This page explains the rights and responsibilities of associate members and how they are different from governors.
A maintained school can appoint associate members to sit on committees. Associate members are not governors but they do have the right to attend full governing body meetings.
“‘Associate member’ means a person who is appointed by the governing body as a member of any committee established by them but who is not a governor.”
Constitution (England) Regulations 2012
Associate members can bring specific skills to the governing body or be appointed to tackle a particular problem or project.
“Associate members should be appointed because of the specific expertise and experience they can contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.
“This can help to address specific gaps identified in the skills of governing body members, and/or help the governing body respond to particular challenges that they may be facing.”
Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools: Statutory Guidance
Associate Members Versus Governors
Advice on this page applies to associate members in maintained schools.
You may have heard the term “associate governor”, but in a maintained school this role does not exist. They are either a governor or an associate member, they are not an associate governor.
(I have come across multi-academy trusts that use “associate governor” or “associate member” to refer to people who sit on local governing bodies but cannot vote, for example this MAT (.pdf) and this one (.pdf). The rules for LGBs are set by each trust so check your terms of reference to see the rights of any associates.)
Below is a summary of the main differences between governors and associate members in maintained schools.
| Governors | Associate Members | |
| Can be chair or vice-chair of full governing body | Yes (as long as not school employee) | No |
| Count towards full board quorum | Yes | No |
| Can vote at full board | Yes | No |
| Can be chair or vice-chair of a committee | Yes | Yes |
| Count towards committee quorum | Yes, if they are a member of that committee | No |
| Can vote on committees | Yes, if they are a member of that committee | Only if: a) they are given voting rights by full governing body, and b) majority of committee members present are governors, not associate members, and c) they are aged over 18 |
| Can use a casting vote if they are the committee chair | Yes | No |
| Can be excluded from a meeting by the governing body if an individual staff member or pupil is discussed | No (unless they have a conflict of interest) | Yes |
| Must have enhanced DBS check | Yes | Legally no, but the board may wish to check them anyway |
| Must declare their business interests | Yes | Yes |
| Must be recorded in the instrument of government | Yes | No |
Why appoint associate members rather than governors?
There are a few reasons why the board may wish to make a volunteer an associate member rather than a governor:
- there are no governor vacancies in your instrument of government but a willing volunteer is available
- a volunteer has skills that would benefit a particular committee, for example an accountant who could sit on the finance committee but may not have the time to attend full board meetings
- the board wishes to see how a volunteer gets on in a role with less responsibility before “promoting” them to a governor role
- a volunteer is under 18 and so cannot be a governor. Associate members are allowed to be under 18 and can be pupils at that school.
What are the rights of associate members?
The law gives associate members the right to attend meetings of the full governing body and committee meetings when they have been appointed to that particular committee.
(The full board or a committee could also invite them to attend committee meetings even if they are not on that specific committee, but they don’t have an automatic right to attend.)
The law also says that associate members may be asked to leave for part of a meeting if an individual school employee or pupil is being discussed. This rule applies to both full board meeting and committee meetings. (The quote below refers to the governing body excluding associates from full board meetings, but a later section in the law applies this rule to committee meetings too.)
“The governing body may exclude an associate member from any part of its meeting which the associate member is otherwise entitled to attend when the business under consideration concerns an individual member of staff or pupil.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
Associate members also have the right to receive the agendas, minutes and papers for full board meetings and for any committees they sit on.
“The clerk of the governing body must give written notice of the meeting, a copy of the agenda for the meeting and any reports or other papers to be considered at the meeting at least seven clear days in advance to—
(a) each governor;
(b) the head teacher (whether or not that person is a governor);
(c) any associate member.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
How are associates appointed or reappointed?
To appoint an associate member hold a vote at a meeting of the full governing body, asking the candidate to leave the room during the vote. If governors vote in favour their term of office starts from the date of that meeting.
To reappoint an associate member at the end of their term of office simply hold another vote at a full governing body meeting.
How many associate members can we have?
In theory, as many as you like. There are no limits on the number of associate members you can appoint, although they should all be able to contribute to the work of the board.
Associate members are not listed on the instrument of government so the board can increase or decrease the number of associates without changing the instrument.
In practice, if you have a more than say two or three associates you may be asked to explain how they support the work of the board or why they are not serving as governors (if governor vacancies exist at the school).
There is no minimum number of associates you must have as there is no requirement to have any associate members at all.
Can a parent or school employee be an associate member?
Yes. Associate members can be parents, school employees, anyone who is unconnected with the school or even pupils at that school, because associates can be under 18.
“The definition of associate member is wide. Registered pupils and staff at the school and people who want to contribute specifically on issues related to their area of expertise (for instance, finance) can be appointed as associate members.”
DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide
There are no rules that limit the number of associates who can come from particular stakeholder groups, for example the total number of associate members who can be school employees. (In contrast there are legal rules which control who can be a particular type of governor.)
However, it is always sensible to be aware of the balance of different stakeholders on the governing body and to ensure there are not too many people involved from one stakeholder group.
If a school employee is an associate member they must remember that their role is to support the work of the governing body, not to answer questions from governors or help the headteacher explain or defend the decisions of senior leaders.
It is relatively common to find schools where several senior employees act as associate members, perhaps because the school believes they must be associates in order to attend meetings, but governors can invite anyone they like to meetings.
The business manager, deputy head or any other employee can be given a standing invitation to attend meetings without being appointed to any governance role.
What is the term of office for associate members?
The default term is four years, but the board can assign any term between one and four years. At the end of each term the associate can be reappointed and there is no overall limit on the number of years an associate member can serve.
“An associate member may hold office for a period of four years, or such shorter period (not being less than one year) as may be determined by the governing body at the date of the appointment.
“Nothing in this regulation prevents an associate member from being reappointed at the expiry of the associate member’s term of office.”
Constitution (England) Regulations 2012
Can associate members be suspended or removed?
They cannot be suspended as the process for suspensions only applies to governors. However, they can be removed at any time via a vote at a full governing body meeting.
Apart from the vote itself there is no formal process that needs to be followed when removing associate members, but the board may wish to follow the same process for removing governors to ensure their procedures are fair. For example, they could give the associate member the opportunity to make a statement at a meeting in their defence.
“An associate member may be removed from office by the governing body at any time.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
Can an associate member be chair of governors?
No, associate members can never be elected chair or vice-chair of governors as that role must always be filled by a governor.
However, associates can chair committees. If they are elected as a committee chair they are not allowed a casting vote to break a deadlock if the vote is tied (unlike governors who chair committees, who do get a casting vote).
Can associate members vote?
Associate members never have a vote at full board meetings, but they can be given voting rights on committees if the governing body approves.
The voting rules are a little complicated so are covered in full in a separate article, but the basic idea is that associates can vote on a committee as long as:
- they have been given voting rights on that committee by the full board
- the majority of committee members present are governors (not associate members) and
- the associate member is aged over 18.
Must associate members declare their business interests?
Yes. All associate members must declare any interests that could give rise to a conflict of interest and the school must publish the details online.
Each associate member must declare anything could mean they might benefit from that role, for example if they work for a cleaning company that could be hired by the school. They must also declare any governance roles they hold at another school or college and any relationship they have with a school employee, governor or another associate member.
All associates must withdraw from a meeting (leave the room) if a vote is held where they have a conflict of interest – for example, if they could gain financially from the outcome of the vote.
Section 16 of The Roles, Procedures and Allowances Regulations 2013 makes it clear that conflict of interest rules apply equally to associate members and governors.
Do associate members need DBS checks?
Legally no, as the law only refers to enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks for governors.
“Where a governor is elected or appointed on or after 1st April 2016 and does not hold an enhanced criminal record certificate, the governing body must apply for such a certificate in respect of that governor within 21 days after his or her appointment or election.”
Constitution (England) Regulations 2012
There is also no stipulation in Keeping Children Safe in Education that says associates must be DBS checked at all. However, your board may wish to run enhanced DBS checks on associates anyway. It is wise to find out whether your local authority prefers enhanced DBS checks to be run.
Note that associate members are disqualified if they have certain criminal convictions, just as governors are. In fact all of the disqualification criteria apply equally to associate members except that (unlike governors) associate members are allowed to be under 18 and to be pupils at the school.
For section 128 checks the same applies, in that neither the law nor Keeping Children Safe in Education say that associate members must have section 128 checks. However, associate members are still disqualified if they are on the section 128 list, so you may wish to run section 128 checks on all associates. Again, check what your LA advise.
Can we have associate members if we have no committees?
This is an interesting question as a strict reading of the regulations suggests the answer is no. The law says that an associate member is “a person who is appointed by the governing body as a member of any committee established by them”.
Therefore if a board uses what is called the “circle model” or sometimes a “flat” model, where it only holds full governing body meetings and no committee meetings, then technically an associate member cannot be appointed to a committee.
However, the board has the power to establish any committee that it likes, so it could set up a committee that met once a year with the sole purpose of appointing associate members to that committee. Those associates would then have the right to attend full board meetings. This sounds daft because it is, but it would be legal!
It’s also worth noting that because associates cannot vote at full board meetings there is no significant difference between someone attending full board meetings as an associate member or being invited to attend meetings as a guest.
So, I would say that strictly speaking a board cannot have associate members if it has no committees, but I would also say this is one of those areas that is not worth spending too much time worrying about! Let me know if you disagree though.
Just for your information I once posed this question to Governorline, the now defunct advice service funded by the DfE. They said that “associate members do not have to serve on a committee. OFSTED are likely to scrutinise why they are attached to the GB and their skills set must be justified”, but I haven’t seen that advice repeated by other services like the National Governance Association or The Key.
Are associate members recorded on GIAS?
No. Get Information About Schools (GIAS) is the DfE database of school governors, but there is no way to input details of associate members into the system.
The clerk should of course keep records of any associate members and their term of office dates.