Should school governors be paid?

The thought of being recompensed financially never entered their heads, and councillors of all political persuasions served in this way for years.

Times have changed since then, of course.

All councillors today receive an allowance – and those who are fortunate enough to serve on a number of outside bodies which also pay allowances can do very nicely for themselves, thank you.

For example, Mr Pendle remembers a conversation he had with a former councillor on a reorganisation of county council structure which rendered many councillors virtually redundant and left important decisions in the hands of a cabinet made of a few.

Now we hear Ofsted’s chief inspector also wants some school governors to be paid.

The National Governors’ Association, however, is opposed to this, saying governors can do a decent job without being paid.

As someone whose former work colleagues include at least one school governor, Mr Pendle can only echo those sentiments.

And it does not take a degree in rocket science to work out that once some governors begin to be paid, it is only a matter of time before jealousy begins to kick in and, to stop the system falling apart, the rest will need to be reimbursed too.