Committee meeting agenda: format, example and template
The order a committee agenda follows, how to plan it around the board's calendar, how to mark what the committee can decide, with a worked example and a free template.
What is a committee meeting agenda?
A committee meeting agenda is the list of business a committee will take at its next meeting, in order, sent to members with the papers. It works like any meeting agenda, with one difference that shapes the rest: a committee answers to a board. Much of its business has been sent down by the board, and much of what it settles goes back up as a recommendation.
So a committee agenda is written with two documents open. The terms of reference say what the committee can decide for itself. The forward plan lists what it has to cover across the year, and which meeting takes each piece.
What order does a committee meeting agenda follow?
Most committees take their business in this order:
- Welcome, apologies and whether the meeting is quorate
- Declarations of interest
- Minutes of the last meeting, and matters arising or the action log
- Items for decision, and items to recommend to the board
- Items for noting, usually reports sent as papers
- The forward plan: what the next meeting will cover
- Any other business
- Date of the next meeting
- Confidential items, once anyone who isn't a member has left
As on any agenda, the decisions come before the reports. The confidential items go last for a practical reason: the finance officer or the auditor, who are in attendance but not members, can leave once rather than stepping out and back in for each item.
How do you plan a committee agenda around the board?
Start from the board's calendar. A committee that recommends to the board has to meet early enough for its recommendations to go in the board's papers, often two or three weeks before the board meets. Set the committee's dates for the year from the board's, not the other way round. The board's side of the cycle is in our guide to the board meeting agenda.
Keep a forward plan. Most committees have business that comes round once a year, such as the budget in the autumn or the accounts after the year end. A forward plan lists which meeting takes each item, so every agenda starts half written and nothing the terms of reference require gets missed.
Show what the board referred. When the board sends a question down, the item should say so: "Reserves policy, referred by the board on 24 September". The committee knows the board is waiting for an answer, and the minutes can report back against the referral.
Set a deadline for papers. A recommendation needs a paper the committee has had time to read, because the board will rely on it. Ask for papers a week before the meeting, and take any late item for discussion rather than recommendation.
How should items on a committee agenda be marked?
A team agenda marks items for decision, discussion or noting. A committee needs one more mark, because a decision can be taken in two places:
- To decide: within the committee's own powers, such as writing off a small debt up to a limit the board has set. The minute will read "resolved".
- To recommend: the committee forms a view, and the board decides. The minute will read "recommended to the board".
- For discussion: views wanted now, with a decision at a later meeting.
- For noting: a report to receive, with questions only.
Finance committee
Agenda
Thursday 12 November 2026, 6pm
Video call
DRAFT
Opening: apologies and quorum · declarations of interest · minutes of 10 September
these go to the board on the 26th
If you aren't sure whether an item is to decide or to recommend, the terms of reference settle it. Marking it on the agenda means the committee knows, before it starts, whether its answer is final.
Each item also names who brings it and the paper that goes with it, as on any agenda; the agenda guide covers how to write each item. An adviser joining for one item, such as the auditor, is listed against that item with a time, so they aren't kept waiting through the rest.
Committee meeting agenda example
The agenda for the finance committee meeting whose minutes are the worked example in our committee minutes guide.
Thursday 12 November 2026, 18:00
Finish: 19:15 · Video call · Chair: HB · Clerk: TL
Members: HB, DK, MW, RS · In attendance: TL, finance officer · Apologies: AF
Agree the committee's recommendations for the board meeting on 26 November
- Welcome, apologies and quorum (three members needed)
- Declarations of interest
- Minutes of 10 September and matters arising — for approval
- 1. Draft 2027 budget, including a 3% pay award — TL — 20 min — to recommend — paper 1
- 2. Reserves policy, referred by the board on 24 September — DK — 10 min — to recommend — paper 2
- 3. Audit tender: rank the three quotes — RS — 15 min — to recommend — paper 3
- 4. Write off £1,240 of debts over twelve months old — TL — 5 min — to decide, within the £5,000 limit — paper 4
- 5. Management accounts to 31 October — TL — paper only — for noting — paper 5
- Forward plan: the February meeting takes the risk register — for noting
- Any other business
- Date of the next meeting: Thursday 11 February 2027, 18:00
The recommendations come first, and the management accounts go round as a paper, so they take only questions. Item 4 is the one thing the committee can settle itself, and the agenda says so before the meeting starts.
Committee meeting agenda template
The template follows the order above, with the confidential items last. Download the Word file, free and with no sign-up, or copy it as text into your own document, and delete any heading you don't use.
[date], [start time]
Finish: [time] · [venue or video link] · Chair: [name] · Clerk: [name]
Members: [names] · In attendance: [staff or advisers, with the item they join for] · Apologies: [names]
[One sentence: what this meeting must decide or recommend, and for which board meeting]
Welcome, apologies and quorum ([number] members needed)
Declarations of interest
Minutes of [date] and matters arising — for approval
[n]. [What the item must settle] — [who brings it] — [time] — [to decide / to recommend / for discussion / for noting] — [paper n]
[n]. [Item], referred by the board on [date] — [who brings it] — [time] — to recommend — [paper n]
Forward plan: [what the next meeting takes] — for noting
Any other business
Date of the next meeting: [date, time]
[n]. [Item] — [who stays in the room]
The minutes then follow the agenda's item numbers, and our committee minutes template is laid out to match. If you'd rather not write them by hand, Sorinai fills in your own Word template while the meeting runs: see how template filling works.
Committee meeting agenda FAQ
Who sets a committee's agenda?
The committee chair, with the clerk or secretary, who drafts it from the forward plan and anything the board has referred. Members can ask for items by a set date. The board can add an item too, by referring a question to the committee.
How far ahead of the board should a committee meet?
Far enough for its minutes or report to go out with the board's papers. If the board sends its papers a week ahead, the committee has to meet at least a few days before that, and many meet two or three weeks before the board.
What is a committee forward plan?
A list, usually for the year, of which meeting takes each piece of regular business, such as the budget or the committee's yearly review of its own terms of reference. Each agenda starts from it, and the forward plan item near the end of each meeting checks that it is still right.
How do you put a confidential item on a committee agenda?
Take it last, under its own heading, so the staff and advisers who aren't members can leave once. Its paper goes to members only, and its minute is kept separately, so the rest of the minutes can still be shared.