Tell us the date and you will have a yes or no the same working day. Meetings at short notice run online by default, which is what makes short notice possible at all. Where the diary allows and the meeting warrants it, we attend in person. We would rather decline quickly than leave a school waiting on an answer.
How is it priced?
Single meetings and specialist panels are priced per meeting. Ongoing cover runs on an annual retainer, set against how many boards and committees are involved and how much of the governance administration sits with us. You get a written quote before anything starts, and rates are set out in the service agreement for your school. Ask, and the quote comes back the same working day.
Do we have to commit to anything?
No. A single meeting is a single meeting. Nothing is charged for the work until you have approved the draft minutes of your first one, so you see how the papers are prepared, how the chair is supported in the room and the record that results, before any budget is committed.
Who will actually turn up, and are they DBS checked?
An experienced governance professional, DBS checked, with enhanced checks where the role requires them. On retained work one named person is accountable for the agreed scope, and it stays that person. You are not allocated whoever is free that week.
Is this the same as a clerk to governors?
Yes. “Governance professional” is the term in current DfE guidance; many schools still say clerk to governors, and some say board secretary. The role is wider than minute-taking: independent procedural advice to the chair, the governance administration behind the meeting, and a record that supports the board’s decisions rather than merely describing them.
We are a trust with several local governing bodies. Does that work?
Yes. We cover trust boards, local governing bodies, committees and maintained school governing boards, and we are used to the differences between them. Scheme of delegation, quorum, and who is entitled to decide what, are the parts that most often go wrong. They are the parts we watch.
Our governance records are behind. Can you put that right?
That is Governance Recovery: a defined piece of work that establishes what is actually outstanding, puts right what the surviving evidence supports, and hands back a position you can maintain. It is scoped and quoted separately from meeting cover, because the size of the job is not knowable until the review is done.
Can you manage GovernorHub, GIAS and our published governance information?
Yes, where it is in the agreed scope and you provide the access. Membership, terms of office, declarations of interest, attendance, GIAS records, and the governance information your website is required to publish.
Do you give legal advice?
No. We provide governance and procedural support, and we are careful about the line. Where a matter needs legal advice we will say so plainly rather than improvise, and we will make sure the procedural record is in order for whoever advises you.
What happens to our data?
Boardmet Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller, reference ZC098329. Governance records contain personal data about staff, governors and sometimes pupils, so handling is set out in the agreement for the work, and our access is removed at the end of it.
What do you need for our procurement process?
Whatever your finance or procurement team asks for. Service specification, SLA, professional indemnity information, DBS information and company details are all available on request, and we would rather send them up front than hold up a decision.
What happens when the support ends?
The records are organised, anything still outstanding is written down rather than left implied, the handover is completed, and our access is removed. A school should be able to tell, from the file alone, exactly where governance stands on the day we leave.
Still not sure which cover fits? Tell us what has changed and we will tell you on the call.
Enquiries
Tell us what needs covering.
Tell us what has changed and the next important date. We will confirm availability and what we can take on.