Can school governors claim allowances?

Governing boards may agree to pay allowances to their governors and associate members to cover the necessary expenses that they incur to enable them to carry out their duties on behalf of the governing board.

Governing boards cannot pay attendance allowances for turning up at meetings or for any loss of earnings but can reimburse reasonable expenses for things such as:

• child care or babysitting
• care arrangements for elderly or dependent relatives
• any extra costs incurred by a governor or associate member due to any special needs they may have
• telephone charges, photocopying, stationery
• travel expenses (if governors use their own vehicles the rates paid must not exceed HMRC's Approved Mileage Rate).

Governors and associate members would need to provide appropriate receipts when making any claims.

Governing boards would need to have a clear policy outlining the scope of the policy and how it would be applied; what types of allowances would be paid; how governors could make a claim and how the expenses would be audited and the policy reviewed.

More information about this can be found in Part 6 of The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances)(England) Regulations 2013.

This page was last updated on 22 February 2023