The EGM - why you should vote no

Nominet delivers services depended on by registrars, registrants and millions of organisations every day. We connect over 10 million .UK domains, our cyber security protects .UK and vital government services, and our public benefit programmes use technology to help one million young people each year. That work is at risk.

We are required to hold an EGM and ask members to vote on an extreme resolution that removes half the board, without a workable alternative. For 25 years, Nominet has been a trusted and reliable guardian of .UK. We need your support to allow us to continue that work.

Why you should vote: what’s at stake.

Confidence in Nominet and .UK, built over 25 years, is threatened.

By dismissing half the board without a credible plan, the proposed resolution would instead:

Create instability at the heart of .UK
Damage the good standing and trust in Nominet and .UK
Make it harder to retain and recruit staff
Threaten Nominet’s independence

Securing Nominet’s Future – Our Plan

We’ve listened to members and shared a plan that keeps Nominet on track and makes drastic action unnecessary.

Scaling our commitment to Public Benefit

We will have committed £4 million by June, double the amount of last year. In future years we will devote 10% of revenues to public benefit.

Freezing .UK prices for at least the next two years

Recognising the difficult economic climate for many businesses, we will implement a price freeze.

Freezing Board Pay

We will freeze board-level pay through the end of 2022.

Investing in .UK infrastructure

We are investing £20 million over the next three years in our next generation registry infrastructure.

Launching a Registry Advisory Council (RAC)

This will be a new body with members elected directly by different sectors of the membership.

Improving membership engagement

We are launching a new Member Hub and well-governed next-generation member forum.

Increasing financial transparency

We will give greater clarity about the investment in, and performance of, the Cyber Business unit.

Please vote. We want every member to have their say.

You can now register to attend the EGM.

The company is obliged to put forward to members any resolutions which have the backing of 5% of the members, and which are consistent with Nominet’s articles of Association.

The proposed resolution is that the following persons be removed from their respective offices as directors of the Company with immediate effect pursuant to section 168(1) of the Act:

a. Eleanor Hester Bradley
b. Russell Adam Haworth
c. Benjamin Edwin Hill
d. Jane Elizabeth Tozer
e. Mark William Wood

If passed, this would remove the executive leadership, and two of the four independent Non-executive Directors.

Members have been sent voting packs electronically, and they can appoint a proxy or cast their vote.

If you have any questions about how to vote, please do get in touch by using the button below.

Get in touch with us

What you asked for – What we’ve done

Increase public benefit spend Reduce .UK prices Improved communication with members Adopt the “UK Corporate Governance Code”An independent, financially strong Nominet

This year we’re spending £4m, and in future, funds will rise along with revenues.
We are committing 10% of future revenues to public benefit programmes.
We have earmarked £25m of our reserves to make sure we can plan for the long term.

Read our blog here

We decided not to increase prices at our review in 2020.
We will not increase prices in 2021.
We will not increase prices in 2022.
The new member-led Registry Advisory Council will advise the Board on pricing.
Pricing decisions are based on costs to run the registry and are not affected by investments elsewhere in the business.
.com is increasing prices by ~7%, leaving .UK nearly 40% below .com prices.

New member-led Registry Advisory Council. Its remit will include advising on pricing and policies.
New Member Hub to give members access to useful statistics and information.
New well-governed next-generation member forum.
Ambitious agenda of events, webinars and policy consultations.

Read our blog here

We already follow the best practice and corporate code relevant to our size.
We are freezing executive pay until the end of 2022. Executive pay is independently set by the Remunerations Committee and aligned to business performance.
We will report Cyber and Registry data separately, giving members more transparency.
We have also already implemented most of the Lyons review, and will issue a detailed report tracking progress.

We are a stable organisation, responsible guardian of .UK and trusted by government to run and secure critical national infrastructure.
We are investing £20m in .UK registry programmes over the next 3 years to build the infrastructure of tomorrow.
Surveys on our registry services have never returned a complaint. Customer service, technology performance, and the range of offerings for members are consistently praised.
Our technology also helps protects vital public services and reaches over 2.8 million public sector workers through our partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre.
We support law enforcement to play our part tackling online crime.

Read our blog here