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Wonkhe SUs · The 2026 webinar box set

Reviewing SU democratic structures

All the things to think about – and the pitfalls to avoid – when you review your democracy.

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Drawing on 25 democratic reviews, we look at why so many SUs review their structures and why so many reviews quietly fail. We separate democracy from representation, match different democratic functions to different decisions, and confront the uncomfortable truth that democratic reviews so often apply structural fixes to cultural problems. Expect the legal essentials of the Education Act 1994, models worth stealing, and a hard look at the Student Council that won't die. With Neil Mackenzie, Chief Executive, Leeds Beckett Students' Union

What we cover

  • Why everyone keeps reviewing – and why redrawing structures rarely lasts if the culture underneath doesn't change.
  • What it isn't about – not sabbs, elections or boards, but how the whole union decides and who really gets a say.
  • The Education Act 1994 essentials – fair and democratic operation, a five-yearly constitution, secret ballots and the two-year cap.
  • Democracy by function – representative, deliberative, direct and participatory, and matching the type to the decision.
  • Representation isn't democracy – winning an election gives you representation; democracy is what happens between elections.
  • A single community? – why planning for "one imagined community" fails the many overlapping groups SUs actually serve.
  • Ideas are not policies – why the website “democratic module” (chuck in an idea, get a few clicks) is a sham that breeds the very distrust it claims to cure.
  • Councils, forums and AGMs – why they’re so often “crap in, crap out”, and how curating the agenda (as Warwick did) beats scrapping every vote.
  • What good looks like – Leeds Beckett's shift to community organising, and bonding, bridging and linking.
  • How to actually do it – fix the “auditions” not the “finals” (build engagement before structures), copy processes not outcomes, and resist jumping to the answer before you’ve asked the questions.

Things to read

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