CWU POLICY FORUMS – REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES
Branches will recall that, at the Special Restructuring Conference (SRC) held on 28 June 2025 in Blackpool, the CWU debated and subsequently agreed the NEC Policy Paper covering CWU Conferences and Delegations.
This policy paper also included an important section setting out the intended policy that the NEC would be taking in relation to “modernising Conference and maintaining our democracy”. An important aspect of this was the utilisation of decision-making policy forums.
Reproduced below for ease of reference is the relevant section of the agreed policy paper:
“In order to ensure that the CWU is able to respond to urgent and important issues outside of the biennial Conference, the NEC will ensure that the CWU can utilise different decision-making processes. This will include using decision-making policy forums, which can be called by the NEC, branches and Industrial Executives, subject to the rules of the union.
These should only be utilised if an urgent issue arises, a major issue of an unforeseen nature, or one requiring strategic direction between Conferences. This approach will ensure that when policy is agreed it will be at the right time and with the full involvement of those impacted.
Guidelines for calling policy forums will be produced by the NEC or the Industrial Executives, where appropriate, including the delegation sizes and the bylaws to govern these forums. This would have to include the necessity for policy forums to be convened at short notice and ensuring there are procedures and processes in place that will not prevent this from occurring.
Where appropriate, holding policy forums online can also provide further flexibility. The success of these during the pandemic can be used as the basis to make further improvements to supplement both future Conferences and Policy Forums. The Industrial Executives or the NEC, where appropriate, will adjudicate whether Policy Forums are held online or in-person. For any events held online, we will ensure we have the appropriate accessibility adjustments in place.
The measures above will not only contribute to the financial reductions to put the CWU in the best position to remain as a standalone union but will help to support a more contemporary policy-making process going forward.”
Branches will appreciate the wording contained within this section is very clear and establishes Policy Forums as an essential part of our democratic decision-making processes.
To supplement this the NEC submitted rule amendments to rules 8.1.7 and 8.4.3 at the Special Rules Revision Conference (SRRC), also held in Blackpool on 29 June 2025. The carriage of these rule amendments ensured the essential principle that Policy Forums were now “decision making” forums of the CWU and became enshrined in our rule book.
Prior to the commencement of the Conferences and following several questions from Branches, LTB 126/25 was published. This LTB illustrated how the NEC would be dealing with Policy Forums going forward and made it clear that Policy Forum regulations and guidelines would be produced by the NEC.
These restructured policies also reinforce the NEC commitment to maintaining and protecting our democratic principles of holding conferences, while supporting and supplementing these by the introduction of modernised decision-making processes such as policy forums.
This will result in urgent decisions being made as quickly as possible and made at a time when contemporary issues need to be dealt with swiftly. This would also include having the ability to utilise, where appropriate both in person and online/video conferences and policy forums as required.
Accordingly, any agreed and published regulations and guidelines need to ensure that mechanisms are in place that allow the NEC, Industrial Executives and branches to be able to call Policy Forums (in accordance with the rules of the union) in a speedier way and where necessary, at relatively short notice and with less restrictive timelines where this is necessary and unavoidable.
Additionally, to ensure we have a consistent approach across the CWU in respect of policy forums it is essential that we have a single set of regulations and guidelines in operation throughout the CWU that cover all planned policy forums i.e. General NEC related issues and for Industrial policy forums for Postal and TFS industrial issues. It was originally anticipated these would be agreed and circulated during September 2025 but there has been a delay due to the culmination of other redesign work and industrial developments.
At a meeting on 25th and 26th of February, the NEC agreed to the regulations and guidelines attached at Appendix 1 and 2 respectively. These were drafted following consultation with the two industrial departments, as well as the President and Vice President. Both capture the relevant policy contained in our rules, as well as the agreed conference policies covering decision making policy forums. These contain the guiding principles and procedures that allow the NEC, Industrial Executives and Branches to have the ability and flexibility to act as quickly as necessary to make urgent decisions as and when they are required.
The completion of the Policy Forum regulations and guidelines mean that a further strand of our restructuring work is now complete. Branches should however note the intention is to keep these regulations and guidelines under review and report back to the NEC should further amendments or clarification be needed as policy forums are called and documents have been put into practice.
If you have any questions, please contact the General Secretary’s Department at dlynch@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Ward
General Secretary
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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