Documents and resources for governors - Non attendance at
meetings
Non attendance of governors at meetings can cause problems.
The Governing Body should be consistent in dealing with this to
ensure enough are quoroms at meetings and there are sufficient
members available to support the various committee structures and
panels which they are responsible for.
First steps
The Governor Support Service strongly recommends that before
taking the more formal steps, the Chair contacts the governor on an
informal basis to establish the reasons for non-attendance such as
timings of meetings not receiving papers, no longer wishing to
serve etc.
Subsequent action
Where a governor has not attended a meeting for a period of 6
months or more and has not tendered apologies for acceptance , the
Clerk or Chair of Governors should write to that governor stating
the dates of the governing body and committees meetings missed, and
that the governing body may resolve to remove them from the
governing body (parent, community, partnership and sponsor
governors) or apply to the relevant body to have them removed (LA
and foundation governors) for non-attendance, and that they have
the right to reply to this by letter or at the next governing body
meeting. This should then be an agenda item at the next governing
body meeting, where the governing body should consider any
statement given by the non-attending governor, and then agree what
action they wish to take (see below).
Deciding to remove the governor
Different rules apply to different types of governor. Please note
that the guidance below ONLY applies to removal of governors for
non-attendance. The same rules do not apply if there are other
reasons for wishing to remove a governor (for example, their
behaviour).
Local Authority governors
Local Authority governors can only be removed by the Local
Authority Appointments Panel. In this case, you should contact the
Governor Support Service. It would be helpful if you could provide
the following information:
- Name of the Governor
- Any contact made
- List of full governing body and committee meetings not attended
(including information about where they have sent apologies or
otherwise)
Governor Support will then request the LA Appointment Panel
to make a decision about the removal of that governor, and will
contact you when that process is complete. This panel is held at
least every term.
Community, partnership, staff, parent and sponsor
governors
Community governors, partnership governors
and sponsor governors can be removed from office by the governing
body. Sponsor governors can also be removed at the request of the
nominating body. Full details of procedure to be followed are
in the Guide to the Law.
Foundation governors
Foundation governors can be removed at any time by the people who
appointed them for reasonable cause. You will need to contact the
Church authority or voluntary trust or organisation associated with
the school.
Further details and confidential advice is available by
contacting the Governor Support Service.
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