Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements to have a governing body for (1) a maintained school, and (2) an academy school, and whether a school of either kind can abolish its governing body.

Section 19 of the Education Act 2002 requires every maintained school to have a governing body, constituted in accordance with regulations.

Under the Academies Act 2010, an academy is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is therefore required under the Companies Act 2006 to have members and a board of trustees or directors.

It is not possible for a maintained school to abolish its governing body or an academy trust to abolish its board of trustees, however, it is possible for a group of schools to be governed by one governing body or academy trust.

When two or more maintained schools federate they operate under a single governing body, but each school remains a separate legal identity. In a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), individual academies do not have a separate legal identity and are all under the control of the trust board. Whether the board establishes local governing boards for each academy, and the range of functions delegated to any such boards, are both a matter for the board to determine – but in all cases the board remains accountable for the academies in the MAT.