Almost half of schools struggle to recruit suitable governors, according to an in-depth study published today.

They are suffering from severe shortages with 40,000 governor places - more than 10 per cent - currently unfilled.

The research found governing bodies were overloaded with unnecessarily complex and demanding work.

Business in the Community, a charity that encourages corporate responsibility, commissioned the report, which was conducted by the University of Bath.

Researchers studied 5,000 governing bodies and concluded that their situation could deter many people from becoming a governor.

They said companies should encourage staff to become governors, and give them relevant training and paid time off to do so.

Bob Wigley, deputy chairman of Business in the Community, said in the foreword to the report: “Recent waves of policy change may have improved the performance of schools, but they have made the role of governors, already a substantial one, even more complicated and demanding.

“At the same time, the design of the school governor’s role has not kept pace with other policy changes and may therefore be described as overburdened, overcomplicated and overlooked.

“While school governance is generally working satisfactorily in many areas, there are some relatively simple steps that the Government can take to help all schools benefit.

Mr Wigley will present the research, which was sponsored by the lawfirm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, to the National College for Educational Excellence next week.

The main problems identified in the report are that staff find it hard to obtain time off work to fulfil their role, and misconceptions about who is elegible and what the position entails.

It said: “Many potential volunteers overestimate the work involved.”

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