Calling all clerks to primary school governors

[mum2supercharlie]

Hi this is my 1st new thread...please be gentle...:)

I am being given all sorts of different advice about what to pay to expect for being a clerk to the school governors at a Primary School of approx. 400 children and there are approx. 14 governors positions when all filled. (Just to give an idea of size of the task).

The council offer the clerking service and their costs are on their website and they charge between £150-250 per meeting, dependent on block bookings being made.

I have been told that I will be paid for all the hours I do in between the meetings as well. There are those that have done the job before and are telling me not to get ripped off and others are reluctant to give the money. The chairman to the governors said I will be given lots and lots to do and they are the one telling me to speak to the council for a recommendation about how much I should charge and also the person telling me to charge all the hours I do.

But the reason the school have stopped going with the council service is to kerb costs. What is reasonable to expect or ask for?

[zanzibarmum]

If the council is charging the school upto 250 pounds for one person to attend a meeting, albeit in evening perhaps, take minutes and type these up it is no wonder the school is looking to go elsewhere. If the meeting is 2 or so hours + typying up I would s ay maximum 40 pounds.

[mercibucket]

what kind of clerking work are you doing though? is it just minute taking/agenda writing etc or do you need to know all the rules about the meetings etc as well? there's probably a lot of extra work outside the main meeting = no way should you tie yourself to £40 unless that's just for the meeting and typing up afterwards!

[mum2supercharlie]

Thanks for the replies zanzibarmum and mercibucket, well two of the previous clerks got paid £60-65 per meeting. They said to ensure I wasn't paid pittance as they found there was a lot of work in between. Hence the vacancy going unfilled so long....!

As far as I know the clerking involved would be p.a. to the chairman in between receiving all the info they receive. Reading, distributing this to all govs and yes going on all the courses keeping upto date with all the rules etc.

[mum2supercharlie]

I am not expecting to charge £150 per meeting btw :)

[mum2supercharlie]

Me again...duties involve:
all that on page 14 of this guide to number of hours needed for clerking
czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/schoolmanagement/governors/clerks/Documents/recruitment-and-development-of-the-clerk-a-toolkit-for-chairs.pdf

[mablemurple]

The rates I have seen for these posts pay from £50 - £60 per meeting, and approx £150 for the AGM. None of them have mentioned hourly rates for work outside the meetings. There is nothing to stop you negotiating something but I would make sure you get a proper jd to ensure the PA work and other duties are properly defined. It is a responsible post and you do have to have a lot of procedural knowledge so don't undersell yourself.

[dajen]

I have been a clerk for many years, employed directly by the school rather than the LA. A trained clerk is a far more than someone to attend meetings and take minutes as you need to become an expert on the law relating to school governance to guide and advise the governors and ensure they are acting in accordance with the law. Training is essential. The time attending meetings is the tip of the iceburg. Far more time is spent in organising the agenda and collecting together all the papers to be circulated, and then preparing the minutes and taking follow up actions agreed at the meeting. Will you also be clerking committee meetings? Same procedure but slightly less time consuming. You also need to look after GB membership and the amount of work this will entail will depend on how the GB operates and the turn over of governors. There are a whole range of other functions the GB may ask you to undertake which seem to vary from school to school.

I have always been paid an hourly rate for hours actually worked. I think this is a far better arrangement than being paid per meeting as all meetings and the work they involve are differant and this also allows for all the extra matters that arise between meetings.
Look at www.ukgovernors.org.uk as it is a good source of information and has a clerks thread where pay issues often arise. I am paid at the top end of school admin staff pay scale.

[mum2supercharlie]

Thank you both mablemurple and dajen. I felt a dilemma and didn't want to undersell myself which is the likely outcome. I had been recommended the local websites but they didn't have a personal touch. Thank you so much for the website address as well, it has been put on my favourites list already! :)

[newbeliever]

Hi mum2 - I am a clerk to the govs - I work for the council and I also clerk one school direct. For the council, I am expected to clock 20hrs per meeting - this covers attending termly clerks guidance training, preparing the papers, attending the meeting, minutes and action/follow-up + ensuring the governing body meet all their statutory obligations, keeping the consitutation upto date, general admin/filing etc. As Dajen says, there is definitely more to it than most people realise, so do not under-estimate what is required! Generally, I do use all the hours, as once you factor in phone calls, e-mails, conversations at the school etc it does all add up. If I find I've still got a couple of hours left, I usually do something extra to help ie do a bit on research on policies. By the way I am paid £12.50 per hour.

For the school I clerk direct, they loosely based my earnings on the county model (I am in Surrey) - they pay me monthly, I do eight meetings a year which works out at £180 per meeting.

I also clerk committee meetings for the council - they allow 8 hours for this.

Hope that helps! Do PM me if you would like more detailed info.

[durkan2410]

I've been a primary school clerk for many years. I charge around £2,000 pa which includes 3-4 full meetings pa, 2 committees each term and all the other bits and pieces (agendas, keeping records up to date, organising training etc). This seems about right to me and my schools are happy with the rate. Hope this helps.

[Feenie]

I doubt it - three years later

How did you not see the zombie thread alert?!