligations to the community.

Co-operative National Law and our Co-op rules (a sub-set of the Law) provide the governance framework which the Co-op must follow.

A fundamental legal requirement is that members must pay all monies (levies, etc.) to the Co-op by the due date to maintain their active membership.

If the member has been continuously inactive for the past 2 years, then the Board legally has to declare a membership cancelled. The Department of Fair Trading can fine directors if this is not followed.

In addition, inactive members are ineligible to vote at general meetings.

This is how the Co-op’s overdue payments system works:

1.  You pay by the due date (which is the end of the billing period), after which overdue charges are applied.

2.  If you go over 12 months overdue then debt collectors are called in.

3.  If you have not been active (i.e. once) in two years then your share shall be cancelled.

The onus is on members to take responsibility for their own financial affairs.

So, any member likely to become inactive for a two year period has to take appropriate action to catch up with their arrears to ensure they are active at least once in that period. 

Individual invoices will eventually show the last date when a member was active, to guide them, thanks to a refinement in the accounting system.

It’s actually a very simple mechanism, and basic Co-operative law.