Role of a company secretary

Find out about the company secretary's key tasks and responsibilities. If you're advertising a role, use our model job description to save time, and see examples from trusts.

Last reviewed on 24 August 2023
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 5044
Contents
  1. Role and responsibilities
  2. Common tasks for a company secretary in a MAT
  3. Download our model job description
  4. Example job descriptions

Role and responsibilities

As private limited companies, academy trusts can choose to have a company secretary. It's good practice to have one, but it's not legally required

They're more common in multi-academy trusts (MATs), and normally the role covers the whole trust, since it's the trust that's a registered company and not the individual schools.

The role is a legal position, rather than an administrative appointment. They're responsible for making sure the company (the trust) fulfils its duties. 

If a clerk is appointed to undertake statutory administrative duties like circulating agendas or minutes, the company secretary still has legal responsibility for making sure these are fulfilled. Our associate expert Martin Owen explained this.

Eligibility

The company secretary can be a director of the company (i.e. a trustee), but cannot be:

  • The company’s auditor
  • An ‘undischarged bankrupt’ (unless they have permission from the court)

Company secretaries don't