Become an ordinary member

When you join Which? as a paying subscriber you become what we call an ‘associate member’. Once you’ve been with us for 12 months, you’ll become a 'voting associate member' and will be invited to vote to approve the appointment of our Council trustees. The Council is the governing body of our charity, the Consumers’ Association. They oversee the Which? Group as a whole and make sure we’re making the right decisions for the benefit of all consumers, while fulfilling our charitable purpose.

Which? ordinary members

From day one of your subscription, you can apply to become what we call an ‘ordinary member’, which is a member for the purposes of the Companies Act. This means that you’ll have some additional rights as well as voting on the appointment of trustees:

• You’ll receive an invitation to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Here, you’ll hear from our chair, chief executive, trustees, and members of our leadership team. You’ll find out about what we're doing and why, and have the chance to ask your questions directly. You’ll have exclusive access to learn how Which? works from the inside.
• You’ll have the opportunity to submit resolutions to be put to a vote at the AGM, subject to certain criteria.
• You’ll be invited to vote on the resolutions put to the AGM.
• You’ll receive a copy of our annual report and accounts.

As an ordinary member or a voting associate member, we'll keep you informed by email of key governance updates, such as when the voting window will open, how you can cast your votes and why it matters, and we'll share the voting results with you.

A heads-up - the way we're set up means that when you become an ordinary member, you are agreeing to pay 50p at most if the Consumers' Association ever gets wound up.

You can read more about what it means to be an ordinary member in this Q&A.

How to become an ordinary member

Just fill in the ordinary membership application form below, and send it to us, by email if possible, otherwise by post to the address on the form. Our Council of Trustees is responsible for approving applications, and once it has approved yours we'll get in touch to tell you that you're officially an ordinary member. It usually takes no more than a week or so, and then you'll be on board.