Of interest to members working in Academy Trusts
The Institute has published model terms of reference for the Remuneration and Audit and Risk committees at an academy trust or multi-academy trust. 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.
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.
The guidance can be downloaded for free at www.cgi.org.uk/mat-tors-academy and www.cgi.org.uk/tors-academy.
