Maintained school governors are not paid unless they are part of an interim executive board (IEB). An IEB is an expert governing board that has been brought in to help a struggling school, for example a school in special measures.
The vast majority of maintained schools will therefore have unpaid school governors. Even members of IEBs may not be paid, depending on the circumstances.
“There is no legal power for schools, local authorities or the government to pay individuals on maintained school governing bodies for their governance duties.
“Where an IEB has been put in place, a local authority may choose to pay IEB members.”
DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide
Is the chair of governors paid?
No. The chair and vice-chair do not receive any payment or salary for taking on these roles.
Associate members are also unpaid and the headteacher does not receive extra salary for being a governor. The only person who gets paid to attend meetings of the governing body is the clerk.
Do parent governors get paid?
No. As explained above the only time a governor might be paid is if they are serving on an IEB at a school that is in trouble. The vast majority of parent governors carry out their duties without receiving a salary or payment.
Are academy trustees paid?
Like maintained school governors, academy trustees are almost always unpaid volunteers. The chair of trustees at an academy trust does not receive payment for taking the chair.
Academies are charitable companies and so they must follow charity law. The DfE say that any payments to trustees would need to be approved by the Charity Commission and be expressly allowed by the academy trust’s articles of association.
“Individuals can only receive payment for carrying out their (charity) trustee duties if [it is] specifically allowed by the academy’s articles of association [and] the trust has express authorisation from the Charity Commission.”
DfE Academy Trust Governance Guide