BOARDMETSCHOOLS & TRUSTS

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Specialist panel clerking

Complaints panels, suspension and exclusion meetings, and employment hearings, clerked by someone with no prior involvement in the case.

The panels we clerk

School type, panel remit and the procedure that applies are checked before the bundle goes out.

School complaints panels
Clerked to your own procedure. For an academy the panel needs at least three people not involved in the matter, one of them independent of the management and running of the school.
Suspension and permanent exclusion
The governing board’s duty to consider reinstatement, or its designated committee, clerked to the statutory timescale for that exclusion.
Independent review panels
Arranged by the local authority or the trust. The clerk must not be the person who clerked the board meeting that decided not to reinstate.
Employment hearings
Disciplinary, capability and grievance hearings and appeals, including independent panels where the procedure requires them.

The clocks that run

School days, not working days, and the clock starts when notice is received. Getting this wrong is the most common reason an exclusion decision is overturned on procedure rather than on its merits.

What has happenedWhen the board must meet
A permanent exclusionWithin 15 school days of receiving notice.
A suspension taking the pupil above 15 school days out of school in a termWithin 15 school days. This includes a total of 15.5 days.
A suspension or exclusion that will make the pupil miss a public exam or national curriculum testWithin 15 school days, with reasonable steps to meet before the exam date.
A total above five but under 16 school days in a term, where parents make representationsWithin 50 school days of receiving notice.
A total of five school days or fewer in a termRepresentations must be considered. The board has no power to direct reinstatement.
An application for an independent review panelParents apply within 15 school days of notice of the decision not to reinstate.

Source: Suspension and permanent exclusion from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England, the statutory guidance in force from 26 July 2026. We work to the version current on the day of your hearing.

How we run it

Before
Chair briefed. Panel constitution and prior involvement checked. Written evidence and the list of those attending circulated to all parties at least five school days ahead, as the guidance asks.
During
Advice to the chair on procedure, remit, new evidence and adjournments. The decision and the reasons for it recorded as they are given.
After
The decision, the reasons and the rights that follow, issued to the timetable for the panel. On a permanent exclusion that includes the right to apply for a review and the deadline that applies.
£500 One Meeting · Scope agreed first
Check availability

Independent, and able to show it.

The clerk has no prior involvement in the case. On a review that is not a preference, it is what the guidance requires, and it is the first thing a parent’s representative will test.

Name, relevant experience and DBS check details shared before work begins.

Enquire about a panel

Please leave out confidential pupil or staff information.

Frequently asked questions

Can the same clerk take the board meeting and the review?

No, and this is the one that catches schools out. The guidance is explicit that the clerk to an independent review panel should not have clerked the governing board meeting at which the decision not to reinstate was made. We allocate a different clerk, and say so in writing before the panel sits.

Who is allowed to sit on a complaints panel?

For an academy, at least three people not involved in the matter, and at least one of them independent of the management and running of the school. A maintained school follows its own procedure, usually a committee of the governing board with no prior involvement. We check the constitution before the bundle goes out, not on the morning of the hearing.

Do you advise the panel on its decision?

No. The clerk advises on procedure, remit and the record. The decision belongs to the panel, and a clerk who strays into it is the first thing a reviewer will find.

What do you need from us, and when?

The case papers, the procedure that applies, the panel membership and any representations already received. For an exclusion meeting the guidance asks that written evidence and the list of those attending go to all parties at least five school days ahead, so we work back from that date.

Can you clerk at short notice?

Yes. Tell us the date and the type of hearing and we confirm availability the same working day. On an exclusion the statutory clock is already running, so we agree the timetable with you before confirming.