Assistant Company Secretary

Job description

Role purpose:

To be a Disability Gamechanger.

To work with the Head of Governance & job share Company Secretary to provide comprehensive, high quality and cost-effective corporate governance and company secretarial services to the trustees and executive leadership of the charity and its subsidiaries.

Managing all arrangements and governance support for committees and general meetings of the charity and its subsidiaries; including attendance as secretary, preparation of agendas, collation and circulation of reports, taking accurate minutes, disseminating actions, and drafting governance reports;

Main responsibilities and accountabilities: 

Act as key point of contact, advice and provide appropriate challenge to, Trustees, senior colleagues and colleagues on matters relating to the business of all Committees.  Providing professional governance and administrative support to the Committees and any Task Groups created by Scope’s Board of Trustees. Supporting the full cycle of business for the Board’s Committees including preparing agenda packs, attending meetings, minute taking and following up on agreed actions.  

1. Supporting the Head of Governance and Company Secretary in ensuring that Scope fulfils its obligations under legal and regulatory regimes. 
2. Contributing to, managing, and providing administrative support with the forward planning processes for the Board, its Committees and Task Groups.  Manage forthcoming business for Committees ensuring that they reflect and feed into the Board’s work programme. 
3. Contributing to and manage any company secretarial processes relating to Scope’s subsidiaries. 
4. Responsible for maintaining all statutory and other registers for Scope and its subsidiaries, including responsibility for managing Scope’s Signing and providing advice on, the use of the Scheme of Delegation and ensuring compliance with this document. Provide advice and manage contracts to be signed by Trustees and ensure that they are reflected on Scope’s Signing Register and in reports to the Board. 
5. Support implementation of organisational governance processes, policies and procedures. Provide advice and guidance to Trustees and senior colleagues on the compliance of decision making with the relevant legislation and regulations and Scope’s own governing documents.  
6. Supporting and undertaking company secretarial duties for the Charity and its subsidiaries as directed by the Head of Governance and Company Secretary.
7. Submit accurate and timely returns, filings, applications and other documents to Companies House, the Charity Commission and elsewhere as required.  Plan and assist in the collection and review of information needed for the annual return to the charity commission.
8. Maintain the annual governance and compliance calendar.
9. Act as a co-ordinator for meetings of the Assembly including room and hotel bookings, ordering catering and making all necessary arrangements for Scope’s Members. Make all practical arrangements for Committee and Board meetings including room booking, ordering catering and making necessary AV arrangements.
10. Manage and process all procurement/payments in relation to the Governance Team budget. Manage and process meeting expenses for Trustees, Independent Committee Members and Members of Scope.  
11. Provide administrative support to the Head of Governance and Company Secretary and to the wider Chief Executive’s Office, including the recruitment of Trustees and independent members.
12. Assist the Head of Governance in organising the internal audit programme, meetings and report review process
13. Providing cover for Governance team members when the need arises, to ensure continuity and consistency of governance support. Working seamlessly across department or team boundaries in a collaborative and constructive manner to implement Scope’s strategic direction.
14. Take responsibility for Scope’s policy review process including maintaining the policy index and owners, scheduling annual reviews, processing updates and ensuring that consistent format is maintained and documents are saved correctly. And, working within Scope’s policies, processes and procedures at all times.  
15. Monitor the gifts & hospitality notification inbox and record items reported on the register.  Ensure the register is reviewed annually.
16. Demonstrating a commitment to customer service excellence and delivering against the requirements of Scope’s quality framework. 
17. Maintain the audit tracker and obtain, add new internal audit recommendations after every report, obtain updates on all points every quarter and discuss with the EDF&T.  Prepare the summary report for ARC and update the list after each ARC meeting.   
    
    These duties may be added to or deleted from and may be subject to change. 

Key contacts

Internal contacts

• The Chief Executive and ED Finance & Technology
• Members of the Executive Leadership Team 
• The Chair of Scope 
• Trustees and Independent Committee Members 
• Report authors (senior colleagues) across the organisation 
• Head of Governance and Company Secretary
• Assistant Company Secretary (job share)
• Members of the Executive Support Team

External contacts

• Charity Commission
• Scope’s Auditors
• Scope’s Members and the Assembly 

Person specification 

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Experience of Company secretarial work in a medium / large organisation, including organising and minuting senior level meetings
• All aspects of corporate governance work (except shares) including governance reviews, directors' duties, maintaining registers, advising on Articles of Association.
• Experience of formal meeting and agenda management and minute taking for Committees and groups. 
• Experience of managing a wide range of senior stakeholders and governance experience.
• Experience setting short term goals to meet a long-term business plan.
• Experience analysing and reporting on data and KPI’s.
• Experience of working as part of a team, and coordinating team activity.
• Evidence of coordinating projects in a large business or charity.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills.
• Preparation for and support of senior management meetings.
• Administrative and document management experience.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills. 
• Experience of IT skills covering standard applications such as MS Word, Teams, Outlook and Excel, and Zoom. 

Desirable

• Legal qualification or training 
• Knowledge of charity regulation
• Knowledge of voluntary or health and social care sector
• Lived experience of disability.
• Understanding of the social model of disability
• Understanding of accessibility  

Desirable

• ICSA ICSA qualification (fully qualified or studying for qualification)

Skills and competencies

Essential

• Demonstrates a facilitative management style to build and maintain effective internal and external relationships and resolve conflict where necessary, Comfortable working with those at a senior level; able to exercise tact and sensitivity and challenge constructively.
• Evidences meticulous attention to detail.
• Ability to manage time and prioritise tasks, working flexibly, autonomously or within teams to challenging deadlines.
• Proactive problem-solving skills seeking to continuously improve ways of working. 
• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills - able to build trust and credibility.
• Ability to engage and communicate effectively, demonstrate sensitivity, and influence and negotiate with a range of stakeholders.
• Ability to coordinate people across a large organisation
• Demonstrable collaboration, listening and communication skills with the ability to adapt to a diverse range of people and colleagues across levels of seniority. 
• Logical, practical and structured approach.
• Maintains strong team ethic & culture of continuous improvement.