If someone is eligible to stand in your parent governor election and is either elected unopposed or wins the ballot they are officially your new parent governor, trustee or local governor.
The only exception is in Catholic academies that use the Catholic model articles of association.
That’s because the Catholic model articles allow a Catholic trust board to reject an elected parent trustee (or a Catholic local governing body to reject a parent local governor).
In all other schools elected parent governors, trustees and local governors are chosen by the other parents and the board has no veto power.
The board cannot stop a parent either standing for election or being voted in by their fellow parents. They must accept the choice of the electorate.
Elected Parents Versus Appointed Parents
Remember that there is a difference between elected parent governors and appointed parent governors.
In both maintained schools and academies there is a provision that allows boards to appoint parent governors/trustees if not enough parents stand for election. In that situation the board can reject a candidate they feel is unsuitable.
But boards only have the chance to appoint parents themselves if the election has not provided enough candidates to fill the vacancies.
So in effect, parents always have first choice of candidates. The board only gets involved if vacancies remain after the election process.
Can we tell parents we are looking for certain skills?
Governing boards can ask for parent governor candidates who have certain skills. However, they can’t insist that candidates must have those skills.
For example, you could write in your advert that HR skills are desirable. You could not write that applications will be rejected if parents do not have these skills. It’s up to the parent electorate to decide what skills they think are important.
How can we minimise the chance of an unsuitable candidate being elected?
To avoid a poor parent governor being elected you should:
tell all parents they can stand for election
describe the role clearly – the board is not a parent forum or a channel for complaints and parent governors do not fight against the headteacher for whatever parents demand
include contact details for the chair so candidates can learn more before volunteering
“It is advised that every effort be made to avoid potential difficulties later by informing prospective election candidates, or appointees, of the nature of the role.
“It is advised that their agreement is secured to a clear set of expectations for behaviour and conduct – as set out in a code of conduct.
“A code of conduct is expected to detail (within the parameters of relevant regulations and this guidance) the circumstances in which the governing body may suspend or remove a governor.”
Bear in mind that someone you think is “unsuitable” could in fact become an excellent governor. If a parent is a strong character who will robustly challenge the headteacher, point out the weaknesses of the governing body and drive improvements through their assertive personality that could be positive for the school.
It may be less comfortable for senior leaders and the board as a whole, but strong challenge in itself is not undesirable and is sometimes exactly what is needed. The governor should of course offer that challenge politely, treat everyone with respect and stay within the remit of the governing board.
What can we do if a parent governor behaves poorly once elected?
In the first instance the chair should have an informal chat to explain what needs to change and ensure the governor realises that there is an issue.
If there are no improvements the chair can explain how the behaviour is breaking your code of conduct and emphasise that all governors/trustees have agreed to follow the code.
They should clearly explain the behaviour they would prefer to see and offer training that will help the governor understand their role.
If the poor behaviour persists then in both maintained schools and academies a vote can be held to remove the governor from the board. Removing an elected governor is a serious step so this should be considered only as a last resort.
Removal might be considered if a governor is being needlessly and consistently argumentative, trying to interfere with operational matters, trying to micro-manage the head, behaving rudely or inappropriately or only acting in the interests of their own child.
In maintained schools and some academies a vote can be held to suspend the governor for a short period instead of removing them completely. This would make it clear to the parent governor that their behaviour needs to change without removing them from the board permanently.
Choice Voting is a private company that enables elections to be held online. In the last 18 months they have helped over 300 schools run electronic elections.
This page explains how Choice Voting could be used to run school governor elections. I also asked Managing Director Jason Hawkins whether the DfE approve of this software, how they handle GDPR and privacy concerns and how they ensure ballots are anonymous but only eligible people can vote.
The Constitution Regulations 2012 specifically permit electronic parent governor ballots in maintained schools (as long as a paper option is offered too) and academy trusts can choose to permit electronic ballots. It’s also possible to hold staff governor elections online as long as the election authority permits it.
Disclaimer: I have never used Choice Voting to run an election so I can’t vouch for them personally. If your school have used their service please get in touch as I would love to hear your views, whether positive or negative. I have not been paid to feature this company on Ask A Clerk.
How is the software installed?
The Choice Voting software runs in your web browser, it is not installed locally on your PC.
How is the election set up?
First the school signs up for an account and sets the basic details of the election such as the closing date and the number of vacancies to be filled. The candidate names are added, along with their election statements.
Next, details of eligible voters can be typed in one by one or you can import a comma separated values (CSV) file, which can be generated by Excel or another spreadsheet program. The importing process is explained here and a sample file is provided so you can see the headings you need in the spreadsheet.
There are two ways to register eligible voters. First, you can use their real names and email addresses. Second, if you do not wish to input these personal details you could instead assign a reference number to each voter and type that number in instead.
The advantage of the first option is that the software can send out invitations via email asking people to vote; the disadvantage is that you need an email address for every voter.
Schools can schedule a demo of the software where the company will talk you through the process.
How do people vote?
Once the election has been launched voters visit a web page to cast their vote. If they click the link in an email sent directly from Choice Voting they will be automatically logged in.
They will see the candidate names and statements and asked to choose their preferred candidate(s). The software prevents them from casting multiple votes.
Once the election has closed the school logs in to their account and the results are available to view, with the votes automatically counted by the software.
How much does it cost to run one election?
The price depends on how many voters are eligible to take part in the election (not the number of votes eventually cast), so in effect it will depend on the size of your school.
A calculator allows you to find the rough price for your school, but the company offer discounts specifically for school elections with over 400 voters so this is a rough guide only. (Remember that in parental governor elections the usual rule is one vote per parent per vacancy, not one vote per family.)
If you have 500 eligible parent voters, for example, the rough cost to run one election is £67.50. For 1000 voters it becomes £112.50. For 2000 voters the cost is around £202.50.
Schools can run unlimited elections for a fixed annual fee. You can also run elections with fewer than 20 voters for free in order to test the system.
Can the school see how someone voted?
No. The person with the Choice Voting login details sees the results of the election but could not look up, for example, how Mr Bob Smith voted as the votes are shown anonymously.
If voters have been added to the system using their real names and email addresses they are assigned a “voter key” and a “voter ID” to anonymise them. These are strings of number and letters, so a voter ID might look like this: JPQEUZVTKPQ6.
Does the DfE approve of this software?
I asked the Managing Director of Choice Voting, Jason Hawkins, to address this question and his reply is below.
“Whilst we haven’t had conversation with DfE directly, we work alongside an independent scrutineer organisation that is registered for parliamentary elections and House of Lords elections and we work closely together to ensure we meet the requirements of many organisations.
“We deal with political parties and trade unions as well as charities on a daily or weekly basis and have conducted many thousands of elections with these organisations.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
How does the software allow anonymous elections while blocking ineligible votes?
The technology behind the software is explained below.
“Ensuring that only eligible voters may take part in an election is a standard that would be expected from election-specific software. We have addressed this concern in multiple ways.
“Our voters may only vote once, and at the point of voting their voting rights are ‘locked in’ and ballots cannot be changed, therefore another person may not share or use existing login credentials. We have additional safeguards that mean the voters don’t actually know login credentials to share.
“Each voter is given a unique key and ID combination. This is then encrypted and paired to a certificate in our software. When voters receive an invitation to vote they will be presented with a “vote now” button. This button also has a key pair attached to it and a combination of checks ensure that this keychain has not been altered in anyway.
“Voting is anonymous. An election administrator will never know who made which selection during the submission of a ballot. An administrator will however have a real-time audit feature that allows them to see as live voting statistics on the performance of the election, including the ability to guide and help those that haven’t yet voted.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
Do schools need to hand over email addresses? What about GDPR?
If schools are planning to run the election using email addresses they must make sure that the parents or staff know their data will be used in this way (although that’s less of a problem if your staff use school email addresses of course). A data sharing agreement can also be used.
“There are a number of ways to look at this. Choice Voting can send out personalised invitation emails to all parents that inform them how to vote, what the vote is about and when the vote is available. It will use the key pairing described above.
“However, we do not ever insist that you add a parent’s email address, or a real name; it could be a reference number for example. The caveat here is that if you don’t include an email address then we are unable to send the notification to vote email. We do though provide you with the required information to enable you to send this using your own systems if required.
“We will request that you have informed and gained consent from parents to include them in the election. We do not use any voter or candidate data for marketing purposes, sell or re-use data or make use of any data for purposes other than informing a voter how to vote at the start of your elections.
“You may download an encrypted copy of your election, delete everything, and if you need to run a similar election in the future, upload the encrypted file and everything is put back in place in the same way you left it. We have data sharing agreements that we are happy to sign and share with schools where required.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
Jason Hawkins also told me that personal data is encrypted and once an election is over the school can delete specific data (eg: all voter data) or delete the election completely.
This is a guide to running staff governor elections in maintained schools, explaining who can stand for election and the procedures that should be followed when arranging a ballot.
Academies with elected staff trustees or staff local governors will need to check their articles and local terms of reference to see the rules, although procedures will often be very similar to those described here.
The Law On Staff Governor Elections
The relevant law for maintained schools is found in Schedule 2 of the Constitution Regulations (England) 2012. This very short Schedule only sets the following rules:
the “appropriate authority” must run the election
when the LA are the “appropriate authority” they can delegate this duty to the headteacher
there cannot be a minimum number of votes cast for a governor to be elected (so a staff member could be elected with just one vote)
all elections with more than one candidate must be held by ballot.
“Where a local authority are the appropriate authority in relation to a school, they may delegate to the head teacher of the school any of their functions under this Schedule.
“The appropriate authority must make all the necessary arrangements for the election of staff governors.
“The power conferred by paragraph 3 does not include power to impose any requirements as to the minimum number of votes required to be cast for a candidate to be elected.
“Any election which is contested must be held by ballot.”
The “appropriate authority” for staff elections – the organisation that must run the election – is the same authority as for parent elections. This means that in community, nursery and voluntary-controlled schools it is the LA. For voluntary-aided and foundation schools it is the governing body.
However, in community, nursery and VC schools it is common practice for LAs to delegate responsibility for the election to the headteacher. It is also usual for the governing body in VA and foundation schools to delegate responsibility to the head.
Therefore it is usually the headteacher who runs the election, with the help of the clerk and support staff.
Who can stand for election?
A separate article looks at who can be a staff governor in detail, but the short answer is that the person must be employed by either the governing body or the LA under a contract on the date of the election. Any member of staff who fits that description is eligible, not just teachers.
“In these Regulations “staff governor” means a person who—
(a) is elected in accordance with Schedule 2 as a governor by persons who are employed by either the governing body or the local authority under a contract of employment providing for those persons to work at the school, and
Can candidates vote for themselves? Who else can vote?
Candidates can vote for themselves and they can nominate themselves too. All school staff employed by the LA or governing body under a contract are eligible to vote.
Can the headteacher vote?
Yes and so can any other governors who are employed by the school or LA, for example co-opted governors.
What happens if only one candidate stands?
They are elected unopposed. The law says a ballot is only needed for a contested election. In an uncontested election no ballot is required.
What happens if no-one stands for staff governor?
The post remains vacant until a volunteer is found. Unlike the rules for parent governors, boards cannot appoint someone to the role of staff governor themselves if a volunteer cannot be found via election.
The school should keep reminding staff of the vacancy and make sure any new staff are aware of it too.
Can the ballot be held electronically?
The law does not explicitly say that staff elections can be electronic (although it does say that for parent governor elections). The “appropriate authority” (usually the head) will need to decide whether to approve virtual voting. The easiest voting method is probably to put a ballot box in the staffroom.
Sample Letters and Ballot Paper
Example letters and a ballot paper are available on my templates and letters page. This includes a letter to advertise the vacancy, a letter to thank volunteers for applying and a letter to inform staff of the result.
If the board is lacking expertise in a particular area their advert can mention “any specific skills or experience that would be desirable in a new governor”, according to statutory guidance to the Constitution Regulations 2012. However, they cannot set additional eligibility criteria.
Boards should clearly explain the role of governor and the duties in terms of number of meetings held each term, link governor roles and so on, but they must not imply someone without a particular skillset is not welcome to stand for election.
“The purpose of governing bodies providing and publishing information about the role of a governor and the skills they ideally require is not to create additional eligibility criteria for potential candidates – which they do not have the power to do.
“It is for the electorate to elect their choice of candidate(s). The purpose of publishing the information is to simply inform the electorate of the governing bodies’ expectations, circumstances and ideal requirements.”
The following is the procedure recommended by most LAs.
Email the advert and your LA governor application form to all staff and place an advert in the staffroom.
In the email ask candidates to provide a short personal statement (perhaps 200-250 words) saying why they wish to be a governor.
If you receive more than one application send a second email that includes the candidate’s personal statements and an attached ballot paper.
Place a ballot box in the staff room with a supply of envelopes and use the “double envelope” system. Each voter ticks a box on the ballot paper and places their ballot in a blank envelope which they seal. This is placed inside a second envelope, on which they write their name.
Each staff member can vote for one candidate only.
The returning officer (usually the headteacher or the clerk) checks the names against a list to ensure each person is an eligible voter, throws the outside envelope away and the vote is then anonymous.
The returning officer counts the votes. Candidates should be invited to attend the count.
Ballot papers and other documents should be kept for a minimum of six months.
What is the timescale?
If your LA does not set a timescale for staff elections (my own does not) then whoever is running the election needs to set it. It might be reasonable to give staff say 10 to 14 working days to volunteer as a candidate and then another 10 to 14 working days for staff to vote.
Set deadlines with both a day and time specified, eg: “Votes must be cast by 3pm on 30 June 2021.” Late votes should not be accepted.
What happens if the vote is tied?
Recount the votes to check the number. If there is a definite tie local authorities usually recommend a random method of breaking the deadlock, for example drawing lots from a hat or tossing a coin. Alternatively one or more candidates could choose to withdraw.
Can an existing staff governor be re-elected?
Yes. As long as they are still employed by the school on the election date, they are eligible to stand for election again. However, note that they do have to be re-elected, so they must either win the election or be the only candidate and win unopposed.
For any elected role the board cannot simply vote to renew their term of office because that prevents other candidates from standing for office.
When does the term of office start?
The term of office starts from the date of election (the final day that votes could be cast). If no election was held the term starts from the deadline set for receiving applications.
If you held the election early and the old staff governor is still in post, the new governor’s term starts as soon as the old governor “expires”.
Default terms of office for staff governors are the standard four years but boards can impose any term between one and four years.
This is a step-by-step guide to holding parent governor elections electronically. I have described two methods, both of which allow you to collect votes anonymously online.
It is also possible to pay a company to help you hold online elections and I had a look at Choice Voting software in a separate post.
These methods could also be used for staff governor elections, but I’ve described the parent governor election process here as it is more involved.
Is it legal to hold elections online?
In maintained schools the law says parents may be given an opportunity to vote for parent governors by “electronic means”. It does not give explicit permission for staff governor votes to be electronic, but says that all rules for both parent and staff governor elections are set by the “appropriate authority”.
“The appropriate authority must make all the necessary arrangements for the election of parent governors. The arrangements made may provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by electronic means.”
The “appropriate authority” is either the local authority (LA) or the governing body itself, depending on the type of school, so check what they allow in your school before the election is held. (You can find out who your appropriate authority is in a separate article on holding parent governor elections.) The two methods on this page have been recommended by Hampshire County Council.
In academies all rules for parent and staff trustee elections are set by your own academy trust, so check with the trust to see if online voting is permitted.
Must we offer paper ballots too?
Yes; online voting should never be the sole voting method you offer. Maintained schools must by law offer paper ballots in all parent governor elections.
“The arrangements made must provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by post. ‘Post’ includes delivery by hand.”
Model articles for academies (2021) do not state that paper ballots must be offered but it is wise to provide them, whatever your own articles say, because some parents may not have internet access or be confident using technology.
Method 1: Voting by email attachment
This is the easiest method as the school simply emails all parents a copy of the ballot paper as an attachment and asks parents to return it as an attachment too.
You need an email address for all eligible parents but it’s not a problem if partners share an address because you ask all voters to type their full name in the body of their reply email. The school can then check their eligibility before saving each ballot separately and anonymously. Votes are then counted by hand.
The method is similar to the double envelope system used for paper ballots because votes and names can be separated before the count.
An example ballot paper is available on my templates and letters page as part of a pack of documents to use in a parent governor election. The pack also includes a vacancy letter, nomination form, “thank you for applying” letter and an election results letter.
If you send the ballot as a Word file most parents will be able to edit it, save it and email it back directly. You could also send a pdf so parents can print the form, complete it by hand and then scan it if they are more comfortable with that method.
It’s a good idea to set up a specific email address to receive ballots so that one staff member is not over-run with ballot returns. You will probably receive one or two votes in the body of the email rather than as an attachment, so the appropriate authority will need to decide whether to accept these.
Method 2: Voting using random numbers and mail merge
This system is more complicated to set up but it allows you to send the form via either email or paper letter. You can also save both the mail merge email/letter and the online voting form to use in future elections.
Parents vote through a web page and votes are counted automatically. You will need access to Microsoft Excel and Outlook and a Google account.
There are three basic steps.
Assign a random voter number to each parent using Excel.
Set up an online ballot using Google Forms.
Send details of the ballot using mail merge in Word. This contains the parent’s voter number and a link to the online voting form. The mail merge can be sent via email or paper letter.
Assign voter numbers in Excel
Start with an Excel spreadsheet with two columns, one that shows the “Parent Name” and one for either “Parent Email Address” or “Parent Home Address”, depending on whether you wish to email parents or send them a letter. List all eligible parents in separate rows, even if partners share an address.
Call the third column “Random Number”. We will assign a random number to each parent to anonymise them. Click on the final cell at the base of the third column. Then copy and paste the following formula into the formula bar (the long box at the top) and press return.
=RANDBETWEEN(100000,999999)
Click on that same final cell again and hold shift while pressing the up arrow to select that entire third column. Click on “Fill” in the top right of the screen, then choose “Up”. Excel will assign a random number to every parent.
(This formula assigns a random number between 100,000 and 999,999, but you can change these numbers if you wish – just edit the two numbers in the formula.)
Click on column D and call it “Voter number”. Click on the first cell in column C (Random Number) and hold shift and the down arrow until all rows in the column are selected. Press control-C to copy them.
Click on the “D” label at the top of column D so the whole column is selected. Right-click and choose “Paste special” and then “Values”.
Click on the “C” label at the top of column C and choose “Delete”. The whole column will be deleted, leaving just the names, addresses and anonymised voter numbers. Save your spreadsheet.
(To explain what we have just done and why – when Excel assigns random numbers it changes them as you work and we want the numbers to be fixed. By copying and pasting the numbers as “Values” we only paste the result of the formula, the six-digit number itself, not the original formula. This means Excel stops changing the numbers as the formula is no longer being applied.)
Making the ballot in Google Forms
Go to Google Forms and log in with a Google account. Click on the template called “Customer Feedback”. Google will automatically save your changes as you go along.
Click on the “Customer Feedback” title and change it to “Parent Governor Election At Malory Towers School”.
Click where it says “We would love to hear your thoughts” and add text to explain that you are holding an election and all parents are eligible to vote. Also explain how many vacancies there are (with one vote per parent per vacancy) and state the deadline for votes. Then enter the election statements from each candidate.
Click on “Feedback Type” and type in “Your Vote”. Then click to the right of the multiple choice circles to type in the names of your candidates. If there are more choices than candidates click on the cross on the right to delete extra lines. If you need to add more candidates click on “Add Option”.
If you have more than one vacancy change this section to a checkbox question instead of multiple choice. Click on “Multiple Choice” and choose “Checkboxes” from the dropdown menu. This allows parents to vote for two or more candidates at once. If you do use checkboxes click the three dots on the bottom right and choose “Response Validation”. You can then stipulate that all parents choose exactly two candidates, or three, or however many vacancies you have.
On the bottom right of the page there is a button labelled “Required”. Make sure this is toggled to the right so that voters must fill in this section.
We don’t need the next two sections, labelled “Feedback” and “Suggestions For Improvement”. Click on these sections and click the rubbish bin icon to delete them.
The next section is labelled “Name”. Change that to read “Voter Number” so we can collect the random numbers we assigned to parents in Excel. Make sure the “Required” toggle on the right is switched on.
Click on the three dots on the bottom right and choose “Response Validation”. On the left choose “Number” so parents can only enter a number in this box. You can also specify that the number must be between 100,000 and 999,999 (but enter the numbers without commas as 100000 and 999999).
At the very top right of the page click on the icon that looks like a paint palette to customize the theme. To change the picture at the top of the form click on “Choose Image” and either use one of the pictures provided or click on “Upload” to use your school logo or banner. You can also change the font and colours here.
Click on the “Customer Feedback” title in the very top left of the page and change it to “Parent Governor Election At Malory Towers School”. Click on “Preview” in the top right (the eye symbol) to check everything looks OK.
Click on the gear symbol in the top right. Click on “Presentation” and change the confirmation message so that it says “Thank you for voting in the Malory Towers parent governor election, your vote has been successfully received.”
Still in the gear symbol settings, make sure that in the General section “Edit after submit” is not ticked. This ensures parents cannot change their vote after submitting it.
There is a setting here that says “Limit to 1 response”. This sounds good in theory but if you tick this box parents can only vote if they log in with a Google account. Leave it unticked. You can check that parents only vote once later because you are collecting the voter numbers.
If you would like to use this same form for any paper ballots you need to issue click on the three dots in the top right of the screen and choose “Print”.
Sharing the voting form
We need to find the web address of the form to use in our mail merge. Click on the big blue “Send” button in the top right and look for the “Send Via” section.
Click on the curved symbol with a line in it to get the web address. If you click on “Shorten URL” Google will give you a shortened version of the address.
Enter the web address you have just been given into a browser to check it works. You will need this web address for the mail merge we will make in the next section.
Sending the online voting form using mail merge
Open Microsoft Word. The next steps vary depending on whether you wish to send the online ballot to parents via paper letters or via email.
To print paper letters
Click on “Mailings” and “Start Mail Merge”. Click on “Letters”. Click on “Select Recipients” and “Use An Existing List” to choose the Excel spreadsheet you saved earlier.
Type a letter to parents in the main body of the Word document explaining the upcoming election. Include the statements from each candidate. Include the web address for your online ballot. An example letter is shown below.
Click on “Insert Merge Field” and choose “Parent Name” to automatically insert the names.
Click on “Insert Merge Field” and choose “Voter Number” to insert the voter numbers. Click on “Insert Merge Field” and choose “Parent Address” to insert the home addresses.
Click on “Preview Results” to check everything looks OK. Choose “File” and then “Save” to save your letter to use again in a future election.
Click “Finish and Merge” and choose “Print Documents” to print the letters out.
To send emails
Click on “Mailings” and “Start Mail Merge”. Choose “Email Messages” and then “Select Recipients”. Choose “Use An Existing List” and choose the Excel spreadsheet you saved earlier.
Type a letter to parents in the main body of the Word document explaining the upcoming election. Include the statements from each candidate. Include the web address for your online ballot. An example letter is shown below.
Click on “Insert Merge Field” and choose “Parent Name” to automatically insert the names at the top of the letter.
Click on “Insert Merge Field” and choose “Voter Number” to automatically insert the voter numbers into the letter.
Click on “Preview Results” to check everything looks good. Click on “File – Save” to save the mail merge so you can use it again for a future election.
Click on “Finish and Merge” and “Send Email Messages”. In the “To” box choose the email addresses column from your spreadsheet. Type in a subject line for the email, eg: “Parent Governor Election” and choose html for the mail format. Make sure to select “All” in the send records section.
Click “OK” and the mail merge will begin, with sent messages appearing in the sent folder of Outlook.
Your mail server may limit the number of emails you can send per day, often 500 or 1,000 people in total. Your mail server is usually provided by whoever provides your email address (eg: Google Gmail, Microsoft Outlook) so check their website for the current limits.
Depending on this limit you may need to split your Excel spreadsheet into batches of 500 or 1,000, but only do this once you have assigned all the random numbers. Use the standard cut, copy and paste commands to transfer 500 rows into separate spreadsheets and do a separate mail merge for each one.
Example Letter/Email to Parents
Dear Parent Name [Use “Insert Merge Field” to add names],
There is one parent governor vacancy to be filled at Malory Towers School. Here are the instructions for the election.
Each parent must vote separately.
Each parent is entitled to one vote only. [Or one vote per vacancy if you have more than one vacancy.]
Please enter your vote on the ballot form [insert the web address for your Google Form]. You will be required to enter your unique Voter Number which is [Use “Insert Merge Field” to add the voter number].
Any forms without a valid voter number will be discarded.
Here are the candidates’ election statements. [Include their statements].
The deadline for the election is Tuesday 23 November at 5pm. No votes received after this deadline will be counted.
Viewing the votes
Go to your Google Form. At the top middle of the page click on “Responses” to see the votes.
Once the voting deadline has been reached look for “Accepting Responses” in the top right. Toggle this switch so it turns off. No more votes can be cast.
Click on the three dots in the top right to download all responses to Excel or print all responses. The image below shows the simple Excel document that can be downloaded.
Checking voter eligibility
Once the election deadline has passed you need to check the eligibility of the votes. If you have a fairly small number of votes simply check the numbers manually by comparing the spreadsheet from Google Forms to your Excel file of voter numbers. Sort the columns into number order before you start to make it easier.
If you have many hundreds of votes you can use Excel to highlight any invalid ones. Open the spreadsheet you downloaded from Google Forms and select and copy the whole column of voter numbers.
Open your original Excel spreadsheet and paste this column to the right of the original “Voter Number” column. Highlight both these columns. Click on “Conditional Formating” and “Highlight Cells Rules” and then “Duplicate Values”.
From the dropdown box choose “Unique” and press “OK”. Any unique numbers (numbers that do not appear in both columns) will be highlighted in red in the farthest right column.
If the number is unique it means it was not assigned to a parent so you should delete that vote. (Numbers will also be highlighted red in the third column, but that just means those parents chose not to vote.)
Finally, press control-Z to remove the red highlights and then select only the farthest right column. Click on “Conditional Formating” and “Highlight Cells Rules” and then “Duplicate Values”. Choose “Duplicate” in the dropdown box and press “OK.”
This time any double votes will be highlighted, so you can discard any votes from parents who have used their voter number twice.
Once you have deleted any invalid or double votes simply check the election result in Google Forms and congratulate your new parent governor!
A note about survey software
If you wish to hold an election that is both a) anonymous and b) capable of automatically blocking ineligible or double votes, Google Forms can only do that if you force everyone to log in with a Google account. Microsoft Forms has an even stricter rule in that you can only prevent multiple responses if the voters are all from your school’s own Microsoft account.
Anonymous elections that guarantee single responses from eligible voters can be set up using paid software. In a separate post I describe how Choice Voting help schools to run online elections.
Another option is Survey Monkey. The cheapest plan Survey Monkey offer is called the Flex plan which is £19 per month, but billed monthly so you cancel after one or two months. If you want a longer-term plan they offer discounts for schools. There is a free option but it only lets you see 40 votes.
If you use Survey Monkey to send a voting form directly to a parent’s email address, you can automatically block that parent from voting twice. If you share the form via a web address Survey Money can try to block responses but this function relies on cookies, so if the parent clears their cookies or uses their Ipad instead of their laptop they can vote twice. More information is here.
The disadvantage of relying completely on software is that if a parent asks you to prove the election was secure you cannot explain your anonymisation process or show how you checked the votes, because you relied completely on the software to do this automatically.
Basic rules for conducting parent governor elections in maintained schools are set out by law, with local authorities (LAs) offering further guidance. Academy election processes are set by each academy trust.
This page explains the law for maintained schools and suggests a procedure for holding elections based on common recommendations from local authorities.
Maintained schools must follow the legal rules and should follow the LA guidance as good practice. Academies must follow the rules set by their own trust but may wish to follow the processes explained here as good practice.
Parent Governor Election Pack
I strongly recommend asking your LA whether they produce guidance on parent governor elections, because if a parent complains you can show you followed your own LA’s guidance.
However, if your own LA doesn’t provide guidance this pack from Southampton LA is aimed at maintained schools and contains a vacancy letter, nomination form, ballot paper, “thank you for applying” letter and an election results letter.
Schedule 1 of the Constitution Regulations 2012 sets out the basic rules for holding parent governor elections in maintained schools.
Who organises the election?
The responsibility for organising the election lies with either the LA or the governing body, depending on the type of school.
However, in practice both the LA and the governing body usually delegate responsibility for organising the election to the headteacher, who will ask the clerk and/or office staff to arrange it.
“The appropriate authority must make all the necessary arrangements for the election of parent governors.
““Appropriate authority” means—
(a) in relation to a community school, a community special school, a maintained nursery school or a voluntary controlled school, the local authority; and
(b) in relation to a voluntary aided school, foundation school or foundation special school, the governing body.”
You only need to hold a vote if there are more candidates than vacancies. If for example there are two candidates and two vacancies, both candidates are elected unopposed.
If you have more candidates than vacancies, for example two volunteers for one vacancy, you need to hold a vote.
“Any election which is contested must be held by ballot.”
Yes, as long as it is permitted by your “appropriate authority”. I have written a complete, step-by-step guide to holding online governor elections.
The law says schools may offer an opportunity to vote by “electronic means”. However this cannot be the only form of voting offered so a completely online or virtual vote is not permitted; postal votes must still be available.
A vote by “post” can include delivery by hand; for example, a parent dropping off a vote in reception or voting by pupil post.
“The arrangements must provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by post. “Post” includes delivery by hand.
“The arrangements may provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by electronic means.”
You need to tell all parents they can stand for election and vote. The law says you must take steps that are “reasonably practicable” to make sure all parents are aware of the election.
Mentioning the vacancy on your website alone would not meet this standard, but sending out letters plus a notice on your website probably would.
“Where a vacancy for a parent governor arises, the appropriate authority must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that every person who is known to them to be a parent of a registered pupil at the school, and where the school is a maintained nursery school, a parent of a child for whom educational or other provision is made on the premises of the school is—
(a) informed of the vacancy and that it is required to be filled by election;
(b) informed that the person is entitled to stand as a candidate and vote in the election; and
The law defines a parent as not just those with legal parental responsibility but also anyone who cares for a child. We’ll look at this more below.
““Parent” includes any individual who has or has had parental responsibility for, or cares or has cared for, a child or young person under the age of 19.”
The law quoted above defines a parent as anyone who has or has had parental responsibility plus anyone who cares or who has cared for a child, not just people who have legal parental responsibility.
My LA explains that generally anyone who has day-to-day responsibility for a child qualifies to stand for election and vote.
It’s not relevant whether parents are married or not, whether they live separately or not or whether someone is a step-parent, grandparent or foster parent. It’s not relevant whether someone is the biological or “natural” parent or not.
As long as someone cares for the child on a day-to-day basis and that child is registered at the school when the election is held they can participate. This is covered further in the article who can be a parent governor.
Do parents have one vote per family?
No! I’ve heard this myth a few times, but the law is clear. Every person who is a registered parent has a vote, not every family that has one or more parents within it.
The rule is one vote per parent per vacancy. So every parent can vote once for each vacancy that is open.
For example, if Bob and Sally have a child at your school and you have one parent governor vacancy, Bob can vote for one candidate and Sally can vote for one candidate.
If you have three parent governor vacancies then Bob can vote for three candidates and Sally can vote for three candidates.
What are the timescales for election?
Timescales are not set in stone but most LAs recommend the procedures described below.
Send out the letter asking for nominations, explaining the governor role, explaining that all governors need DBS checks and listing the general disqualification criteria that apply to all types of governor.
You can also post a message on your website or send a text/email but make sure this is not the only method you use as it may exclude parents who do not use technology or have internet access.
You should also explain the two specific disqualifications for maintained school parent governors: you cannot be elected as a parent governor if (on the date of the election) you work at the school for more than 500 hours per year or are an elected member of the local authority. (You can vote in the election though.)
Candidates should be asked to write a short statement setting out why they are volunteering and what skills they can offer. This election statement will help other parents decide how to cast their vote.
Set the closing date for nominations as at least six school days later (this gives parents the chance to nominate someone over a weekend). Some LAs recommend a minimum of 10 school days.
Check to see if your LA recommends delaying the election if a school holiday is coming up. For example, my LA recommends that if a vacancy arises near the end of the summer term the election should be delayed until the beginning of the autumn term.
If there are fewer candidates than vacancies there is no need to hold a ballot as the candidate(s) is elected unopposed.
If the election is contested send out the ballot form as soon as possible with a deadline of at least six school days (some LAs recommend 10 school days) for votes to be received. Any late ballots are invalid.
Include two envelopes with every ballot; this is called the “double envelope” system. The voter seals their ballot in one unmarked envelope and then seals that envelope in the second envelope, writing their name and “Parent governor election” on the outside envelope.
This lets the school check that the person is entitled to vote, remove the outside envelope and leave the ballot paper anonymous.
When voting the rule is one vote per parent per vacancy. (The rule is not one vote per family per vacancy.)
Candidates have the right to attend the count. (I assume this rule comes from regulations that cover elections to public office as it does not appear in governor law.) The headteacher or clerk can act as the returning officer and count the votes.
What should we write in the letter to parents?
Statutory guidance explains what schools should write in the letter asking for volunteers. This includes information on the role of the governing body, the expectations you have in terms of how many meetings you hold and the time commitment, plus the skills that may be useful as a governor.
“The best governing bodies set out clearly in published recruitment literature:
• the core functions of the governing body and the role of a governor, and the induction and other training and development that will be available to new governors to help them fulfil it;
• the expectations they have of governors for example in relation to the term of office, the frequency of meetings, membership of committees and the willingness to undertake appropriate training and development; and
• any specific skills or experience that would be desirable in a new governor, such as the willingness to learn or skills that would help the governing body improve its effectiveness and address any specific challenges it may be facing.”
Be careful when writing the letter that you do not imply there are any qualifications or experience needed to be eligible. All parents are eligible if they meet the basic standards that apply to all governors; for example, that they have not been banned from working with children.
Your school may wish to find someone with financial skills or a background in education and you are free to mention this, but you cannot create any eligibility criteria just because you would prefer someone with certain expertise. This is explained in statutory guidance.
“The purpose of governing bodies providing and publishing information about the role of a governor and the skills they ideally require is not to create additional eligibility criteria for potential candidates – which they do not have the power to do.
“It is for the electorate to elect their choice of candidate(s). The purpose of publishing the information is to simply inform the electorate of the governing bodies’ expectations, circumstances and ideal requirements.”
No, although I have seen guidance from some LAs that requires one parent to “propose” someone as a candidate and a different parent to “second” that proposal.
If your LA or trust requires this I would challenge them to explain why they think it is a reasonable requirement and the effect it might have on volunteers.
For example, if Bob’s children joined your school last week because he moved to the area he may not be able to find two parents to sign a form supporting his candidature as they’ve literally only just met him. However, he still has the right to stand for election and could well be an excellent candidate.
(You could argue that if he’s brand new to the area he will never get elected, but in many schools he would be the only candidate and would therefore be elected unopposed.)
Can candidates vote for themselves?
Yes, although this is rather a moot point as each candidate would presumably vote for themselves and the votes would cancel each other out.
Can a parent vote for their own husband, wife or partner?
Yes – a parent can vote for any candidate. Ballot papers should be anonymous so you would not be able to identify who a particular parent voted for even if you wanted to!
Can a current parent governor vote?
Yes. A current parent governor or trustee has the same right to vote as any other parent. It’s not a conflict of interest because the conflict of interest rules only apply to votes held at governing body meetings.
Can the governing body reject an elected parent governor they think is unsuitable?
The most they can do is ask for specific skills they are looking for when advertising the vacancy, but if a parent does not have these skills they are still eligible to stand for election.
If the board believes an elected parent is totally unsuitable it is possible to remove elected parent governors in maintained schools, but the DfE advise in statutory guidance that elected governors should only be removed in “exceptional circumstances”.
“Governing bodies are expected only to exercise the power to remove an elected governor in exceptional circumstances where the actions or behaviour of the elected governor warrants removal rather than suspension.”
In academies the trustees or members do not usually have the power to stop someone from being elected as a parent trustee.
The only exception to this that I am aware of is that a Catholic academy trust may have the power to “appoint the elected candidate at their discretion” as this power is contained in model articles for Catholic trusts.
If an elected parent trustee is considered totally unsuitable once they have joined the board the academy members do have the power to remove them.
I have seen terms of reference for local governors in multi-academy trusts that give the trust some degree of power to reject elected local parent governor candidates.
To my knowledge this is not a common practice, but check your own terms of reference for local governing bodies to make sure you are aware of the rules in your trust.
Parent local governors who are considered totally unsuitable once they have joined the local governing body can be removed by the board of trustees, because local governing bodies are committees of the main trust board and are always under the control of the trustees.
Can candidates canvass for votes?
Yes, there are no rules against canvassing (asking people to vote for you) or campaigning for votes. Candidates shouldn’t make unrealistic promises about what one governor can achieve but they can explain the skills and experience they can bring to the role.
Can a school employee vote if their child attends the school?
Yes. If a school employee also happens to be the parent of a child at the same school they are still eligible to vote in parent governor elections.
Can a couple both stand for election?
Yes, both halves of a couple can be candidates. So for example a husband and wife could both stand for the same vacant parent governor position, although for the sake of marital harmony they might decide not to…
How long should a parent governor statement be?
There is no set length but a statement of between 250 and 500 words would be reasonable. A shorter statement will not provide enough information and a longer one may not be read by the voters, especially if there are many different candidates.
Statutory guidance says that statements should be of “sufficient length” to include all of the information listed below. A separate article covers what you should write in a parent governor statement and includes some example statements of different lengths.
“Well run elections use secure and reliable voting systems and offer candidates the opportunity to publish a statement of sufficient length to set out:
• evidence of the extent to which they possess the skills and experience the governing body desires;
• their commitment to undertake training and development to acquire or develop the skills to be an effective governor;
• if seeking re-election, details of their contribution to the work of the governing body during their previous term of office; and
• how they plan to contribute to the future work of the governing body.”
Recount the votes first to check the result. If it is definitely a tie then local authorities recommend using a simple, random method like asking the candidates to toss a coin or draw lots.
Should we publish the number of votes received for each candidate?
You can do and I have seen the numbers published occasionally on school websites, but I would advise publishing only the name of the winning candidate. This will spare candidates embarrassment if they have received zero votes!
However, if anyone specifically asks to see the number of votes each candidate received I would release that information. The most likely person to ask for the numbers is a losing candidate, who should have been invited to the vote count anyway and would therefore be privy to the vote numbers.
If the request comes from someone who was not running in the election and you refuse they could submit a freedom of information request. Under the FOI rules I highly doubt that schools would be allowed to withhold the number of votes cast for each person because governors are being elected to public office.
Can we throw away ballot papers after the vote?
It’s recommended that ballot papers are kept for at least six months after the vote in case the result is challenged.
Every school must elect a chair and vice-chair to lead the board.
There are few rules covering how to do this, but many maintained schools hold annual elections and current model articles for academies (June 2021) refer to elections in “each school year”.
This page explains the procedure to follow when electing a new chair. The procedure is the same whether the term of office for the current chair has expired or a previous chair has resigned.
Associate members cannot be candidates as they are not governors themselves.
Before the election is held the governing body must agree the date on which the chair or vice-chair’s term of office will end. There are no restrictions on the length of term you can use.
Candidates must not be employed by the school. This includes any member of staff, not just teachers.
A candidate can be any type of governor as long as they are not a school employee, so the chair of governors can be a parent governor, co-opted governor, local authority governor, partnership governor or foundation governor as long as they don’t work for the school.
When a vacancy for chair or vice-chair arises governors must elect a governor to the role at their next full board meeting.
Candidates mustleave the room during the election and cannot vote. This is because they are considered to have a conflict of interest under the regulations. It also lets governors discuss potential candidates freely.
“The governing body must elect a chair and a vice-chair from among their number.
“Prior to the election of the chair and vice-chair, the governing body must determine the date on which the term of office of the chair and vice-chair will end.
“A governor who is employed at the school as a teacher or as any other member of the school’s staff is not eligible to be chair or vice-chair of the governing body of that school.
“Where a vacancy arises in the office of the chair or vice-chair, the governing body must elect one of their number to fill that vacancy at their next meeting.
“Where a relevant person is present at a meeting of the governing body at which a subject of consideration is their own appointment as chair or vice-chair of the governing body the relevant person’s interests will be treated for the purpose of regulation 16(b) as being in conflict with the governing body’s interests.”
[Paragraph 16(b) states that when someone has a conflict of interest that person must withdraw from the meeting and not vote.]
Academies will need to check their own articles but the only restrictions in the model articles of association (June 2021) are that the election of the chair and vice-chair of trustees must happen every school year and academy trust employees are not eligible. It is up to each trust to decide on further procedure.
“The trustees shall each school year elect a chair and a vice-chair from among their number. A trustee who is employed by the academy trust shall not be eligible for election as chair or vice-chair.”
Rules for electing the chair of a local governing body will be decided by your own academy trust.
Who chairs a meeting of academy members?
Check your articles of association to see who chairs meetings of academy trust members, which are known as general meetings or annual general meetings (AGMs).
The current model articles (June 2021) say that members should elect a chair at the meeting by “ordinary resolution”. This means a majority vote, where more members vote in favour than against. (A “special resolution” would need 75% of members to vote in favour.)
“The members present and entitled to vote at the meeting shall elect by ordinary resolution one of their number to be the chair and such election shall be binding on all members and trustees present at the meeting.”
However, if your trust is using an older version of the articles they may say that the chair of trustees also chairs meetings of members. This is not considered good practice these days because it does not provide enough separation between the trustees and the members, but you do need to follow the articles if that is what they state.
Must we elect the chair in September?
No. An old law for maintained schools used to require elections in the first meeting of the school year, but this rule does not exist in the current law.
Model articles for academies (June 2021) do not contain this rule either, but as always in academies check your own articles to see the rules for your own trust board (or terms of reference if you’re electing the chair for a local governing body).
Can we elect a chair in their absence?
Yes, a candidate can be elected as chair even if they are not present for the election unless you have standing orders (maintained schools) or articles of association/terms of reference (academies) that specifically forbid this.
This is known as an election “in absentia” and it is sensible to allow it. The main consideration is whether the candidate’s overall attendance rate is good, not whether they are able to attend one specific meeting.
If you know in advance that a candidate will be absent you could ask them to submit a short written statement to the board to state why they will make a good chair.
Can governors vote if they are not at the meeting?
No. The usual voting rules for governor meetings apply, so voting in advance or by proxy is not permitted. You must be present at the meeting either physically or virtually to vote.
Can a governor self-nominate?
Yes. There are no set rules as to whether a governor or trustee has to be nominated by someone else or can self-nominate, so it is up to your board or academy trust whether to accept self-nominations.
Most schools will allow self-nominations, but it’s not an important question because if the governor cannot find even one person to support their candidacy they will never be elected!
Must faith schools have a chair who shares that faith?
In maintained schools the law does not insist that the chair of a faith school practises any particular faith. Legally the chair of a catholic school does not have to be a practising catholic, for example, or the chair of a Church of England school C of E.
However, the local diocese or linked religious body may recommend that the chair is always a foundation governor. If schools follow this recommendation the chair will usually share the religious beliefs of the school because the diocese will usually appoint foundation governors who are practising members of their religion.
(I have only seen this recommendation in guidance for voluntary-aided (VA) schools, where the foundation governors must outnumber the other governors by two.)
Here’s the recommendation from one catholic diocese which says the “Bishop wishes” the chair of any maintained catholic school or academy to be a foundation governor.
“In this diocese the Bishop wishes that in the case of all voluntary aided schools and academies the position of chair of the governing body or local governing committee be held by a foundation governor.”
In academies you will need to check your articles of association as well as any guidance from your local diocese. Current model articles for Church of England academies allow the chair to be any trustee who is not an academy employee.
However, current model articles for catholic academies say the chair must be a “foundation director”, in other words a person appointed by the bishop or religious superior. (Some academies call their trustees “directors” but the role is the same – these are the people on the main academy trust board.)
“The directors shall each school year elect a chairman and a vice-chairman from among the foundation directors. A director who is employed by the company shall not be eligible for election as chairman or vice-chairman.”
Yes, as long as your school or academy trust has not forbidden this; check any standing orders, terms of reference or articles of association to make sure.
Decide before the meeting how you are going to handle the election – here are some ideas for holding virtual elections.
Ask the host of a Zoom meeting to place candidates for chair in the “waiting room” while governors discuss the candidates and vote.
Governors cannot vote by email but they could email or text their choice of candidate to the clerk and then verbally confirm their choice at the meeting.
Be careful with “private” chat functions built in to online meeting services as they may be viewable by the host and can also be viewable as a transcript at the end of the meeting.
If you want a very low-tech solution simply ask the candidates to log in to the meeting 15 minutes after the start time and hold the election before their arrival.
If governors feel they do not need to discuss the candidates at all then another low-tech solution would be to ask governors to turn their back to their computers and raise their hands to vote, with votes counted by the clerk. If there is only one candidate governors may feel that they do not even need to turn around and may be happy voting verbally.
Electing Committee Chairs In Maintained Schools
Maintained schools must elect committee chairs annually. There are no restrictions on who can stand for committee chair, so school staff members are eligible in theory, as are associate members.
However, schools should be careful that any committee chairs who are also school employees are not “marking their own homework” or coming up against conflicts of interest.
The law for maintained schools says that committee chairs can either be appointed by the full governing body or elected by that specific committee. Common practice is for the committee to elect its own chair, although the governing body still retains power to remove any elected committee chair.
“A chair must be appointed annually to each committee by the governing body or elected by the committee, as determined by the governing body.
“The governing body may remove the chair to any committee from office at any time.”
Note that the above law only refers to committee chairs, not vice-chairs. There is no requirement for maintained school committees to have vice-chairs, although many do so they know who will deputise for the committee chair. It would be reasonable to choose a committee vice-chair in the same way that you choose the committee chair.
In strict legal terms the headteacher is eligible to be a committee chair but this would be a very bad idea. Committees are just sub-groups of the full board and one of the main functions of the full board is to hold the headteacher to account.
Opinions differ as to whether it is good practice for the overall chair of governors to chair committees, but if possible it’s probably best avoided so the workload is shared and another governor gains chairing experience.
If an associate member is committee chair bear in mind that the full governing body can choose to restrict their voting rights and associate members never contribute to the quorum.
You also cannot hold a vote at a committee if the majority of committee members present are not governors. A final point to consider is that associate members do not have the right to a casting vote if a vote is tied.
“An associate member has such voting rights in a committee to which that person is appointed as are determined by the governing body.
“No vote on any matter may be taken at any meeting of a committee unless the majority of members of the committee present are governors.
“Where there is an equal division of votes the person who is acting as chair for the purposes of the meeting will have a second or casting vote, provided that such person is a governor.”
Rules for academy committee chairs and vice-chairs are set by each academy trust, so check the terms of reference for that committee. Advice from the DfE is that academy employees should not chair committees.
“No employees are permitted to serve as chair or vice-chair of the trust board and should not chair a committee.”
The Academy Trust Handbook places some restrictions on specific committee chairs:
the audit and risk committee cannot be chaired by an academy trust employee, because no employees should be members of that committee
the overall chair of trustees should not chair the audit and risk committee
if the trust has a finance committee that is separate from the audit and risk committee, they should have two separate chairs.
“Employees of the trust should not be audit and risk committee members. The chair of trustees should not be chair of the audit and risk committee. Where the finance committee and audit and risk committee are separate, the chair should not be the same.”
Suggestions in this section are not required but you may find them useful to ensure a clear election procedure.
List the election as an agenda item. The clerk can either ask for nominations in advance by email or at the meeting itself.
If there is more than one nomination give candidates a few minutes to set out their plan for the school and why they would make a good chair. Warn candidates in advance that they might have to do this!
Cast votes using a written ballot, with votes counted by the clerk. Maintained school law from 1999 used to insist that “any election of the chairman or vice-chairman which is contested shall be held by secret ballot”. This law has been revoked but it is still best practice as it allows governors to vote anonymously and freely.
Set a term of office of one or two years for maintained school chairs. Any term shorter than this will not give the chair enough time to have an impact. A longer term may discourage governors from standing for election.
What happens if only one governor stands for chair?
Neither the law nor model articles say what should happen in this situation and I’ve seen differing views, either that the chair is elected unopposed or that governors should vote in favour or against your one candidate.
The National Governance Association (NGA) recommends that a vote is always held, even if there is only one candidate, saying that the board can vote against all candidates if it chooses and ask for new volunteers to come forward. (Their full advice is here but is only available to members of the NGA.)
“A vote by secret ballot will be held, even if there is only one nomination.
“The governors may reject all nominees for chair if they choose. If no candidate has the support of the majority of the governing body, another candidate will be sought from the floor.”
In practice this is rather a moot point because the governing body of any state-funded school has the power to remove the chair at any time so you will never be stuck with an unwanted chair.
The governing body of a maintained school also has the power to set any term of office for the chair, so if you wanted to get silly about it and you only had one (unwanted) candidate, governors could give them a very short term of office.
I suspect the most common practice when boards only have one candidate for chair is for that candidate to be considered elected unopposed and no vote to take place.
However, if you follow the NGA advice and always hold a vote, even when you only have one candidate, you might just find that it saves you one year from electing someone who will really struggle in the role – for example, a brand new governor who is very keen but has no experience of governance at all.
What happens if no-one stands for chair?
Both the law for maintained schools and model articles for academies say that boards must elect a chair at their next meeting if the role is vacant, but of course that doesn’t help you if no-one at all is willing to stand for election.
In the short term the vice-chair can chair the meetings. In maintained schools the vice-chair also acts as chair “for all purposes” if there is no overall chair so has the power to use chair’s action in emergencies. (Some academies may also have chair’s action; check your articles for details.)
It is possible to elect a joint chair of governors or trustees, sharing the role between two people. Boards could consider joint vice-chairs too. Volunteers may come forward if they can share the workload and responsibility rather than take it all on themselves.
Church schools and academies should contact their diocese or linked religious body as they may be able to suggest someone.
You could also advertise specifically for a chair outside of your current board. Maintained schools can contact the governor services department of their local authority as they may know someone who could fulfil the role.
All schools and academies can use their local contacts to find out if a governor from a nearby school might be interested in joining their board as chair. This person would of course need to be appointed to a vacant role on your board before being elected as chair.
You could also see if a current governor or trustee is willing to be chair for a shorter than normal period, perhaps six months or so, while a more permanent candidate is found. It is not sustainable for any school to be without a chair of governors so every effort must be made to find someone to lead the board.
The situation is less serious if you have a vacancy for vice-chair, although the law and model articles again say that a vice-chair must be elected at the next meeting.
The same advice applies if the vice-chair role is vacant: governors can share the role, take it on temporarily or find someone from outside the board.
What happens if no-one stands for committee chair or vice-chair?
For committee chairs the same advice applies as for the overall chair of governors/trustees: consider joint committee chairs, ask around at local schools, or advertise outside the school.
In maintained schools the law allows committees to function without vice-chairs, so they are not a requirement.
In academies your trust sets the rules for committees. They may allow the committee to run without a vice-chair, so check each committee’s terms of reference.
Laws That No Longer Apply
All of the rules below used to be part of governor law for maintained schools but have now been removed from legislation. They could still be used if you wish to but there is no legal need to follow them.
I’ve included them here as you may come across a situation where a governing body has followed a particular procedure for years without quite knowing why – it will often originate from an old piece of law.
The chair’s term of office must be between one and four years.Regulations from 2003 stated that terms of office must either a) be between one and four years, or b) that elections should be held at the first meeting after the anniversary of the chair’s or vice-chair’s election.
The election must take place in the first meeting of the autumn term. The 1999 regulations said the election must be held at the first meeting of the school year, but boards can now hold elections at any time. It is worth considering holding elections in July so that any new chairs and vice chairs can prepare for their role over the summer holidays.
Before the meeting the clerk shall ask governors whether they are willing to stand for election (1999 regulations). This is still good practice so you know in advance if there will be no volunteers.
The agenda shall list the governors who have informed the clerk they are willing to stand for election (1999 regulations).
If no-one is listed on the agenda as willing to stand for election, governors may state at the meeting whether or not they are willing to stand (1999 regulations).
The clerk must chair the meeting during the election of the chair (1999 regulations). In reality there is very little to “chair” for this part of the meeting and even less if you have agreed on the election procedure beforehand.
