School governors

Grounds for disqualification

General grounds

  • A governor must be aged 18 or over at the time of election or appointment.
  • A person cannot hold more than 1 governor post at the same school at the same time.
  • Registered pupils cannot be governors.

Grounds that apply to particular categories of governor

  • A person is disqualified from being a parent governor if they are an elected member of the local authority or paid to work at the school for more than 500 hours, that is: for more than 33% of the hours of a full-time equivalent, in any consecutive 12 month period at the time of election or appointment.
  • A person is disqualified from being a local authority governor if they are eligible to be a staff governor at the school.
  • A person is disqualified from being a partnership governor if they are:
    • A parent of a registered pupil at the school
    • Eligible to be a staff governor at the school
    • An elected member of the local authority
    • Employed by the local authority in connection with its education functions.

Grounds that arise because of actions on part of the governor

A person is disqualified from being a governor or associate member if they:

  • Have failed to attend the governing body meetings for a continuous period of 6 months, beginning with the date of the first meeting they failed to attend, without the consent of the governing body. This provision does not apply to the headteacher.
  • Are the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions/interim order or debt relief/interim relief restrictions order or their estate has been sequestrated and the sequestration has not been discharged, annulled or reduced.
  • Are subject to a disqualification order or disqualification undertaking under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, a disqualification order under Part 2 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, a disqualification undertaking accepted under the Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 2002, or to an order made under section 429 (2) of the Insolvency Act 1986.
  • Have been removed from the office of charity trustee or trustee for a charity by the Charity Commissioners or High Court on grounds of any misconduct or mismanagement or under section 34 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 from being concerned in the management or control of any body.
  • Are included in the list of teachers or workers considered by the Secretary of State as unsuitable to work with children or young people.
  • Are barred from regulated activity relating to children.
  • Are disqualified from working with children or from registering for childminding or providing daycare.
  • Are disqualified from being an independent school proprietor, teacher or employee by the Secretary of State.
  • Have been sentenced to 3 months or more in prison (without the option of a fine) in the 5 years before becoming a governor or since becoming a governor.
  • Have received a prison sentence of 2 and half years or more in the 20 years before becoming a governor.
  • Have at any time received a prison sentence of 5 years or more.
  • Have been fined for causing a nuisance or disturbance on school premises during the 5 years prior to or since appointment or election as a governor.
  • Refuse to an application being made to the Criminal Records Bureau for a criminal records certificate.

Declaring previous criminal convictions

The provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions) Order 1975 apply and successful applicants will be required to declare any previous criminal convictions. You may also be required to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

The nature of the work for which you are applying means that you are exempt from Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. You are not, therefore entitled to withhold information about any cautions or convictions which for other purposes are "spent" under the provisions of the Act and, in the event of you being appointed to the post, any failure to disclose such convictions could result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the council.

Please be aware that the authority has a policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders and that a criminal record will not automatically debar anyone from being a governor with the school or council.