# The School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012, Regulation 18: Term of office

Extent: E+W

(1) Subject to paragraphs (1A) to (5), a governor holds office for a fixed period of four years from the date of that governor’s election or appointment.
(1A) A governor who is elected or appointed on or after 1st September 2015 may hold office for a period of less than four years, where the instrument of government so allows.
(2) A person who is a governor by virtue of being head teacher of the school or who is an ex officio foundation governor may not hold office for longer than the position from which the governorship derives is held by that person.
(3) Any additional governor or additional foundation governor appointed under Part 4 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 may hold office for such period up to a maximum of four years as is determined at the time of appointment by the person making the appointment .
(4) The instrument of government may, in relation to a particular category of governor—
(a) specify a term of office not being a period of less than one year or more than four years; or
(b) set out that the term of office for any governor within that category may be determined by those appointing the governor, not being a period of less than one year or more than four years.
(5) A substitute governor holds office until the earlier of the following—
(a) the expiry of four years from the date when the appointment of the substitute governor takes effect;
(b) the date when the original governor (“O”), not having been removed from office under regulation 21, gives written notice to the clerk to the governing body to the effect that O is able and willing to act as a foundation governor; or
(c) the date when a person other than the original governor takes the office by virtue of which the ex officio foundation governorship exists.
(6) This regulation does not prevent a governor from—
(a) being elected or appointed for a further term, save as otherwise provided in these Regulations;
(b) resigning from the office of governor in accordance with regulation 19(1);
(c) being removed from office under regulations 20 to 25; or
(d) being disqualified, by virtue of any provision of these Regulations, from holding or continuing to hold office.
(7) An associate member may hold office for a period of four years, or such shorter period (not being less than one year) as may be determined by the governing body at the date of the appointment.
(8) Nothing in this regulation prevents an associate member from being reappointed at the expiry of the associate member’s term of office.
(9) In this regulation “the original governor” means the ex officio foundation governor in whose place the substitute governor is appointed to act.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1034/regulation/18 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/school-governance-constitution-england-regulations-2012/regulation-18
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.