DfE pulls funding for governor recruitment service
The Department of Education (DfE) has announced they will no longer provide funding for Inspiring Governance, a governor and trustee recruitment service.
The National Governance Association (NGA) has released an open letter to Secretary of State Gillian Keegan calling the choice "nothing short of a disgrace."
The scheme connects volunteers who are interested in serving as school governors with schools in England.
NGA said Inspiring Governance has helped recruit 8,000 school governors and trustees since it launched with Department for Education funding back in 2016.
However, they also found in a 2022 survey that two-thirds of school or trust governing boards had at least one vacancy as the number of empty posts hit a six-year high.
Emma Knights and Emma Balchin, co-chief Executives at NGA, said in their letter that almost a quarter of a million citizens in England volunteer to govern state schools and academy trusts.
The letter added that the DfE is "no longer supporting in any way this enormous band of selfless people governing our schools and trusts."
The letter said: "NGA will of course continue to support governing boards, but the fact that your Government seems willing to overlook their contribution is nothing short of a disgrace."
The funding will end in September.
Read moreLatest News
18/06/2025 - 11:01
The government has confirmed that they will not be extending their Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) grants, after five years of allocating money to public sector buildings, such as schools, to replace inefficient heating systems.
18/06/2025 - 10:40
The Scottish government has published new guidance on setting out a range of approaches for schools to consider when responding to behaviour.
17/06/2025 - 10:26
One in four children who are entitled to free school meals in special schools aren’t taking them up, according to an Adapt-Ed study.
17/06/2025 - 10:02
Scotland has seen an increase in the number of young people in work, training or further study nine months after they have left school, at 93.1 per cent in 2023-24.
16/06/2025 - 11:06
The Scottish government have expanded their childcare provision through several projects backed by Access to Childcare Funding, which will see almost £1.5 million distributed across seven initiatives over the next two years.
