New committee members bring fresh ideas and inject energy into your PTA. Help them feel confident in their role from the start by preparing a comprehensive handover pack.
- Good succession planning is crucial. Anticipate which members of your committee might step down this year, and start warming up other members (or new volunteers) to take over.
- Download our printable, editable handover pack checklist
Essential paperwork
- Constitution
- Accounts
- Banking details, including current signatories
- Minutes of meetings
- Insurance summary
- Charity registration details (if applicable)
- Gift Aid information
- HMRC details
- Policies ie social media, code of conduct, diversity, privacy policy
- Contact details for committee members, including first aid and DBS information
- Contact details for volunteers
- Information about relationships you have with local businesses and other supporters outside the school
- Details of affiliate schemes
- Passwords and usernames
- Details of parents who can access match funding
- Details of previous events with names and numbers of trusted suppliers
- Licences (ie lottery or film licence)
- A list of equipment owned by the PTA, including guarantees and information about where it’s stored
- Details of school equipment you can borrow
- Equipment servicing/testing (ie electrical items need to undergo an annual PAT test)
- Newsletter templates and old newsletters.
Calendar
Provide a list of activities the PTA is involved with over the year. For example, do you always serve refreshments at the Christmas carol concert or give a talk at the new starters’ evening?
Note when your annual return should be filed with the Charity Commission (if applicable) and expiry or renewal dates for items such as your annual lottery licence or insurance.
Accounting
It is best practice to have two authorised signatories on cheques and direct debits, so make sure everyone knows who yours are. An independent annual audit should also be carried out and annual accounts kept for a minimum of six years. Are there any financial commitments, such as maintenance contracts, which need to be flagged up?
Nice-to-have information
Cast your mind back to the beginning of your stint on the PTA committee. What sort of handover did you receive? What key information do you wish you’d been given? The notes you make will be invaluable for future committee members trying to get to grips with what was done before and lessons learned along the way.
- Detailed event information: from who DJs at discos and how much they charge, to where you buy burgers for the summer fair
- Ongoing fundraising initiatives: recycling schemes, 100 club, shopping affiliate schemes – who manages them and how often are they reviewed?
- Templates and letters: including sign-in sheets for school discos and raffle donation request letters
- Risk assessments: it’s much easier to review and amend these each year than start them from scratch
- Knowledge capsules and feedback documents from past events
- Details of raffle and auction prize donors and donations as well as sponsors and sponsorship
- ‘About our PTA’ letters and flyers.
Communication
If you have a noticeboard, who updates the information and how often? If you have a section in the school’s monthly newsletter, what’s the deadline for providing details for inclusion and who should this be sent to? If letters to parents need to be approved by the school before being distributed, who needs to see them and how long do you need to allow? If you have a PTA website, or you use social media channels, who are your administrators and what are the log-in details and passwords?
- Download the checklist
- When handing over contact details, be mindful of data protection regulations.
The above is intended as guidance only. We recommend that you contact the relevant organisations with specific reference to insurance, legal, health and safety and child protection requirements. Community Inspired Ltd cannot be held responsible for any decisions or actions taken by a PTA, based on the guidance provided.
