Add up the hours your clerking contract really needs and draft a one-page note to the Chair

A practising clerk and the NAGAS handbook describe contracts as often a small annual "pot" of hours that does not cover committees, training, extra meetings or chasing governors. The NAGAS handbook gives a calculator and Ask A Clerk gives rule-of-thumb allowances, but they differ (the handbook's example uses 8 to 10 hours a meeting, the advice site says 10 and seven is often recommended as a minimum). AI can lay out the sums from your own meeting schedule and your own logged hours, and draft a calm note to the Chair. It does not set your rate or say what is fair, and you check every total yourself.

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

1. Write down your contract: annual hours, hourly rate, number of full board and committee meetings, and whether extra meetings, training and panels are paid as overtime.
2. Log your actual hours for a term in a simple list by task (meetings, minutes, agendas, records, chasing, training, queries). Do not note any name or detail of what was discussed.
3. Paste the contract facts and the hours log into the prompt, with the per-meeting allowances you want to compare, taken from your own judgement or the sources you choose.
4. Check every sum with a calculator or spreadsheet. The tool arranges the numbers; you verify them.
5. Read the note to the Chair. Keep it factual: your hours, the meetings, the gap if any, and what you are asking to discuss. Do not state a rate the tool chose.
6. Send it yourself, ideally ahead of the Chair's appraisal or the annual review of the contract.

The exact prompt

I am a clerk to a school governing board in England. Using ONLY the figures below, build an annual hours table and draft a one-page note to the Chair about the hours allocated to my contract.
You must NOT set or suggest my hourly rate, say what is fair, say what other clerks are paid or give any figure from your own knowledge. If you calculate, show the working and say that I must check it. Do not include names or any detail of what boards discussed.
My contract: annual hours [text]; hourly rate [text]; full board meetings per year [text]; committee meetings per year, by committee [text]; whether overtime is paid for extra meetings, panels and training [text].
My allowances per meeting for comparison, in hours: [text].
My actual hours this term by task: [text].
Produce: (1) a table of annual hours by task using my allowances, with the formula shown, and the total compared with my contracted hours; (2) a table of my actual hours this term by task, with the total; (3) a one-page note to the Chair of no more than 200 words that states the facts and asks for a conversation about the allocation; (4) a list of what I have not told you that the Chair is likely to ask.