This guidance aims to equip governance professionals and boards to make virtual meetings as effective as possible, whilst being cognisant of any practical and legal issues which may arise.

The charity sector has seen increasing calls for individual trustees on boards to be appointed to lead on specific aspects of a charity’s activities in response to adverse reports – whether it be safeguarding, staff welfare, digital or fundraising. The concept of a ‘lead’ or 'link’ is not new, as it could, for example, be argued that the honorary position of treasurer makes that person the lead trustee on finance.

This guidance note provides a number of sample board observation sheets that charity boards may wish to adapt as part of their board evaluation process.

This guidance will help academy trust boards to build their own board assurance framework and, once in place, to assess whether it continues to be effective.

his guidance note draws upon experience of charitable companies limited by guarantee (CLGs) to help inform those involved with, or interested in, academy trusts to help develop understanding of the company and charity law aspects of members in a charitable CLG.

All trustees undertaking a proposal to work in collaboration, jointly or to merge should carry out a due diligence examination of the prospective partner charity. A comprehensive due diligence exercise will enable trustees to establish a full knowledge base of the assets and liabilities of each charity – for example, employees, rent arrears, property leases, endowments, funding arrangements and governance structures.

This guidance was originally drafted amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, when the impact of global lockdowns was most acutely felt.

The academy school governance maturity matrix highlights factors that would indicate an academy having fledgling governance arrangements to those leading good practice and being sought out as best in class.

This guidance note is written for those charities with established boards of trustees which employ a senior management team and delegate significant, specific functions.