WEA Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is WEA’s governing body, comprising a minimum of twelve Trustees. The Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for the strategic direction of WEA. Trustees are also the Directors and Members of the Company. 

The Board currently comprises fifteen Members, 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. 

WEA Council

Formally a committee of the Board of Trustees, 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.

The purpose and remit of WEA Council are encoded in WEA’s Articles of Association and Regulations

If you are a WEA member we are currently seeking nominations for the roles of President and Deputy President. You can find out more about this here Officer Role Nominations. The nominations will close on the 2nd of April at 5pm.

Regional governance

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.

You can view the WEA Scotland Board terms of reference here.

Regional 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

The introduction of Local Advisory Panels is a recent initiative. You can read about the pivot of Regional Committees to Local Advisory Panels in our news story. 

Governing Documents of the Workers’ Educational Association

WEA is governed in accordance with the object and powers set out in its governing documents, the Articles of Association (last amended 8 December 2022) and Regulations (last amended 8 December 2022).   

You can read the Articles of Association and Regulations here.

Certificates

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.

Statement of Public Benefit

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. 

Codes of Conduct & Policies

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:

Minutes of the Board of Trustees

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

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.

Contact us

How do we use the information we gather from you?
Please see our privacy policy