Casual Governor Clerk

Jobsgopublic Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 31,000; Part time

Job summary

London Borough of Waltham Forest is seeking an organised Governing Board Clerk to join the central governance team. You will coordinate governance processes, maintain records, and support boards and committees.

You will be the first point of contact for governance inquiries, delivering clear, timely guidance with accuracy. The ideal candidate brings clerking experience, strong communication, and governance/compliance exposure, with a proactive, independent working style.

Qualifications

• Attend or be in the process of registering for the National Development Programme for Clerks to Governors.
• Commit to appropriate and regular training to maintain knowledge and improve practice.
• Keep up-to-date with current educational developments and legislation affecting school governance.
• Background in education is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Offer advice on governance best practice, including committee structures and self-evaluation.
• Ensure statutory policies are in place and revised as needed with staff support.
• Advise on the annual calendar of governing body meetings and tasks.
• Contribute to induction of governors taking on new roles, e.g. chair or committee chair.
• Liaise with those preparing papers to ensure timely availability.
• Ensure all meetings are quorate.
• Record attendance and manage apologies/absences.
• Provide draft minutes within five working days; indicate action owners and timescales.
• Advise governors and appointing boards before expiry of governor terms for timely elections/appointments.
• Chair the elections portion of meetings and provide procedural guidance.
• Extract relevant points from discussions to write clear meeting records.
• Summarise/interpret legislation or detailed information clearly.

Skills

clerking experience

excellent communicator

administrative skills

governance/compliance experience

leadership support interest

Education

National Development Programme for Clerks to Governors

Job description

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: SO2 £21.40 - £22.40 per hour

Contract Type: Casual/Permanent

Application Deadline: 05/10/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2295

About Us

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email [e-mail] so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role

We are seeking an organised, proactive, and collaborative Governing Board Clerks to join our central team.

As Governing Body Clerk, you will play a key role in coordinating governance processes, maintaining accurate records, and supporting the work of our Governance Boards and their committees. You will be the first point of contact for governance enquiries, ensuring stakeholders receive clear, timely, and well‑informed guidance. Your attention to detail and ability to work independently will help ensure compliance and promote effective decision‑making.

The ideal candidate will have clerking experience, will be an excellent communicator with strong administrative skills, experience in a governance or compliance‑focused environment, and a genuine interest in supporting effective leadership.

If you are motivated, efficient, and passionate about supporting strong governance, we’d love to hear from you.

Click here to download the Role Profile

Key Responsibilities

• Offering advice on best practice in governance, including on committee structures and self‑evaluation
• Ensuring that statutory policies are in place, and are revised when necessary, with the assistance of staff and central support team
• Offering advice on the annual calendar of governing body meetings and tasks
• Contributing to the induction of governors taking on new roles, in particular chair or chair of a committee
• Liaising with those preparing papers to make sure they are available on time
• Ensuring all meetings are quorate
• Recording the attendance of governors at meetings (and any apologies – whether they have been accepted or not), and take appropriate action in relation to absences,
• Providing draft minutes of governing body/board meetings within five working days of the meeting, indicating who is responsible for any agreed action with timescales, and send drafts to the chair and the Headteacher
• Advising governors and appointing boards/ bodies in advance of the expiry of a governor’s term of office, so elections or appointments can be organised in a timely manner;
• Chairing that part of the meeting at which the chair is elected, giving procedural advice concerning conduct of this and other elections
• Ability to select relevant points from a wide ranging /complex discussion and to write up as a clear, concise record of the meeting.
• Experience of summarising /interpreting legislation or other detailed information and communicating it simply and clearly.
• Taking an accurate record of the meeting

Qualifications and Requirements

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements:

• Post holder is expected to have attended, or be in the process of registering to attend the National Development Programme for Clerks to Governors;
• The post holder is expected to undertake appropriate and regular training and development to maintain their knowledge and improve practice;
• The post holder is expected to keep up‑to‑date with current educational developments and legislation affecting school governance;
• A background in education is desirable.

Terms and conditions

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• Satisfactory DBS check;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public‑facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self‑identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-…

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Sue Gill, Senior Support Officer via [e-mail] or Donna Miller, Governor Service Manager at [e-mail] or 02084966340

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at [e-mail].