BOARDMETSCHOOLS & TRUSTS

Standards & pricing

What we commit to, and what it costs us to miss it

Five commitments carry a remedy. Four more are standards we work to. The page tells you which is which.

The Boardmet standard

A service level with no consequence is a marketing claim.

Commitments, with a remedy
CommitmentStandardIf we miss it
Your clerk named, after a reservationWithin 24 hoursThe reservation is refunded in full.
Agenda and papers issued to the board, where we issue them7 clear days before the meeting25% of the meeting fee, credited.
Draft minutes to the chair5 working days after the meeting25% credited, or 50% if they are later than 10 working days.
Panel outcome and reasons3 working days after the hearing50% credited.
Handover pack when an arrangement ends10 working days from the end dateThe final invoice is reduced by 25%.

A panel outcome carries the heaviest remedy because a late one can cost a family an appeal deadline. Draft minutes step up at ten working days because by then the chair is checking a record they can no longer remember clearly.

How a credit works

It is applied automatically. There is no claim to make, no form, and no conversation about whether it applies: if the date on the invoice is later than the date on this page, the credit is already on it. A credit goes against your next invoice, and where there is no next invoice it is refunded within 10 working days. Credits in any term are capped at the fees for the meetings affected.

Standards we work to
StandardTimescale
Response to an enquirySame working day.
Confirmation of availability for a named dateSame working day, yes or no.
Procedural advice by phone or emailOne working day.
Registers, GovernorHub and GIAS updated10 working days from notification.

These carry no remedy, and we would rather say so than imply one. They are the rhythm of the service, not the deliverables you are buying.

What moves a deadline
If this happensThen
Papers or information reach us later than the date agreedEach dependent deadline moves by the same number of working days.
Access to the systems in the agreed scope is not in placeThe deadlines that depend on that access move with it.
The school postpones the meeting, or changes the scopeDates are re-agreed for the new arrangement.
Something outside our reasonable control, including school closureWe tell you the same day and agree a revised date.

We say so at the time and in writing, not afterwards when the invoice arrives.

Why these numbers
Seven clear days
Not our number. A maintained school’s governing body must be given written notice and a copy of the agenda at least seven clear days before a meeting, under regulation 13 of the 2013 regulations, and most academy articles say the same. The same regulation lets the chair direct shorter notice where matters demand urgent consideration, which is what makes short-notice cover lawful rather than improvised.
Five school days
The exclusion guidance asks that written evidence and the list of those attending reach all parties at least five school days before the meeting. Our bundle works back from that date.
Ten working days for registers
A trust must notify DfE of a governance change within 14 calendar days, and update its website and Companies House to match. Ten working days sits inside that duty rather than on top of it.
Five working days for draft minutes
This one is ours. No regulation sets it. It is the point at which a chair can still check a record against their own memory of the room, which is the only check that catches a wrong minute.
How scope and fees are agreed

One Meeting and Annual Cover are priced as published, and the practical detail sits on booking details. Retainers reflect the boards and committees involved; recovery work is scoped after the review, because the size of that job is not knowable until somebody has been through the record. A written quote comes before work starts, and nothing is charged for the work until the chair has approved the first meeting’s draft minutes.

What we need from you
  • Papers at least 10 working days before a meeting we are issuing, so the pack can go out seven clear days ahead.
  • Access to the systems in the agreed scope, under the school’s own permissions.
  • A named point of contact, usually the chair, who can confirm scope and approve the record.
  • Notice of membership changes within 5 working days, so registers and GIAS stay inside the 14-day duty.
  • Notice of a panel as early as it is known, including the type of hearing.

Procurement file

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