The new Academy Trust Governance Guide

The bible for trustees and governors to date has been a combination of the Governance Handbook (GHB) 2019 and the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH), with the competency frameworks and role descriptors.

These documents have not always been on the same page and only the ATH is updated every year. The GHB has served both local authority schools as well as academy trusts and therein has lain a challenge.

March 2024 sees the release of two new documents which replace the former GHB 2019, separating reference material for academy trusts and local authority schools, each having different needs.

Helpfully, each section contains direct links to the supporting guidance available to add further information, descriptions and detail.

1. Academy trust governance guide
2. Maintained school governance guide

We focus on the academy trust governance in this article.

The new document aimed at trustees of academy trusts is specifically intended to provide essential information on trust board’s roles and legal responsibilities to support governance.

The new Academy Trust Governance Guide, while not revealing any new major governance expectations, does better align to the ATH and the Trust Quality Descriptions published in July 2023; High Quality and Inclusive Education, School Improvement, Workforce, Finance and Operations and finally Governance and Leadership.

The previous competency framework documents and role descriptors are now archived.

The board is described as “no larger than it needs to be” and the non-executive leadership section of the guide is clear about roles, responsibilities and make up. Local governance receives further clarity for MATs, with the term “local committee”, emphasising the role as a committee of the board, rather than any stand-alone body.

This will support those on local committees to be clear of their responsibilities and the need for communication and information sharing with the trust board.

The three core functions have been replaced by a new definition of the purpose of governance as defined in the ATH:

• strategic leadership
• accountability and assurance
• strategic engagement

The guide includes chapters on each of the following, examples of when to refer to each and supporting links to documentation and further guidance.

1. Culture and engagement
2. Governance of the academy trust
3. Strategy
4. Non-executive Leadership
5. Executive Leadership
6. Accountability
7. Compliance
8. Statutory Policies for Trusts

This last bullet – the list of statutory policies – can give additional freedom to trusts when reviewing policies, a bugbear many trust boards have found a time consuming and thankless task.

A clear and concise summary of key policies will no doubt help when reviewing the annual cycle of policy reviews and to assist with the trimming down of massive lists of policies that can bog everyone down.

Church trusts receive a specific mention in the guide too, with new reference to the “diocesan strategy”. This is available online and sets out a summary of a diocese’s approach to trust governance and academisation and refers to the new model articles of association for church trusts published by the DfE in September 2023.

The academy trust governance guide is a very welcome refresh to support trustees on boards of trusts in today’s very demanding landscape.

Replacing its predecessors and very much on the same page as the ATH, the more streamlined focus is helpful and very much in line with the narrative from the DfE’s approach to simplify and support.

With no shock additions or load of new compliance to be wary of, it is a positive move to show trustees that governance can be refreshed and looked at anew.

The obligations, responsibilities, principles and moral purpose remain the same, just take a fresh look.