New guidance about changing academy trust articles of association published by CGIUKI and Trust Governance Professionals

The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGIUKI) and Trust Governance Professionals (TGP) have today published a ‘How to’ guide for academy trusts looking to change their articles of association.

Louise Thomson, Head of Policy (Not for Profit) at CGIUKI comments:

“Articles of association are a critical governance tool, helping trusts to comply with the law and providing key information about the purpose of the organisation, how it is to be run and to whom it is accountable. As the needs and challenges facing trusts naturally evolve over time, they should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain in line with the latest government expectations, are relevant and able to provide academy trusts with the necessary powers to fulfil their purpose.

“The specific steps required to change articles can be daunting, especially given the different legal considerations involved under company and charity law. This guidance provides a step-by-step approach for academy trusts to help them amend their articles so that they are sufficiently robust to meet external expectations, while remaining agile and proportionate enough to meet the changing needs of the trust.”

The guidance identifies the following steps as being key to success:

• Step 1: identify the need to change
• Step 2: be clear as to what to change and why
• Step 3: stakeholder engagement
• Step 4: set out a calendar for change
• Step 5: agree the wording of the resolution
• Step 6: notice to members
• Step 7: model resolution wording
• Step 8: members’ (annual) general meeting
• Step 9: notification of changes
• Step 10: enact the resolution
• Step 11: review and reflect.

Anna Machin, Director at Trust Governance Professionals concludes:

“Governance professionals have specialist knowledge about what is required to ensure that governance arrangements remain responsive, flexible and effective in delivering the charitable purposes and public benefit for pupils. Ensuring that a trust’s articles of association are updated regularly is a core part of this role. It is our hope that this guidance will be a valuable companion to governance professionals who are guiding trusts through this process.”

The guidance can be viewed at www.cgi.org.uk/academytrusthowt

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Notes to Editors:

1. The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland is the qualifying and membership body for governance with over 125 years’ experience of educating and supporting governance professionals. With a Royal Charter purpose of leading ‘effective and efficient governance and administration of commerce, industry and public affairs’, we provide professional development, guidance and thought leadership, and work with regulators and policy makers to champion high standards.
   
   The Institute has divisions in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong/China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The division headquartered in London represents and supports members in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies and associated territories, which include the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Website: www.cgi.org.uk 
2. Trust Governance Professionals is an organisation on a mission to support academy trust governance professionals. We were established by a team of governance professionals motivated by the knowledge that the governance role in academy trusts is unique, multi-faceted and broad-ranging. We have experience of directly delivering academy governance across the full range of aspects of this role – from board and committee support to local governance, risk, compliance, policies, admissions, exclusions, data protection, and freedom of information. We leverage this in-depth knowledge of the demands and complexities of the role in order to provide expert support to trusts in training, recruiting and developing governance professionals across the country.
   
   Our flagship programme is Trust Governance Insight, which offers training, resources, tailored one-to-one advice and access to a community of fantastic governance professionals. We also run Trust Governance Develop, an induction and training programme for school trust governance leads who are new to the academy sector.
   Website: www.tgpltd.co.uk