Board Performance Reviews

A purposeful review of a Board’s performance or of a company’s governance arrangements generally will promote improved effectiveness and efficiency and ensure the board is leading aligned with the company’s strategy, goals and values. All companies subject to the UK Corporate Governance Code are expected to review the performance of their board, its committees, the chair and individual directors on an annual basis, and to regularly do the same using an external facilitator. In FTSE 350 companies the externally facilitated board performance review should happen at least every three years. Outside of specific regulatory obligations a regular Board Performance Review is regarded as best governance practice.

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Delivering you peace of mind : Ways in which we can support you

Our expert governance team delivers our clients peace of mind in meeting this important regulatory and best practice requirement.

We offer a number of different board performance review models, always focusing on what best suits our clients' ways of working and budgets, and supports them in discharging relevant regulatory obligations and meeting best practice.

Our governance professionals within the LawDeb UK Corporate Secretarial Services team (UK CSS) who work with our clients on their Board Performance Reviews, are experienced practitioners currently also working within other governance contexts across a variety of sectors and profiles.

We have a clear methodology which puts our clients’ interests and requirements at its centre. Contact us for more details, or keep reading.

Meet our expert team

Board Review Enquiry

An initial client scoping meeting with our proposed Board Performance Review Lead will be followed by the selection of a dedicated LawDeb review team from among our UK CSS governance professionals, based on experience and technical skills designed to deliver on the review scope.

Access arrangements will be agreed consistent with the scope requirements and may include Director and Executive interviews, board material and minutes reviews and board and committee meeting attendance.

A delivery schedule will be coordinated with the client's board business schedule allowing review drafts to be considered and finalised for presentation to the Board Recommendations flowing from the review can then form the basis of further client engagement.

Our clients might use this externally facilitated Board Performance Review to meet the triennial UK Corporate Governance Code obligation or best practice expectations or other specific governance requirements, for instance, in the event of a significant change to the board such as the appointment of a new chair, or, subsequent to an acquisition or regulatory intervention.

To complement the externally facilitated Board Performance Review, LawDeb can assist clients with the co-ordination of an Online Annual Review Process on a platform operated by LawDeb. A scoping process will again be undertaken with the client to agree relevant areas for review and questions will be compiled and distributed to directors and other relevant individuals.

Results can then be presented in tabular and graph form with accompanying narrative that can be used to prompt Board discussions which we can assist with or facilitate according to client requirements. This will also assist clients in meeting the annual review requirement referenced within the UK Corporate Governance Code.

Further, a standard one-off Governance Health-Check Review can be undertaken which will address specific areas identified by the client such as Board Meetings, Board Materials, Board Logistics, etc which can be undertaken on a desk-top basis.

Working with us : We lead by example

LawDeb commits that it will adhere to the Code of Practice of the Corporate Governance Institute and its four principles, and that we will review regularly our compliance with this Code of Practice. These principles are:

Competence and capacity
Independence and integrity
Client engagements
Client disclosure

LawDeb will regularly review its compliance with the CGI Code.

LawDeb provides a full suite of governance services to clients offered by UK CSS and the wider independent professional services (IPS) business lines.

Successful client relationships are at the heart of all we do at LawDeb. Within the UK CSS Board Performance Review team oversight of client interests across a wide portfolio of clients requires a commitment to management of conflicts of interest. The LawDeb Board Performance Review Conflicts of Interest policy (available on request) defines relevant conflict categories and identification, mitigation, disclosure and management processes which provide assurance to our clients.

More generally LawDeb recognises the importance of maintaining independence from our clients to ensure that analysis and advice is not undermined by over familiarity or dependence on a client. To ensure that this independence of approach is maintained, LawDeb looks to adhere to the good practice standard of not extending a Board Performance Review relationship with a client beyond eight years (a period which would typically include two consecutive full board performance reviews and associated follow-up work).

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Find out more about our services

We are transparent about the cost for our services and will happily discuss this early on in our conversations. Of course, the cost is dependent on the type of review that you are looking for and also the time frames that you would like to work to. All Board Performance Review Leads are led by senior members of the UK CSS team.

Please contact patrick.davis@lawdeb.com or sharon.mckinney@lawdeb.com for an introductory discussion, we would be delighted to discuss your requirements in more detail.