Governance professionals' pay and hours

Governance professionals play a key role in school and trust governance and should expect to be paid accordingly. Use the findings from our report on benchmarking pay and working patterns to ensure you are paid fairly for the work that you do.

Last reviewed on 16 December 2024See updates
School types: MaintainedSchool phases: AllRef: 4772
Contents
  1. Governance professional roles vary
  2. Set the right working hours
  3. Expect a salary that matches the level of service

Governance professional roles vary

According to research carried out by the National Governance Association (NGA) in 2022 when defining a career pathway for governance professionals, the 3 levels that most governance professional roles fall under are:

  • Clerking level: a role that provides direct support to board meetings and associated tasks, plus advice and support on statutory procedure and practice
  • Governance co-ordinator level: a role that, in addition to clerking duties, involves additional responsibilities relating to the delivery of a governance support service, including line management of those at clerking level
  • Lead governance professional level: a role that provides strategic leadership of services that support governance across schools, with higher levels of complexity and direct accountability.

Note that the Academy Trust Handbook and the governance guides for academy trusts and maintained schools use the term governance professional rather than clerk, presumably to clarify that the