This Scheme of Delegation outlines the delegated responsibilities between the key governance tiers within the Everyone Matters Schools Trust (“the Trust”) – the Members of the Trust, Trust Board, CEO, Local Governing Boards (LGBs) and Principals.
This summary is designed for use by governance stakeholders within the Trust and external regulators, including Ofsted and the Education & Skills Funding Agency (“EFSA”).
Summary of governance structure
Within the Trust, the overarching approach to delegations for each governance tier is as follows:
- Members – Members have responsibility for ensuring that the charitable purpose of the trust is pursued. They have a limited and distinct role as set out in the scheme of delegation below.
- Trust Board – The Trust Board holds the ultimate legal accountability for all aspects of operation delivery, policy and decision making. They oversee the management and administration of the Trust and the academies within it. The Board will deal with non delegated key matters such as strategic direction, vision and values and educational targets.
- Chairs Action in certain circumstances in between meetings when a decision is needed by the Trust board and written agreement cannot be obtained from the Trustees. The Chair in these exceptional circumstances has the power to act on the behalf of the board and then have the action shared and retrospectively approved by the Trust Board.
- CEO – Holds delegated responsibility from the Trust Board to manage the day to day activities of the trust.
- Local Governing Boards – LGBs hold delegated power from the Trust Board at Academy level to make decisions and scrutinise at a local level.
- Academy Principals** – The Academy Principals within the Trust are responsible for all aspects of the day-to-day running of their setting and operational delivery of Academy improvement plans. ** The term Academy Principal is interchangeable with Headteacher when appropriate.
A multi academy trust’s board of trustees is accountable in law for all major decisions about all the schools within the trust. However, this does not mean that the board is required to carry out all the trust’s governance functions and many functions can and should be delegated elsewhere, including to the CEO, the board’s committees, and to LGBs.
At all levels of delegation, the Trust Board retains the right to withdraw delegation of certain responsibilities or functions if performance in the delegated area is a cause for concern or there is a need to refocus the delegated powers to secure rapid improvements. For example, if a school’s leadership and management is judged to be inadequate, the trustees may wish to take responsibility for governance at a local level to ensure the correct support and scrutiny is in place.
The decisions as to which powers the board has delegated are recorded in the document below. This allows individuals and groups to act promptly when such power is within their remit.
