role of the secretary

What is the role of the secretary
The role of the Secretary is to support the Chair in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Management Committee.

In summary, the Secretary is responsible for:

Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted
Maintaining effective records and administration
Upholding the legal requirements of governing documents, charity law, company law etc (where relevant).
Communication and correspondence
It is important to note that although the Secretary ensures that these responsibilities are met, much of the work may be delegated to paid staff or volunteers.
Given these responsibilities, the Secretary often acts as an information and reference point for the Chair and other committee members: clarifying past practice and decisions; confirming legal requirements; and retrieving relevant documentation.

Defining the role in your organisation
What this means in practice depends on the style and size of the organisation:

Where there are no paid staff members...
...the Secretary themselves will carry out all these duties and may also take a greater role in the day-to-day administration of the organisation. This can become a time-consuming role. Some management committees have more than one person with formal responsibility for secretarial tasks (e.g. a Minutes Secretary, Correspondence Secretary and Membership Secretary). Others delegate some of the administrative responsibilities to volunteers outside of the management committee to reduce the burden.

Where there are paid staff members...
...many activities can be delegated (e.g. record keeping, taking minutes, filing correspondence, communication of activities etc). The Secretary then ensures that their responsibilities are met, but will have less involvement in actually carrying them out.

Each Management Committee will have its own way of doing things, and the way in which work is shared out can also depend on the skills, interests or amount of time that a person has to offer. Always ensure that the role description for your Secretary matches the current dynamics of your organisation. (see links below or click here for more on developing role descriptions).

Main responsibilities of the Secretary

The responsibilities of the Secretary of a Management Committee are outlined below:

1. Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted

Liaising with the Chair to plan meetings
Receiving agenda items from committee members
Circulating agendas and reports
Taking minutes (unless there is a minutes secretary)
Circulating approved minutes
Checking that agreed actions are carried out.
More on the Secretary's role at meetings

2. Maintaining effective records and administration

Keeping up-to-date contact details (i.e. names, addresses and telephone numbers) for the management committee and (where relevant) ordinary members of the organisation.
Filing minutes and reports
Compiling lists of names and addresses that are useful to the organisation, including those of appropriate officials or officers of voluntary organisations.
Keeping a record of the organisation's activities
Keeping a diary of future activities
3. Upholding legal requirements

Acting as custodian of the organisation's governing documents
Checking quorum is present at meetings
Ensuring elections are in line with stipulated procedures
Ensuring organisation's activities are in line with its objects
Ensuring charity and company law requirements are met (where relevant, unless there is a separate company secretary)
Sitting on appraisal, recruitment and disciplinary panels, as required.
More on governing documents
More on charity law
More on company law

4. Communication and correspondence

Responding to all committee correspondence
filing all committee correspondence received and copies of replies sent
keeping a record of any of the organisation's publications (e.g. leaflets or newsletters) and
reporting the activities of the organisation and future programmes to members, the press and the public (unless there is an Information or Publicity Officer).
Preparing a report of the organisation's activities for the year, for the Annual General Meeting.
Use the links below to access further articles and resources which will help you understand the role of the Secretary and prepare your own role description or person specification:

The secretary's role at meetings
Characteristics of a good secretary
Role description

Company secretary

*Since April 2008, private companies are no longer required to have a Company Secretary, but Companies House needs to be informed if no Company Secretary is appointed and you must ensure this complies with your Articles of Association
If your organisation is incorporated as a limited company (e.g. Company Limited by Guarantee or a Community Interest Company), you may also have a Company Secretary*, which is different from the role of an honorary secretary. This post carries greater responsibility than an honorary secretary to ensure that the requirements of Company Law are met.

More on the Company Secretary
More on Company Law



Related principles
Effective delegation Honorary officers Sub-committees 5) Delegation Quick Reference
delegation roles and responsibilities secretary
Printer-friendly version Send to friend Feedback Contents
Introducing the Code
Leadership
Role of the Management Committee
Responsibilities & obligations
Compliance
Legal responsibilities
Legal structure
Understanding your governing document
Community business / Social enterprise
Internal controls
Financial oversight
Policy development
Equality and diversity
Prudence
Managing risk
Managing staff and volunteers
Effectiveness
Duties and responsibilities of members
Organising the committee's work
Information and advice
Skills and experience
Training, development and support
Staff
Volunteers
Reviewing and renewing
Renewal and recruitment
Review
Performance appraisal
Delegation
Effective delegation
Terms of reference
Monitoring
Delegating to honorary officers
Delegating to sub-committees
Delegating to staff and volunteers
Integrity
No personal benefit
Dealing with conflicts of interest
Probity
Openness
Communication and consultation
Openness and accountability
Stakeholder involvement


Related articles
The secretary's role at meetings
What is the role of the treasurer?
What is the role of the chairperson?
What is the role of honorary officers?
What is the role of sub-committees?
Responsibilities of Company Directors
Good leadership
What is the role of the finance sub-committee?
Characteristics of a good treasurer
Characteristics of a good secretary
Help! Defining the committee member's role
How to develop policies and procedures
Segregation of duties
Transparency and accountability
Management committee finance
Tax, PAYE and NICs Help! Sheet
Company Law Help! Sheet
Clarifying committee/staff roles
Related Resources
Who's who?
Company secretary role description
Chairperson role description
Governance Health Check
Advice Note: Charity Trustees' Duties (NICVA)
Doing it well (Community Change)
Model policies (Charity Governance)
Flowchart: the management committee's role in policy development (NCVO)
Advice Note: Committee procedures (NICVA)
Advice Note: Sub-Committees (NICVA)
Terms of reference: Finance sub-committee
Secretary role description
Treasurer role description
FAQs on the role of management committee members
NOS for Trustees and Management Committee Members
Checklist: Improving management committee/staff relations
Worksheet: Develop a role description
Example committee member role descriptions
Checklist: What new members need to know
Role of management committees: where can I get more information?
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