Navigating uncertainty around Councils of Governors

On 3 July 2025 the government published a 10-year health plan for England (10YHP). Page 81 said the following:

"We will remove the requirement for FTs to have governors. While governors have provided helpful advice and oversight for some FTs, we expect the next generation of NHS FTs to put in place more dynamic arrangements to take account of patient, staff and stakeholder insight. This should include systematic measures of patient reported experiences and outcomes, as we detail in chapter 6."

This unexpected announcement created understandable disquiet among governors and those who work with them. Since July, it has become clear that the legislation required to implement this proposal is being developed to a timetable that will allow it to become law by 1 April 2027.  There has been no further information made available to Foundation Trusts (FTs) or to governors themselves following the announcement. This is in part because the change is dependent on passing legislation, which is not a certainty, and timescales cannot be guaranteed. However, NHS England (NHSE) has supported NHS Providers to conduct work with our member FTs and their governors to produce this briefing. 

The briefing sets out considerations for FT board members, governors and others who work with them to enable constructive conversations about the impact of the proposal. It also suggests practical approaches to sustaining an effective council of governors through this period of uncertainty and explores the potential for boards and governors to co-design next steps.

This briefing has been informed by the views of governors, FT board members and others who work with governors in NHS FTs. Their observations are set out in the Appendix. We are extremely grateful to all those who shared their views at our governor focus group on 12 December 2025, a trust staff focus group on 19 December, and a staff peer learning event on 21 January 2026. Thanks also to the governor and staff member reviewers of drafts of this briefing.

Please note: NHS Providers is taking a neutral position on the policy of removing the requirement to have councils of governors. We run a commercial governor support programme (GovernWell) which presents a potential conflict of interest should we lobby to retain the council model. In addition, FT board members have told us they have diverse views on the value that the council model adds to the formal governance of FTs. However, most FT board members welcome the public, staff and stakeholder voice and accountability that councils bring, which the 10YHP proposes can be achieved in different ways, and we focus on this later in this briefing.