Multi Clerking!! - NASCC · Multi Clerking!! “For Professional Clerks” ... o c o m p l e t e t h e su r v e y a n d be p a r t o f t h e m o v e m e n t t o in c r e a se Cl e

Multi Clerking!! “For Professional Clerks”

Reproduced by NASCC.Co.Uk with permission from the author Visit our website to complete the survey and be part of the movement to increase Clerking rates of pay - NASCC.Co.Uk

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Multi Clerking!! “For Professional Clerks”

Contents Include:

● Introduction ● Core Duties ● Additional Duties (agreed in advance) ● Ad Hoc Duties (paid by the hour) ● B. What SLA should be set for Clerking on a block

(per meeting) basis? ● C. What proportion of time is spent on each of the

clerking activities? ● D. What ratio of time should be allowed ● E. Does the type of school affect the hours required ● F. What extra duties might the Clerk undertake ● G. Practices and requirements of the

school/Governors ● Recommendations ● The School Clerks Pay and Conditions Survey

2018-2019


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Introduction

Pauline Williams, an

accredited Clerk and

Trainer, argues that it is

essential to allow enough

time to carry out the role of clerking successfully.

In my first role as a Clerk, the school/governing body requirements were

clearly out of alignment with the hours provisioned and so I monitored

the time taken, down to 5 minute increments, noting the activities

undertaken. I did so for all my subsequent schools and have data for

eight schools spanning 3.5 years.

Sample and Analysis

The eight schools were of all different types (primary,

secondary, stand-alone academy, multi-academy trust)

under FOUR different local authorities, one MAT and a clerking service

provider. I am an external Clerk covering several schools concurrently, as

this is my main occupation, and data collected on monthly timesheets

comprised 1,576 hours of clerking, 31 full/local governing body and 57

committee meetings.


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To analyse the data, each task was recorded under the following Clerking

duties headings:

1. Clerk Induction (training at the LA/MAT, school meetings with staff

or previous Clerk).

2. Governance Management and support (all administration

associated with Governors including the Annual Business Meeting

actions).

3. Full Governing Body/Local Governing Body meetings.

4. Committee Meetings (each listed separately).

5. Policies.

6. Clerk Training and Development.

7. Other items (eg IT issues when connecting to school server, meeting

rearrangement, handover to subsequent Clerk).

8. Special Projects (at the request of

the Governing Board or School).

9. Pupil Exclusions/Panels.

10. Governor Elections.


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A. Definition of the duties of a Clerk for full

Governance Management

Duties undertaken comprised 3 types:

1. Core (full service from agenda through to circulation of

paperwork);

2. Additional (by agreement with the school ie policy review,

governor skills audit);

3. Ad hoc (special projects, exclusions/panels, governor

elections).

These duties are outlined below and vary a little from those in the

NGA’s model job description:


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1. Core Duties

Agenda

● Prepare an agenda in consultation with

the Chair and Headteacher (this may

require a pre-meeting).

● Ensure bring-up items are included

and standard items from the Year

Planner.

Paperwork

● Liaise with those preparing supporting paperwork to ensure

they are available on time.

● Distribute the agenda and supporting paperwork to all

concerned on time.

● Upload information to the school or MAT system eg Fronter.

Minutes

● Attend meetings on time and take

accurate notes of the discussion

and action points, plus who is

responsible for actions/when and

noting Governor challenges/

questions/supportive comments.

● Write, produce and submit draft minutes to the Chair within

7 (or 10) school working days and copy the Headteacher.

● Write minutes which provide evidence of the Governors

fulfilling their statutory duties.


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● Maintain an action list at the end of minutes.

● Distribute minutes to Governors and other relevant bodies

eg Trust, Diocese.

● Maintain the official Governing Board minute book ie file all

signed minutes hard copy and electronically.

● Circulate finalised minutes from FGB/LGB and Committee

meetings.

● Ensure Committee meeting minutes are circulated to the

next FGB/LGB meeting.

Meeting Management

● Maintain Terms of Reference for Committees and update on

an annual basis.

● File all Governor meeting paperwork electronically ensuring

this is stored and is accessible for the school/backed up.

● Ensure meetings are quorate.

● Record Governor attendance at meetings.

● Support the Chair to manage meetings effectively.

● Complete Clerk actions on time.

● Support Governors to complete their actions on time.

● Produce and follow a Governing Board Year Planner which

outlines the meetings content.

● Assist in the production of a

Governing Board meeting schedule

for the year ahead and publish.

● Chair that part of the meeting at

which the Chair has not yet been

elected, giving procedural advice

concerning the conduct of this and other elections.


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Governance Management

● Set up circulation lists and maintain them for the Governing

Board and all Committees.

● Maintain membership records on individual governor

attendance, terms of office, Committee membership, special

Governor roles and declarations of interest and ensure these

are published on the school website and reviewed annually.

● Maintain a confidential list of Governor contact information.

● Provide the required Edubase/GIAS information to the school

for the DfE Database of Governors.

● Alert the Governing Board and appointing bodies in advance

of any impending membership considerations.

● Induct new Governors and follow the induction checklist for

paperwork to be sent/signed.

● Ensure that the Constitution is maintained and DBS

certificates in place.

● Take responsibility for any correspondence directed to or

from the Governing Board.

● Use the Policies timetable to notify the school/Governors of

statutory policies which

require updating and

gain their approval at

the relevant meeting.

● Review and update the

Governor section on the

school website (with

school staff managing the web pages).

● Ensure Governors have a Code of Conduct that is updated

and adhered to annually.


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● File information and follow archiving requirements.

● Circulate electronic copies of documents requested eg

financial audit, Ofsted.

● Circulate relevant information from the Local Authority, MAT,

DfE.

● Liaise and provide information to the Local Authority, School

and MAT as applicable.

● Monitor Governor attendance and absence and take

appropriate action for non-attendance.

Advice

● Advise on procedural and legislative matters in relation to

the Governing Board and its Committees as appropriate in

accordance with information contained within the

Governance Handbook and/or Academies Financial

Handbook, Scheme of Delegation, Articles of Association etc.

● Act as the first point of contact for Governors with queries on

procedural matters.

● Respond promptly to queries.

● Advise on the removal of Governors or Constitutional

matters.

● Give advice and

support to Governors

taking on new

responsibilities such

as Chair.


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Clerk Development

● Attend regular training and termly briefing sessions for

Clerks.

● Maintain reading of information to be up to date with best

practice and legislation ie read NGA Governing Matters.

● Follow best practice in the design of agenda and minutes.


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2. Additional Duties (agreed in advance)

● Induction by Local Authority or MAT.

● Induction at school/handover from previous Clerk eg set up

with email address, access to school

system.

● Annually attend Safeguarding training

and read Keeping Children Safe in

Education.

● Audit Governor paperwork, filing,

archiving and systems set up by previous

Clerk.

● As required, set up templates when

joining new school eg constitution,

Governor Training Log.

● Refreshments for Governors.

● Preparing packs of hard copy

information.

● Printing all paperwork.

● Photocopying eg financial audit, Ofsted.

● Clerk briefing summary prepared from

termly Clerk briefing and other reading.

● Governor training log created and maintained.

● Arranging Governor meeting dates.

● Maintaining the Policies timetable.

● Governor skills audit creation and analysis.

● Maintain records of Governing Body correspondence eg

Parental Complaints.


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3. Ad Hoc Duties (paid by the hour)

● Governor elections

● Pupil exclusions

● Panels eg Disciplinary, Complaints

● Changing status eg to become a Federation, Academy or

MAT

● Recruitment of Headteacher

● Creating the Policies timetable

● Auditing the school website for content or policies

● Special projects eg researching for briefing papers or best

practice procedures


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B. What SLA should be set for Clerking on a

block (per meeting) basis?

For three years I worked with a clerking service provider which sold

clerking on a block basis.

The allowance was as follows:

❏ FGB = 17 hours;

❏ subsequent FGB within term = 14

hours;

❏ Clerk briefing = 2 hours;

❏ Committee meeting = 10 hours.

No extra time was provisioned for Governance management or

induction (apart from initial interview and induction training

provided by the service provider) but extra time was allowed for

elections and exclusions.

I understand that this allowance is generous compared with some

Local Authorities or Clerking Service providers.

● Across the eight schools, which were paid on an hourly basis,

if these had been paid on the block basis stated above, I

would have received only 74% of the actual hours worked.

● None of the schools matched the block hours ie I worked

more for each school than block hours would have

provisioned.


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● The schools which had the most additional hours were

secondary schools.

● If the time required for Clerk induction, policies management

and additional tasks is removed from the analysis, then the

block basis becomes closer to the actual hours worked –

88% would have been paid, with three of the schools being

paid for approximately the correct hours.

The block hours provisioned by this clerking service provider always

felt about right. However, it is evident that for most schools the

hours were insufficient overall and the DfE has increased Clerking

administration over the past few years adding to the core duties

and time required.

Rather than increase the hours generally, my recommendation is

to:

● Allow 9 hours extra for the school/Governing Board induction

period ie the first term, to allow for handover from the

previous Clerk and setting up of new templates, files etc.

● Include 5 hours extra for the Annual Business Meeting once a

year – amounting to 22 hours including Clerk actions to

deliver all the Governance management.

● Allow extra if the meeting time exceeds 2 hours (either

planned or through retrospective review of actual meeting

times).


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C. What proportion of time is spent on each

of the clerking activities?

Clerking Activity % of Clerk’s time

spent on activity

1. Clerk Induction 4%

2. Governance Management 24%

3./4. Full Governing Board/Local Governing

Board Meetings and Committee Meetings

60%

5. Policies 5%

6. Clerk Development 5%

7 Other 2%

The actual time spent directly on Governor meetings was only 60%

of clerking time.


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D. What ratio of time should be allowed for

meeting: typing draft minutes? What

ratio of time should be allowed for

meeting: whole process from agenda to

circulation of finalised minutes?

Across the eight schools, and for each school taking one FGB

meeting and two Committee meetings (Curriculum and Resources, if

these were clerked), the following ratios were

found:

1. Actual FGB meeting time: type draft minutes

= 2.0

2. Actual Curriculum Committee meeting time:

type draft minutes = 1.4

3. Actual Resources/Finance Committee meeting time: type draft

minutes = 1.7

4. Actual FGB meeting time: whole process = 4.8

5. Actual Curriculum Committee meeting time: whole process =

3.8

6. Actual Resources/Finance Committee meeting time: whole

process = 3.8

Thus, for a 2 hour FGB/LGB meeting it took twice as long to prepare

the draft minutes ie 4 hours. For a 2 hour FGB/LGB meeting, the

whole process would take almost 5 times the meeting length ie 10


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hours. For a 2 hour Committee meeting, the whole process would

take almost 4 times as long ie 8 hours (Remember this does not

include Governance management time which is 24% of Clerk time.)


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E. Does the type of school affect the hours

required of the Clerk eg Secondary

school vs Primary school, MAT,

Federation or stand-alone Academy?

Clerking at a Secondary School tended to be more complex and

onerous as there were more Committees and longer meetings.

Clerking at a MAT took more time as there were termly Clerk

briefings for the MAT as well as with the LA. The MAT also required

more documentation to be completed, read and circulated.


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F. What extra duties might the Clerk

undertake and how do these impact on

the hours provisioned?

Every school is different in terms of the extra duties that they ask

the Clerk to undertake. Some of the additional duties that I have

undertaken were:

● Policies timetable creation and policies management.

● Financial audit production of paperwork.

● Printing and filing all paperwork (rather than the statutory

minimum).

● Purchase and presentation of Governor food and

refreshments.

● Photocopying/printing packs of paperwork for Governors.

● Changing to an Academy or MAT.

● Additional Clerk briefings when part of a MAT.

● Further paperwork to read/follow when part of a MAT.

● New Governor induction – approximately 1-1.5 hours per

new Governor.

● Ad hoc research at the

request of the Governing

Board eg finding out

Terms of Reference for

Pay Committee and how

this should be managed;

investigating virtual

governance software.


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● Reconstitution of the Governing Board to follow DfE

regulations or when becoming an Academy/MAT.

● Governor skills audit questionnaire design and analysis.


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G. What practices and requirements of the

school/Governors adversely impact on

the hours required of the Clerk?

Every school and Governing Board is different. Inefficient or

over-efficient practices, can cost unnecessary Clerk time – ie cost

the school money. The Clerk and Chair should meet regularly to

discuss if time could be saved here:

● double-double checking minutes

● chasing Governors for actions

● chasing the school for

paperwork

● unresponsive Chair

● requiring all meeting

documents to be printed

and filed hard copy

● agreeing Governor meeting

dates for the year ahead

● printing and posting of documentation to Governors

The most common wasted time was chasing Governors/Chairs to

respond and chasing schools for paperwork so that it could be

distributed the required 7 days ahead of a meeting.

The most onerous additional task, was ensuring that an accurate

Policies timetable was in place for the statutory policies. The basic

role of the Clerk is to prompt the review/approval of each policy at

the correct meeting at the right time, having been provided with an


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accurate table of statutory policies (not additional school policies

and procedures). When asked to design the timetable and manage

policies this took considerable extra time.

If there were a high turnover of Governors this added on time

(1-1.5 hours to take on a new Governor and 20-30 minutes to

remove them); an experienced and responsive Chair required less

guidance and prompting.

If the Clerk only clerks for FGB meetings and Committee meetings

are clerked by other people, the Clerk may still be required to file all

meeting paperwork, gain printed/signed copies for filing (which may

require chasing), circulate some papers to the Committee and

prompt policy reviews at Committee – ie there is still some Clerk

time required even if others take the minutes.

The DfE has added additional tasks for the Clerk in the past 3 years

ie reconstitution, new Governor information required on the school

website and declaration of interests, National Database of

Governors uploaded onto Edubase. These tasks have required

additional time at the start of the

academic year such that the first FGB

meeting of the year (the Annual

Business Meeting) now takes far

longer to manage (meeting

management and actions) estimated

at 22 hours.


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Recommendations

● The fairest way to pay for the duties of a Clerk to the

Governing Board is to pay them by the hour for work

conducted. To achieve this in an open way, the duties of the

Clerk should be agreed up front, allowance made for

induction (LA, MAT and school) and the hours logged

accurately each month. Once the first round of FGB and

Committee meetings has elapsed the Clerk and Chair should

meet to evaluate the hours required to undertake the role

going forward and adjust budgets accordingly.

● Monitoring the actual hours worked is particularly

recommended for Secondary Schools and MATs which can

place more requirements on the Clerk and have more

complex needs.

● If clerking hours need to be set, it is more accurate to

calculate the allowance to be made for Governor meetings,

add on time for Clerk briefings/training, add on time for

extra tasks agreed and then add on a % for Governance

management.

● When recruiting a Clerk, a detailed list of all the duties is

required for agreement by all parties. The Appendix would

outline the duties of a Clerk – ie all core tasks required by

the Governing Board. This list should be tailored to meet the


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specific needs of the Governors and School as all schools are

different.

● The title of Clerk is misleading as it does not encompass the

full remit of the role. Governance Manager is more

appropriate as this comprises the other 40% of the job.

Pauline Williams | Accredited Clerk


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The School Clerks Pay and Conditions Survey

2018-2019

This is an independent, non-governmental survey, primarily focused on

school clerks working in England. This form should be completed by those

working in any type of clerking or company secretary role and should not

therefore be completed by a school or governor ‘on behalf’ of a Clerk.

However, if you are not a Clerk but wish to provide information regarding

the clerking role or profession.

Please Fill Out The Survey


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NASCC would like to thank Pauline Williams for allowing us to share her article with our members/followers. This comprehensive breakdown of how she has managed her clerking journey is an example of the valuable work we do as Clerks and more importantly, it highlights the need for clerks to be properly remunerated for the work we do. For this reason, the NASCC have created a very comprehensive survey (available at www.nascc.co.uk) for all clerks to complete themselves and share as widely as possible with other clerks, so that the necessary data required, to address to imbalances and poor pay rates, can be properly challenged and ultimately changed.

Thank you Sharon Warmington Founder of the National Association of School and College Clerks


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Multi Clerking!! - NASCC · Multi Clerking!! “For Professional Clerks” ... o c o m p l e t e t h e su r v e y a n d be p a r t o f t h e m o v e m e n t t o in c r e a se Cl e

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