Quorum for meetings

Learn what it means for a meeting to be quorate and how to calculate a quorum to make sure you have the votes you need to get business done.

Last reviewed on 23 January 2024See updates
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 42008
Contents
  1. The definition of a quorum
  2. Quorum for maintained schools

The definition of a quorum

A 'quorum' is the minimum number of governors that must be present at a full governing board or committee meeting in order for official decisions to be made. When a quorum is present, the meeting is sometimes said to be 'quorate'.

You can't hold votes if the meeting is inquorate

Your meeting becomes inquorate if:

  • There aren't enough governors at a meeting to make a quorum
  • A member of the quorum has to leave for some reason (e.g. a conflict of interest)

It's up to you as a board to decide if the meeting should continue, according to the Department for Education (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 full governing board meeting is one-half (rounded