Academy trusts must publish accessible and up to date details of governance arrangements. Find more on what you need to publish about your academy and its board of trustees in the Academies Financial Handbook.

As an overview, the information must be displayed on a website without the need to download or open a document. You must include the structure and the remit of the board, any committee’s, full name(s) of the chair, any LGB’s in the MAT.

You should also:

  • include details of all the committees in place beneath the board, including
  • LGBs in a MAT (whether decision making or advisory), and explain in headline terms the role and remit of each;
  • provide full clarity on which governance functions are retained at board level and which are delegated making clear, particularly where the board governs a number of schools, where all key governance functions are exercised in respect of each school – including vision and budget setting and executive leader oversight and performance management;
  • explain clearly how the role of governance structures relates to that of key executive leaders (such as the CEO, any executive principals or regional directors, and finance and HR directors), avoiding duplication for example in a MAT between the role of MAT executives and LGBs in holding individual academy leaders to account;
  • explain the board’s parental and community engagement arrangements and how these feed into and inform governance both at board level and at the level of individual schools, as applicable;
  • be drafted clearly so that everyone in the organisation can understand it, in order to be clear about their role and that of others; and
  • explain the circumstances in which the arrangements set out may vary: including both the timeframes for the overall scheme being reviewed and updated, and any triggers that might lead the board to review or change levels of delegations