Every forum is unique and the roles within them may be different. Forums will want to consider how they can share their workload to ensure a range of parent carers can be involved. Spreading the workload will also help to ensure that forums limit the risk of burnout to individuals within the forum.
It is helpful for forums to be clear about the roles and responsibilities of active members. This can help to ensure people feel valued and help to avoid confusion as to who is doing what, which can lead to internal conflict.
Identifying roles in a forum
TOP TIP
It’s helpful to look at the kinds of work currently being done and make a list of this. The steering group could do this together, using post it notes for each area of work or task. You can then start to group the post it notes to make different roles.
The kinds of work done by forums includes:
- Maintaining the forums membership database.
- Updating and monitoring social media and website.
- Organising and running events, training, informal meetings.
- Carrying out surveys and report writing.
- Presentations to partners and parents.
- Handling enquiries from parents via email, phone, social media.
- Co-ordinating parent representatives for strategic meetings.
- Recruitment, induction, training and support of parent representatives and steering group members.
- Outreach work to link with other groups and widen your forums reach.
- Taking minutes and managing internal communications between steering group members and parent reps.
- Building relationships with Local Authority, Health and Voluntary Sector Partners.
- Writing policies and procedures.
- Chairing or facilitating meetings both internal and external.
- Representing parents’ views on strategic groups.
Please note that this list is not a full list so it’s important that forums look at the work currently happening and identify work the forum may want to do in the future. When designing roles, the forum may need to consider if a volunteer can reasonably carry out the role, or if it should be a paid role. Forums will want to consider the handbook page “paying people” when doing this.
- CEO role description and person specification
- Events and Comms role description and person specification
- Engagement Co-ordinator role description and person specification
- Admin and Membership manager role description and person specification
- Parent Carer Rep role description and person specification
Leadership roles
Depending on the forums legal structure, the people that run the forum may have different role titles, for example trustee, director, committee member or steering group member. Whatever their title, these are usually the people responsible for ensuring the forum meets all its responsibilities and runs effectively.
The role of a trustee is to have overall control and responsibility for a charity. Trustees are usually unpaid (although there are some limited exceptions to this) and must work in the best interests of the charity. It is important that charity trustees are aware of their responsibilities under charity law, and you can read more about the trustee role through the Charity Commissions guidance.
Directors of community interest companies have a number of duties under the Companies Act 2006, and this includes running the forum in a way that satisfies the ‘community interest test.’ The Companies Interest companies guidance provides information on the requirements for directors.
Steering group or committee members often are the group of parent carers who lead the forum when it is an unincorporated organisation/group. Within a steering group you may also have a chair, secretary and treasurer.
Forum Chair – This role includes chairing meetings, encourage discussion and support the group to make decisions. This role is designed not to take on main responsibility and decision making. It is important work is shared out so that the chair does not burn out. You could think about having Co Chairs rather than a stand alone chair
Vice Chair – This role supports the chair and is able to step in if the chair is unavailable.
Secretary – This role will take brief notes of what was agreed at meetings and who is responsible for doing the agreed tasks
Treasurer/finance lead – This role supports with applying for the DFE participation grant and oversee the keeping of finance records
See our online learning sessions on the role of the treasurer and other roles in the forum.
Parent carer representatives
Forums will want to nominate parent carer representatives to sit on local authority and health service strategic boards, committees, or task and finish groups so that parents’ voices are heard and acted upon when decisions are being made about services affecting their children. It is important that parent carer representatives are able to feed in not only their own experiences and views but also those of others, even if they personally do not agree with them.
You will want to make sure parent carer representatives report back to you about their work. Some forums find it helpful to have a minimum of two parents on a steering group. This has the following advantages:
- It may enable the forum to represent a wider group of experiences, for example early years, primary, secondary, transition, learning disability, physical or complex needs.
- It is less intimidating for parents.
- More experienced parents can support new parent carer representatives.
- If one parent carer is unable to attend a meeting, the other parent carer can cover.
Some forums are structured so that all parent carer representatives are also members of the forum steering group but this is not always the case. It is important to have processes in place if you have parent carer representatives who sit on committees but are not members of the steering group. Make sure they have someone on the forum they can contact if they begin to find this work difficult or if they have any questions.
We run a parent rep training course annually, contact your Contact adviser for more information or visit our training pages.
Video: Being a parent rep
Support for the different roles in the forum
Forums may wish to arrange an induction for all parent carer representatives or those in a leadership role. This means they will know what is required of them, agree to the code of conduct, and understand the support available to them when carrying out their role.
It may be useful to draw up role descriptions and or have a ‘parent carer reps’ agreement. Arrange for any new parent carer taking up a representative or leadership role to go through the induction and provide a mentor if necessary until they are confident in carrying out the role on their own.
Last Updated: August 2025
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Looking for something else? You can find a full list of pages on our Parent carer forum handbook contents page.
Other resources you may find useful
Policies and Procedures
Find more information and downloadable templates for policies and procedures.
Read more
Paying people in the forum
Information for forums about paying people including staff, self-employed and volunteer expenses.
Read more Managing staff and self-employed people
Information for forums on how to recruit and manage staff. It also looks at the rules around employment and self-employment.
Read more Managing volunteers
Information for forums on how to manage volunteers so they feel valued members of the forum.
Read more
The role of the Treasurer
A recorded webinar on the role of the treasurer in parent carer forums. Find out more about budgeting, cash flow forecasts and end of year accounts, how to operate a basic accounts system, how to carry out bank reconciliation and handle petty cash systems and effective systems to managing expenses and mileage claims
Roles and responsibilities of the chair and the secretary
This webinar will enable all parent forum members to understand the roles and responsibilities of all committee members, including the roles of the chair and secretary. It will help forums improve their governance and enhance decision making within their forums.
