The Board of Trustees is WEA’s governing body. It has ultimate responsibility for the strategic direction of WEA. Trustees are also the Directors and Members of the Company.
The Board must have at least four and not more than fifteen Trustees. You can find their information on this biographies page.
The Board of Trustees meets at least four times a year to ensure that WEA’s activities carry into effect the charity’s object. Their work includes providing strategic oversight, scrutinising WEA’s financial performance and the performance of its management, agreeing budgets, monitoring the quality of educational provision and the safeguarding of beneficiaries and stakeholders, and reviewing current policies, initiatives, activities and plans.
Committees of the Board of Trustees
Committees of the Board of Trustees apply detailed, specialist scrutiny to matters within their respective remits, and support the Board in carrying out specific duties or oversight more thoroughly and effectively than the Board could otherwise do by acting together as a full board.
You can see the scheme of committees here.
You can see the committee terms of reference below:
All committees of the Board of Trustees are non-executive. We are currently recruiting co-opted members and welcome expressions of interest, for further information click here.
The WEA Council’s principal function is to promote the democratic involvement of all Association Members. In practice, it is an important stakeholder group and a forum for discussion of shared interests across the English regions and Scotland, making representations on their behalf to the Board of Trustees from time to time. From June 2024, WEA representatives on the Council include learners, volunteers, staff and external organisations linked to our work.
The Council's terms of reference can be viewed here.
The Council meets regularly either in its own right or with the Board of Trustees. In addition to its oversight of the democratic involvement of all Association Members and a number of other functions, it also:
- Supports and oversees learner voice, making appropriate recommendations to the Board based on findings.
- Receives and considers regular reports from Local Advisory Panels on WEA’s response to learner need (as determined by funders), the quality of the learner experience, and opportunities for extending WEA’s charitable reach.
- Advocates with the Leadership Team and the Board of Trustees protection for access to all aspects of lifelong learning (e.g., skills, ESOL, community learning, “leisure” learning, etc.) whether publicly funded or otherwise.
- Makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees on matters arising from impact research, and/or feedback or communications with the Association Membership.
Local advisory panels in England and local governance in Scotland
Local governance in England is delivered by a series of Local Advisory Panels.
You can view the details of our Panels, the Local Advisory Panel (LAP) terms of reference and the role descriptions of LAP Lead Volunteers and LAP Members here.
Local Advisory Panels replaced Regional Committees in August 2023. You can read more about this in our news story.
WEA’s affairs in Scotland are overseen by the Scotland Board, which is a direct committee of the Board of Trustees.
You can visit the WEA Scotland governance page here, where you can also view the terms of reference.
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WEA is governed in accordance with the object and powers set out in its governing documents, the Articles of Association and Regulations (last amended 11 July 2024).
You can read the Articles of Association and Regulations here.
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WEA is a charitable company limited by guarantee (number 2806910), incorporated on 5 April 1993 and registered as a charity in England and Wales (number 1112775) and Scotland (number 2806910).
You can view our Certificate of incorporation, and our Certificate of registration as a charity.
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WEA is a public benefit entity, the charitable object of which is to promote adult and general education for the benefit of the community regionally, nationally and internationally based on democratic principles in its organisation and practice, through the participation of its volunteers and members.
WEA’s Trustees confirm that they have due regard for Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and believe it to have been consistently applied, that the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011, and the requirements related to annual reporting within the Protection & Social Investments (Charities) Bill 2016 have been fully met when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance relates.
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Trustees have adopted the Charity Governance Code for Larger Charities and aim to carry out their duties in accordance with its guidance and standards.
WEA maintains a Governance Code of Conduct which applies to every individual involved in any area of WEA governance.
WEA’s Board of Trustees aims to be fully transparent in its conduct, and to that end maintains the following policies:
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An external governance review was commissioned by the Board of Trustees of WEA in November 2023 and was completed by Stone King LLP between January – May 2024.
You can read a summary of the report, including an action plan, here.
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WEA is committed to openness and transparency across all aspects of its governance. The Board of Trustees approved that their Board meeting minutes should be published on the WEA website from September 2023. You can download our latest minutes below.
October 2023
December 2023
March 2024
July 2024
Contact the Governance team
For all enquiries and requests for information, including contacting the Chair of Trustees, please contact us through the webform below, and one of the team will be back in touch.
