Free policy template · CC BY 4.0

Conflict of Interest Policy

Declaring, recording and managing conflicts so decisions stand up to scrutiny.

Version
1.0
Last reviewed
2026-08-10
Review
Annually, at the AGM
Licence
CC BY 4.0

A parent's business quotes for the shade sails. The treasurer's partner applies for the paid canteen role. Someone's best friend is pushing hard for one supplier over another. None of these are wrong — but all of them will be talked about in the pickup line, and a committee with nothing written down has no answer.

This policy gives you the answer: it was declared, it's in the minutes, they left the room, here's the vote. That record is what turns an awkward situation into a non-event. It's also the single most useful policy to have before you need it, because writing one mid-argument looks exactly like what it is.

The mistake almost every committee makes

Declaring the interest and then staying in the room "just to explain the background". Explaining the background is influencing the decision. The conflicted person answers factual questions, then leaves — and the minutes say they left. Half a control is worse than none, because it creates a record that looks like diligence and isn't.

How to adopt it

  1. Fill in the blanks. Everything in [square brackets] is yours to set. Type straight into them below and your answers come through in the Word or PDF download — then read what to change before you put it to a vote.
  2. Circulate it with the agenda so members can read it before the meeting. A policy sprung on the room gets deferred.
  3. Move it, second it, record it. Adopting a policy is an ordinary motion. Use this wording:

That the Association adopt the Conflict of Interest Policy (version 1.0) as circulated, effective immediately.

Record the version number in the minutes. When you revise the policy later, that number is what tells you — and your auditor — which text was in force when a decision was made.

The policy

Conflict of Interest Policy

1. Purpose

Committee members are drawn from the school community, so overlapping interests are normal and often useful — the parent who runs a landscaping business is exactly the person who understands the quote. This policy is not about preventing those overlaps. It is about declaring them, recording them, and keeping the conflicted person out of the decision, so that [association name] ("the Association") can accept help from its members without anyone's motives being questioned later.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all office-bearers, committee members, sub-committee members and volunteers of the Association who take part in, advise on, or influence a decision.

3. What counts as a conflict

  1. A conflict of interest exists where a person's private interests could improperly influence, or could reasonably be seen to influence, the performance of their duties to the Association.
  2. Conflicts include, without limitation:
    • a financial interest — the person, their family, their employer or their business stands to gain from a decision;
    • a personal interest — a close relationship with someone affected by a decision, including friendships and household relationships;
    • a duty to another organisation whose interests differ from the Association's, including a role at the school;
    • receiving a gift, discount or hospitality from a person or business dealing with the Association.
  3. Perceived conflicts are treated as real conflicts. The test is not whether a person believes they can be objective. It is whether a reasonable member of the school community, knowing the facts, might doubt it.

4. Declaring an interest

  1. A person who becomes aware of a conflict declares it as soon as they become aware of it, and before the matter is discussed.
  2. A declaration is made to the Chair, and is recorded in the minutes of the meeting, including the nature of the interest.
  3. Standing interests — an ongoing business, an employer, a role at the school — are declared once on taking office and recorded in the Register of Interests, and again at the point any specific matter arises.
  4. At the start of every general meeting the Chair invites declarations of interest in items on that agenda. This takes thirty seconds and removes the need for anyone to raise it awkwardly later.

5. Managing a conflict

  1. Once an interest is declared, the meeting decides how to manage it. Unless the meeting resolves otherwise, the conflicted person:
    • may answer factual questions on the matter;
    • must not take part in the debate;
    • must not vote on the matter; and
    • must leave the room while the matter is decided.
  2. The minutes record the declaration, the fact that the person withdrew, the decision reached, and the vote. A decision made without this record is difficult to defend afterwards, however proper it was at the time.
  3. A conflicted person is not counted towards the quorum for that item.
  4. Where the Chair has the conflict, another office-bearer chairs that item.

6. Association business with a member's business

  1. The Association may buy goods or services from a business connected to a member, but only where:
    • the interest was declared and recorded before the decision;
    • at least [two] comparable quotes were obtained and tabled;
    • the conflicted person took no part in preparing the recommendation, in the debate or in the vote; and
    • the decision was made by a general meeting of the Association, regardless of the amount involved.
  2. Donated goods and services from a member are recorded in the same way. A donation still creates an obligation, real or perceived.

7. Gifts and benefits

  1. No person accepts a gift, discount or hospitality from a supplier or prospective supplier that could reasonably be seen to influence a decision of the Association.
  2. Anything of more than nominal value — [$50] is a workable threshold — is declined, or accepted on the Association's behalf, declared, and recorded in the Register of Interests.

8. Register of Interests

  1. The Secretary maintains a Register of Interests recording each declared interest, the person, the date, and how it was managed.
  2. The Register is available to any member of the Association on request, and is reviewed at the first meeting after each Annual General Meeting.

9. Failure to declare

Where a person fails to declare a conflict, the committee reviews any decision affected, may resolve to reconsider it, and records the outcome in the minutes. Persistent or deliberate failure to declare is dealt with under the Association's [Complaints and Grievances Policy / constitution].

10. Review

This policy is reviewed [annually, at the first meeting after the AGM].

What to change before you adopt it

This template is deliberately conservative. Read these before it goes to a vote — a policy your committee can't actually follow is worse than none.

  • The gift threshold in clause 7.2. $50 works for most primary school P&Cs. Set it low enough that it means something and high enough that nobody has to declare a coffee.
  • Whether a conflicted person leaves the room. Clause 5.1 is deliberately strict. Some small committees soften it to "does not vote". If you do, understand you're trading away most of the protection — and say so out loud when you adopt it, so the decision is deliberate rather than accidental.
  • The general-meeting requirement in clause 6.1. Requiring a full general meeting for any transaction with a member's business is strong medicine. If your association does a lot of small business with parents, consider a dollar threshold below which the executive can decide — but keep the quotes and the withdrawal requirements at every level.
  • Your constitution and state body rules. Some P&C constitutions and state federation rules already deal with pecuniary interests and may set stricter requirements. Where they differ, they govern.
  • Teacher and principal members. If school staff sit on your committee, their duty to the school is a standing interest under clause 3.2 and is worth naming explicitly rather than leaving implied.
Not legal advice

These templates are general information for Australian school parent bodies. Your constitution, your state's education department, your state P&C or P&F body, your incorporating legislation and your insurer may all impose requirements that override anything here. Where a policy touches money, children or personal information, have someone qualified look at it before you rely on it.

Use it, change it, share it

Licensed CC BY 4.0. You may copy, adapt and redistribute this policy — including for your own association's use — as long as you credit the source. A line reading "Adapted from the Bilby Bunch open policy library (bilbybunch.com/policies)" in your policy footer is plenty.

How this plays out in a meeting

The whole policy compresses into four lines of minutes:

7.2 Shade sail quotes. J. Nguyen declared an interest: the quote from Nguyen Landscaping is from a business owned by their spouse. J. Nguyen answered questions on the specification and left the room at 7.42pm. Three quotes were tabled. Motion: That the Association accept the quote from [supplier] for $8,400. Moved: A. Patel. Seconded: L. Brown. Carried 9–0. J. Nguyen returned at 7.51pm.

That's it. No drama, no suspicion, and a record that answers the question three years from now when someone asks why the spouse of a committee member got an $8,400 job.

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