Statutory guidance for all schools states that schools should have link governors for a) safeguarding, including the Prevent duty and b) special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Statutory guidance for secondary schools says secondaries should have a governor with responsibility for careers education and guidance.
This page explains how link governors work in practice and includes role descriptions for some common link areas.
What do link governors do?
The term “link governor” is not used in law, but schools use it to mean a governor who takes a particular interest in an area of school life and may take on related responsibilities. They are sometimes referred to as governor “portfolios” or lead governors.
For example, a link governor for safeguarding could meet the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) to discuss policies and an SEND governor could keep an eye on the progress of SEND children compared to their peers.
As well as assigning link governors to areas likes safeguarding, the pupil premium or health and safety you can also consider assigning governors to subject areas such as maths or English. These governors can liaise with subject leaders, monitor progress and report any concerns back to the governing body.
How are link governors appointed?
There is no formal process you need to follow when appointing link governors. The usual practice would be for appointments to be agreed at a meeting of the full governing body.
Can a staff governor be a link governor?
Yes. There are no formal restrictions on which governors can fulfil which link role. Staff governors can be link governors, as can parent governors and any other type of governor. Roles should be assigned according to the skills of each person.
However, when appointing school employees as link governors the board needs to consider whether the role will clash with their day job. For example, if the employee is the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) they cannot reasonably be the safeguarding link governor because they would be monitoring their own work.
Link Governor Report Template
A template that link governors can fill in to report back to the board is available on my templates and letters page.
Governors will often visit the school to meet with a specific member of staff or focus on one aspect of the school, eg: health and safety. They would then write up their findings, highlighting any questions or concerns arising from the visit and any actions that staff or governors need to take as a result.
Safeguarding Link Governors
Schools should have a governor who is responsible for safeguarding/child protection. This recommendation is set out in the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education which applies to both maintained schools and academies.
“Governing bodies and proprietors should have a senior board level (or equivalent) lead to take leadership responsibility for their school’s or college’s safeguarding arrangements.”
Keeping Children Safe in Education
The DfE explain at the start of Keeping Children Safe in Education that “We use the term ‘must’ when the person in question is legally required to do something and ‘should’ when the advice set out should be followed unless there is good reason not to.”
This means that although there is no legal requirement to have a safeguarding link governor, schools may be challenged if they do not have one in place.
What questions should a safeguarding governor ask?
A separate article lists questions a safeguarding link governor could ask and explains how the link governor can fulfil their role effectively.
For example, the safeguarding governor should monitor whether safer recruitment processes are effective, whether pupils feel safe at school and whether online safety is considered.
Should the safeguarding governor check the single central record?
There is no need for governors to personally check the SCR. This was confirmed by OFSTED’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman in 2019 who suggested that governors should take more of an overview of safeguarding rather than drilling down into the fine detail.
“As governors and trustees, you are responsible for making sure that safeguarding procedures are properly followed in schools. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through your school’s central record yourself.
“You need to make sure the overarching culture is right. What is your school doing to identify children that may be at risk of harm? How is your school helping those children and fulfilling its duties? This, too, is when it’s more helpful to look up at the big picture, rather than down into the detail.”
Amanda Spielman speech to the National Governance Association, 8 June 2019
This was also confirmed by OFSTED’s Deputy Director for schools in the following video.
So governors should be asking questions to make sure the SCR is in place, up-to-date and that it is being checked and monitored, but they do not need to do the checks themselves.
SEND Link Governor
The DfE Code of Practice on SEND states that there should be an SEND governor or committee. The Code is statutory guidance that applies equally to both maintained schools and academies.
“There should be a member of the governing body or a sub-committee with specific oversight of the school’s arrangements for SEN and disability.
“School leaders should regularly review how expertise and resources used to address SEN can be used to build the quality of whole-school provision as part of their approach to school improvement.”
Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years
Careers Link Governor
Statutory guidance on careers says that secondary school boards should have a link governor who is responsible for “careers education and guidance” and who “encourages employer engagement”. The guidance applies to both maintained schools and academies.
“Every school and college should have a member of their governing body who takes a strategic interest in careers education and guidance and encourages employer engagement.”
Careers Guidance and Access For Education and Training Providers
Is a link governor solely responsible for their area?
No. The link governor takes a special interest in an area but the governing body retains overall responsibility. If for example the school is failing to safeguard children properly that may be partly the fault of the safeguarding link governor, but it is the governing body itself that is ultimately to blame as they have collective responsibility.
The board should agree the link governor’s remit in advance. They should also ask each link governor to regularly report back to the board on their work so that it can be monitored.
Do link roles need to be published online?
No. Requirements for what schools must publish online do not say that link roles of individual governors must be published on the school website, but a school may wish to publish them anyway.
Do special schools need an SEND link governor?
The requirement to have an SEND link governor comes from chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice, a chapter “aimed mostly at mainstream schools”, so I believe this requirement does not apply to special schools.
This question came up in an online clerking forum I belong to and the majority of special school clerks said they do not have an SEND link governor because all their governors are focused on SEND.
This seems logical and mirrors the fact that only mainstream schools need special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs), because of course all staff in a special school are focused on children with special needs.
“Governing bodies of maintained mainstream schools and the proprietors of mainstream academy schools (including free schools) must ensure that there is a qualified teacher designated as SENCO for the school.”
SEND Code of Practice
Link Governor Role Descriptions
Safeguarding Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)
From Birmingham LA. Duties of the safeguarding governor include:
- ensuring that all staff are briefed on and follow the school’s safeguarding and child protection policy
- ensuring that temporary staff and volunteers are made aware of the school’s arrangements for safeguarding and child protection and their responsibilities
- ensuring there is a whole school approach to online safety that is set out in the school’s policy
- ensuring that the section 175 Safeguarding Self-Assessment Tool is completed annually.
SEND Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)
From Luton LA. Duties of the SEND link governor include:
- making every effort to see that the necessary special arrangements are made for pupils with SEN
- asking questions and liaising with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) about the current policy and practice in SEN
- monitoring the progress and effectiveness of the governing body’s policy on SEN
- monitoring the deployment of resources allocated to SEN
- monitoring the effectiveness of communication with parents.
Wellbeing and Mental Health Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)
From Governors For Schools. Duties of the wellbeing link governor include:
- ensuring the school has given thorough thought to how mental health and wellbeing can be embedded in the curriculum and other school activities
- working with the school to complete an audit of their current provision to understand other areas it could be incorporated
- acting as the point of contact on the governing board for the staff member(s) tasked with overseeing mental health and wellbeing provisions within the school
- ensuring mental health and wellbeing is discussed in committee meetings and as an agenda item in full governing board meetings.
Training Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)
From Luton LA. Duties of the training link governor include:
- assessing the training needs of individual governors, new governors, governors taking on new roles and governors needing ‘refresher’ update courses
- encouraging governors to attend courses
- reviewing the balance between personal development and benefit for the whole governing body, eg: how is information from courses shared?
- monitoring courses attended
- checking that there is a good spread of courses and all governors are receiving appropriate training.