Free resources for PTAs and PTFAs
Most people join a PTA committee because they offered to help with the summer fair. A year later they are signing cheques, counting raffle money at the kitchen table and wondering whether the AGM needs a quorum. Not everyone is told that the committee is usually the charity's board, and its members are its trustees.
This page gathers the material on this site that suits a parent-run committee. “PTA” here covers PTFAs and friends' groups too. Most of the material was written for charity boards in general, so where it says “trustees”, read “committee members”. It is all free, with nothing to sign up to.
New to the committee?
If you were elected at this year's AGM, two hours in the first month will save a lot of trouble later. First, read your constitution, especially what it says about the AGM, elections, quorum and who can sign for payments. Second, find out where everything is: the bank mandate, online banking access, the HMRC login if the PTA claims Gift Aid, last year's accounts, the insurance documents and the minutes. If the outgoing officers are still around, ask them now.
1. Start with the basics
PTAs and PTFAs: running the committee properly
Registration in each UK nation, what being a trustee means for a parent volunteer, bank accounts and Gift Aid, raffles and licences, and what to hand over at the AGM.
Read the guide: PTAs and PTFAs: running the committee properly →The six trustee duties, explained like a human
What each duty means on an ordinary committee evening, with examples of getting it right and wrong. It follows the Charity Commission's guidance for England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland set the duties out differently, and the four-nations guide covers this.
Read the guide: The six trustee duties, explained like a human →Charity law across the UK's four nations
Three regulators and three sets of rules. Much of the guidance online is written for England and Wales, and this explains what is different in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Read the guide: Charity law across the UK's four nations →Governance FAQ: quick answers
Short answers on quorum, AGMs, conflicts, reserves and annual returns, checked against Charity Commission guidance.
Read the FAQ: Governance FAQ: quick answers →2. Meetings and minutes
Charity board minutes template
A clear layout with decision and action logs built in, plus a one-page guide to what minutes must (and needn't) record. It works just as well for a committee meeting as for a board.
Get the template: Charity board minutes template →Sample completed minutes
A full worked example for a fictional charity, so you can see what finished minutes look like before writing your own.
View the sample: Sample completed minutes →How to write good minutes
What minutes are for, why they are not a transcript, and how to record decisions and actions so that someone who missed the meeting understands them.
Download free: How to write good minutes →Meeting agenda template
An agenda designed to finish in 90 minutes, with decisions taken first. Suits a termly committee meeting with a hall booking after it.
Download free: Meeting agenda template →Decision log & action tracker
For the meeting where nobody can remember whether the committee agreed to fund the new reading books or only talked about it. Every decision numbered in its exact wording, with a rolling action log alongside.
Download free: Decision log & action tracker →How long should we keep minutes and papers?
Retention periods for minutes, accounts and other records, with a ready-to-adopt retention schedule.
Read the guide: How long should we keep minutes and papers? →3. Money, from the cash box to the bank
Cash events are where PTAs are most exposed. Count cash in pairs, write down the total and bank it promptly.
Financial controls policy
Dual authorisation, spending limits, cash handling and expenses, built on one rule: no single person controls a transaction from start to finish. The cash-handling section and the authorisation table are the parts most PTAs need.
Download free: Financial controls policy →Conflicts of interest policy and register
For when a parent's business is quoting for the bouncy castle or the printing. A short policy, a register of interests and a declaration form.
Download free: Conflicts of interest policy and register →The treasurer's report: what the board actually needs
Why the bank balance on its own is not a finance report, how to show money raised for a particular purpose, and a one-page structure that gets the committee asking useful questions.
Read the guide: The treasurer's report: what the board actually needs →Deadline checker
If your PTA is registered, enter your financial year end and get every filing deadline that applies (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI), with calendar reminders to download. Worked out in your browser; your dates are not sent anywhere.
Check your dates: Deadline checker →Everything here, for treasurers
Filing dates, financial controls and reporting to the committee, gathered on one page for the treasurer.
Open the page: Everything here, for treasurers →4. Children, parents' details and the public register
Safeguarding policy
Named contacts, how to report a concern and what happens next, with a key-contacts sheet and a concern record form. Agree with the school how its own safeguarding arrangements apply at PTA events.
Download free: Safeguarding policy →Data protection policy
UK GDPR at the level a small charity needs, including consent and marketing emails. It comes with an information asset register, a useful way to record where parent contact lists are kept.
Download free: Data protection policy →Keeping your name off the public register
If your PTA is a registered charity, committee members' names can appear on the regulator's public register. What each regulator shows, and what to do if being named would put someone at risk.
Read the guide: Keeping your name off the public register →5. Filling the committee each new school year
Recruiting trustees when nobody replies
Role descriptions people answer, and where to post them for free or next to nothing. The advice applies to a PTA's treasurer and secretary roles as much as to any charity board.
Read the guide: Recruiting trustees when nobody replies →New trustee induction pack
A welcome letter, a first-90-days checklist and a reading list. Send it to new committee members the week after the AGM.
Download free: New trustee induction pack →If nobody wants to be secretary
The secretary's role is often the hardest to fill. Send us the recording of your committee meeting or AGM and we will send back draft minutes: £19 for a meeting of up to two hours, then £10 for each extra hour, back within two working days and checked by a chartered governance professional. You approve the minutes before you pay.
See how it worksEverything on this page is general information for trustees and committee members, not legal, accounting or financial advice, and your constitution always comes first. Rules change, so confirm the current position with your regulator or a suitably qualified adviser before acting.