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Quorum for meetings
Learn what it means for a meeting to be quorate and how to calculate a quorum to ensure you have the votes you need to get business done.
The definition of a quorum
A 'quorum' is the minimum number of governors that must be present at full governing board or committee meetings in order for official decisions to be made. When a quorum is present, the meeting is sometimes said to be 'quorate.'
Why it matters
If not enough governors or trustees attend a meeting to make a quorum or if a member of the quorum has to leave for some reason (e.g. a conflict of interest), the meeting becomes inquorate.
It's up to you as a board to decide if the meeting should continue, according to the DfE. Inquorate meetings and discussions can take place, but you can't hold any votes unless it's quorate.
The proceedings of an inquorate meeting should still be minuted as usual.
Quorum for maintained schools
The quorum for a meeting of the full governing board is one half of the membership
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