Pact Council is the body that oversees all the work of the Pact executive and it approves operational budgets and financial plans; it also debates and agrees all Pact policies, campaigns, terms of trade and collective agreements.

The Council meets on the second Tuesday of each month and a quorum of one third of Council is required for any votes made at the meeting to be valid.

Council is made up of 12 voted seats, which are:
•    Chair (x1) 
•    Council seats (x8) 
•    Wales National Director (x1) – voted for by full Welsh members only
•    Scotland National Director (x1) – voted for by full Scottish members only
•    Northern Ireland (NI) National Director (x1) – voted for by full NI members only

In addition to this, when the new Pact Council is elected it considers whether it has a sufficient balance of experience, and if Council judges there to be a lack of representation (e.g. film, interactive, English regions, children’s, distribution) then it has a duty to co-opt others individuals to ensure a balanced and experienced Council. Co-optees are usually selected from members whose nomination was unsuccessful or who have indicated to the Council that they would like to be considered for co-option.

The last Council election was held in December 2016, with the new Council starting their term on the 1st January 2017. 

Their term will run for two years, and therefore the next Council election will be held in December 2018.

No Council Member can stand for more than three consecutive terms to ensure that Council is constantly evolving.

The Council seats are open to Full Producer and Film members of Pact and are voted for by the same class of Members, with one vote per member company.

Voting rights are not given to Affiliate, Broadcaster or Facilitator Members, or the subsidiary companies of a Group as only the Parent company gets the vote.

Voting Members are notified well in advance of an election with regards to nomination and voting and more information on this will appear in the website ahead of the next election in 2018.

As well as informing and debating on Pact's work, the Pact Council also has statutory and fiscal duties that it must perform to ensure that the Association is governed effectively and responsibly.

All Council members (including the Chair and co-optees) are appointed as legal directors of Pact.

Upon election or co-option to Council the Company Secretary of Pact registers the relevant Council member at Companies House and will resign the director once their term ends.

The responsibilities of the directors will be as with any Company Director as per the Companies Act.  

The day to day finances of Pact are managed by the Financial Director and CEO of the Association. However, the Financial Director and CEO present financial information to Council on a monthly basis, and Council are required to do the following:

• Review and approve the annual budget and to monitor this compared to the actual results of the company on a quarterly basis.
• Review and approve any strategic business plans presented by the CEO and Financial Director (in recent years these have included company restructuring and expansion into the US).
• Review and approve the quarterly management accounts on a quarterly basis.
• Review and approve the statutory, audited accounts which are presented to council and all members at the annual AGM each year in December.