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The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland has today published new guidance for academy trusts, proposing model terms of reference for Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) Remuneration and Audit and Risk committees. The guidance will be useful to any trusts seeking to strengthen their governance arrangements and comply with the requirements of the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Louise Thomson, Head of Policy (Not for Profit) at the Institute says:

“Given the events of the past year, the requirement for decisions about levels of executive pay to follow a robust evidence-based process and be reasonable and defensible is a higher priority than ever. Remuneration committees have a vital role to play in ensuring that the board has all the information it needs to make informed decisions about remuneration. Similarly, the need for stringent internal controls to ensure that academy trusts spend public money appropriately and remain financially viable has been felt more acutely by boards. We have designed complementary model terms of reference for each of these important committees, which MATs can adapt to their individual needs.”

The model terms of reference for both committees offer guidance about the following:

• Membership
• Clerk/company secretary
• Quorum
• Frequency of meetings
• Notice of meetings
• Minutes of meetings
• Engagement with members and other stakeholders
• Duties of the committees
• Reporting responsibilities (of the committee to the academy trust board)
• Other matters
• Authority
• Review.

Louise Thomson concludes:

“It is important to recognise the links and overlap between the responsibilities of board committees and consequently the need for each board committee to have full knowledge of the deliberations of other committees through reports to the board and, if possible, by appointing at least one member of the board to each of the committees.”

The guidance can be downloaded for free at www.cgi.org.uk/mat-tors-academy and www.cgi.org.uk/tors-academy.

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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