The third core function: overseeing financial performance

All governors have a part to play in monitoring school finance. Get a concise overview of what your role is and what you're monitoring, so you can make sure money's well spent.

Last reviewed on 3 October 2022
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 36409
Contents
  1. Get a handle on the basics
  2. The board's role
  3. How you'll monitor
  4. What you'll monitor

Our associate education experts Graeme Hornsby and Matt Miller helped us to write this article.

Get a handle on the basics

Familiarise yourself with how your school is funded so you can understand the budget and ask better questions.

You also need to know what responsibilities have been delegated to your board. If you’re:

  • A maintained school, read your local authority's scheme of financial delegation
  • An academy, read your scheme of delegation 
  • On a local governing board (LGB), find out about your role in finance

The board's role

All governors have financial responsibility. However, you don't need to be an expert, and you won't be involved in everything.

Your job is to make sure that:

You only need to understand