I’ve had an interesting experience with NUS bureaucracy this week, one that has left me troubled at how crudely the organisation manages to shoot itself in the foot.

There was an edict announced at NUS HQ over the summer you see, that NEC members could not reclaim any money we’d spent in the process of doing NUS work if the claim was submitted more than 8 weeks after the happening.

In spite of this I tried to claim back expenses I’d accrued in my work for NUS - expenses that fell outside the 8-week period - and I was refused, you can imagine my reaction.

The 8-week rule bothers me. It bothers me not because of its arbitrary existence, but because the reality of being an NUS officer is complicated and is not adequately factored into the practicalities of this rule.

As NUS officers we are often expected to spend our own money to subsidise the work of the national union. For example, one of my rejected expense claims is for a college visit to Scotland. Despite having submitted a travel request form to NUS in the proper fashion and in good time, I was told that despite having authorisation for the trip, the NUS could not book or pay for my ticket for me because its credit card was full. I was told to buy the ticket with my own money and claim it back afterwards.

And while my claim for this falls outside the 8-week period there is no dispute that I did actually spend the money and that it was actually for the NUS business I stipulated. Critical, also, is the fact that I incurred the cost personally because NUS could not pay for it in the first place.

Given this context, I can’t help but think that it’s a bit rich of NUS to say it won’t reimburse me, because the other truth, of course, is that if NUS officers like me didn’t do this on a regular basis, then NUS constituents like you could legitimately question whether NUS was fulfilling its remit and providing you with the service your union pays for when you request our assistance we do not help because we do not have money readily available to pay for travel.

Also, there is a question of NEC workload. Term time is relatively compact and heavily condensed. I have managed just one weekend off in the past three and a half months. We don’t have ordinary, functioning lives. Consider then the situation from my perspective: Autumn term is drawing to a close, you’ve had two big, successful NUS conferences (Black Students and Anti-Racism) and a Reform conference; you’ve organised a series of Black students’ regional conferences; produced a fantastic 104-page handbook which the PM’s office has called to congratulate you on; designed and launched a Black Students’ Officer in Every Union campaign including posters, flyers and campaign pack. You’ve hosted a number of Black-LGB, FE, Womens, asylum, faith, Islamophobia and London-wide Respect Not Racism Week initiatives, not to mention a Black students’ freshers pack and made over 30 college visits.

You find yourself at the end of this really exciting first-term, exhausted but elated, satisfied in the knowledge that you’ve put 100 per cent into your work and the movement. And what do you suppose that I should be looking forward to doing at this time when, like your own union, NUS is winding down for the Christmas break? I would think that I would be able to take the opportunity to catch up with the tasks – usually administrative – that I’ve had to de-prioritise during term-time to help students with issues. I’d also use the time to review my work this term and make strategic plans for the next one, including ideas on how to strengthen my Campaign.

Well, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?

Instead, I find myself caught up in this silly debacle where I face a Christmas break with hundreds of pounds of expenses (all with receipts that are recorded and justified in my Black Students Officers’ Reports 1, 2 and 3) still owed to me by NUS and which it says it will not be reimburse. Some end to a successful first term.

Instead of making life easy for officers and helping us do our jobs, it would appear NUS revels in setting up bureaucratic booby-traps that help it save money by ripping off its officers – who are hardly well-paid to start with. It is a terrible pity and waste of NUS time and its officers’ energy. I can’t imagine the TUC, Unison or any other trades union pulling a stunt like this. Well done NUS.

I’m also reeling at how ironic all this is. NUS has introduced layer upon layer of bureaucracy this year in order to ensure that only bona fide expenses are paid to officers: this term alone there have been about six new rules brought in on reimbursements, more in depth scrutiny of claim forms and new obligations to feedback to regional officers after college visits.

At the same time, NUS has dramatically reduced the timescale in which officers can claim expenses, resulting in officers like me being expected to beg like dogs for the national treasurer and president to show us clemency and pay us back the money we’ve spent doing NUS’ work. Additionally, officers are being made to feel like they are under constant surveillance, that they cannot be trusted to make justifiable claims. The current operation serves only to undermine the morale of an NEC that puts much effort and enthusiasm into making the NUS work for its members.

While this is an insult to our hard work and commitment, it also raises the spectre of whether or not this is a cheap way of the NUS making money out of its own officers. It begs the question: would NUS be able to defend itself against not paying expenses to its officer if the matter went to a small claims court? Or, how does it affect the spirits of NUS officers when they are subjected to this shoddy treatment?

If NUS is serious about helping officers manage their workloads then it should provide reasonable staff support – it currently offers none at all expect to a few senior NEC members. This would help officers like myself deal with many of the admin duties that take up much time: taking calls, dealing with basic enquiries, sending material to officers, stuffing envelopes for mailings, booking venues, organising travel warrants etc. It would also free up time for us to write the reports and do the research we’re expected to do, as well as the college visits and representation work we do for students, attend meetings with internal/external partners and organise conferences and events. And, of course, it would free up time to sort out our expense claims more regularly.

Naturally, I have asked for this help on a number of occasions but you will be unsurprised to hear that my requests have fallen on deaf ears, while on another occasion the senior officer saw fit to laugh in my face.

So, all in all, this is going to be a real turkey of a Christmas. NUS has turned out to be more Scrooge than Santa Claus (albeit it wasn’t actually giving me any gifts, just what was mine in the first place, but you get the idea). However, the experience has taught me a valuable lesson: an employer who erects unjustifiable obstacles in the way quickly loses the confidence and good will of its employees. Let me assure you that when you are at that stage, you will find fewer people willing to go the extra mile when you really need them to.

NUS would do well to recognise this and make good use of the festive break to reconsider its position. Not all ideas are good ideas, and if they’re seen to be failing, they’re worth reviewing.

Merry Christmas!

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