Clerking

Quality clerking significantly enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the governing body.

By law all governing bodies must have a named person who clerks their full governing body meetings. Governing bodies may choose whether that person also clerks their committees. To an extent, the clerk’s duties depend on the governing body's own requirements. As a minimum they will include the following:

  • timely circulation of agendas
  • production of accurate concise minutes
  • monitoring of governing body membership and attendance
  • maintaining the register of governors’ pecuniary and business interests

Duties

The clerk’s duties may also include preparing correspondence and following up actions agreed at governing body meetings. The clerk may also act as the channel for communication between the governing body and outside agencies, such as the DfE, LA and Diocese. It is essential that the clerk have sufficient grasp of the law to be able to advise the governing body on procedural matters. The clerk should know how to access advice on legal and policy matters. The relationship between the clerk and the governing body is an important one and worth fostering. In particular, the chair of governor’s workload can be eased if they feel able to delegate tasks to the clerk. Governor Services has produced a specimen job description and person specification.

Role training and termly briefing sessions are also provided by Governor Services. Some governing bodies, despite their best efforts, find it difficult to attract suitable candidates; Governor Services offers a Clerking Service to which governing bodies can subscribe. Details of this service can also be obtained by contact Governor Services. In recognition of this, Governor Services provides a range of services to assist; clerk's training, briefings and the Clerking Service to which governing bodies can subscribe.

Even though you may not subscribe to our Clerking Service, we can still provide an emergency clerk for governing body meetings and clerks for exclusion meetings.  Please contact Governor Services for details.

Useful documents