Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy

February 2026

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Policy statement

Our Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedures outlines what bullying and harassment is, what we do to prevent and stop it from happening, and how to report it. The reporting procedures direct the reader to the appropriate policy under which their report will be managed.

Policy content

1. Scout Values

In line with its values, The Scouts recognises its responsibility to create and foster a culture centred on integrity, respect, care, belief and co-operation, where bullying and harassment is not tolerated.

The Scouts will therefore deal fairly, constructively and consistently with reports of bullying and harassment.

When applying this policy, the Scouts’ values will be at the forefront of every interaction and decision that’s made, and all involved should be regularly reminded of them.

Focusing on the values of respect and care, the wellbeing and mental health of all involved when dealing with reports of bullying and harassment will be considered throughout. Find out more about mental health with the NHS.

2. Purpose

Scouts wants to make sure that anyone involved in Scouting can give and feel their best. This includes whether they are volunteering their time, involved as a young member, are the parent or carer of a young member, and/or employed by Scouts. This means maintaining a positive and healthy environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

We recognise that bullying and harassment can have a damaging impact on individuals in terms of their health and morale, and it’s fundamentally contrary to our values.

Scouts takes any kind of bullying or harassment very seriously. This policy sets out how Scouts will work with staff and volunteers, and how volunteers can work with young members and their parents and carers, to:

Prevent all forms of bullying and harassment by fostering a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
Manage complaints of bullying and harassment fairly, sensitively and effectively.
Drawing upon existing relevant policies and procedures applicable to young members, members, volunteers and/or employees to achieve the above.

3. Scope

This policy is for anyone involved in Scouts and covers any bullying or harassment of, or by, anyone involved in Scouts. This includes volunteers, young members, Network members and parents and carers of members, and employees (including contractors, agency workers etc.), as defined below.

A volunteer is defined as an adult who holds at least one non-paid role with the Scouts
A young member is defined as a young person in any section (Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Scout Network) who has made the Promise appropriate to the first section they join. They are a member of The Scout Association and are a member of their local Group, District, County, Region, and country, where applicable.
A Scout Network member is referred to as a youth member unless they also hold a volunteer role in which case they are an adult. But legally they are adults once they reach 18.
An employee is defined as a person employed, in any capacity, by a Group, District, County, Country Headquarters, or UK Headquarters. This includes contractors and agency workers.

When a concern involves more than one Scouts policy, the relevant policy owners will work together to decide the best way to handle it. Their decision on which policy applies will be final.

4. Our commitment

Scouts is committed to providing a safe, healthy and productive environment for everyone involved. Bullying and harassment causes harm and is incompatible with our values. If left unaddressed, it can also reduce trust in our organisation and damage our reputation. This means we take every concern seriously, no matter who reports it, or who is being reported.

Scouts is committed to encouraging and promoting diversity and inclusion in our workplace and services to members. This reflects our values of respect, belief, care, cooperation and integrity, where everyone should be treated with dignity at all times. Scouts will take every possible step to tackle all forms of discrimination, inequality, and unfair treatment, whether it’s intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect in line with our Equality, diversity and inclusion policy.

4.1. Scouts expects

Scouts is committed to being fair and reasonable and we expect the same standard of conduct from all our volunteers, as well as staff, parents and carers of young members, and young members themselves.

Volunteers

Scouts expects all volunteers to treat each other with dignity and respect, and to support our stance on bullying and harassment by:

Reporting it (whether it is on your own behalf or where you believe someone else is being bullied or harassed). Details of how and where to report can be found in section 5.
Treating everyone with dignity and respect and following our Equality, diversity and inclusion policy
Promoting inclusive behaviours in line with our values and challenge those who don’t, if you feel safe to do so
Being aware of behaviour that suggests possible bullying or harassment to help you recognise concerns
Creating a culture which encourages courteous challenge, regardless of seniority or status
Supporting those who make a complaint in good faith
Dealing with incidents in a timely and transparent way

Should bullying or harassment occur in a group situation, the most senior person present has the responsibility to recognise and stop the behaviour. The person accused of bullying or harassment needs to be made aware that such behaviour is unacceptable in Scouts and that failure to comply with this policy may result in various outcomes.

This policy covers bullying and harassment in the place where an individual involved in Scouts volunteers (including contractors, agency workers etc.), and during activities which take place outside of the usual meeting place or at a different time, such as outings, conferences, residentials and social events. It also covers social media and electronic communication.

Young members

While this policy does not directly apply to young members, young members are expected to abide by The Scout Law and Values. Every Scout promises to stick by these values when they become a member by making The Promise.

Staff

The Scout Association will protect the dignity and respect of all staff and ensure there are appropriate procedures, systems and campaigns in place to promote the dignity and respect of staff in the course of their duties. All staff are expected to read, confirm they understand and comply with the Dignity and Respect policy, which covers Scouts’ employees, casual staff, and third parties (as defined in Chapter 1.1).

4.2. Preventative approach

We will take a preventative approach which will foster and maintain a culture of respect and dignity as well as proactively addressing instances of bullying or harassment. We will do this by making sure:

Volunteers and staff are aware of this policy and other relevant policies, and how they affect them
Senior volunteers, Lead Volunteers, Team Leaders and staff all role-model acceptable behaviour
Expectations regarding acceptable behaviour will be reflected across our policies and procedures including safer recruitment, line management and reviews
Scouts remains alert to unacceptable behaviour, taking appropriate action to address it early on
There is awareness of factors that may be indicators or early warning signs such as low morale or a change in behaviour of our volunteers, staff or young members
Prompt and appropriate response are given to all complaints of bullying or harassment
All complainants are protected from victimisation as a result of making the complaint
Complaints are handled sensitively and confidentially
Complaints made in good faith will not in themselves be seen as bullying or harassment
That anyone making a protected disclosure under the whistleblowing policy is not bullied or harassed as a result of that disclosure
This policy and its effectiveness will be kept under review by the Safeguarding Committee

5. Reporting procedures

The section below outlines what policy applies. If you think bullying and harassment is happening, you must let us know.

The person accused of bullying or harassment	Person being bullied or harassed	Applicable Policy
Volunteer	Volunteer	Complaints Policy
Volunteer	Employee	Complaints Policy
Volunteer	Parent/carer	Complaints Policy
Employee	Employee	Dignity and Respect Policy
Employee	Volunteer	Complaints Policy
Employee	Parent/carer	Complaints Policy
Any adult (including volunteers, employees and parents/carers)	Child or young person	Safeguarding Policy
Any adult (including volunteers, employees and parents/carers)	Adult at risk	Safeguarding Policy
Parent/carer	Volunteer	Complaints Policy
Parent/carer	Parent/carer	Complaints Policy
Child or young person	Child or young person	Safeguarding Policy

5.1. Information to include when reporting

There are different methods for reporting bullying and harassment depending on the situation. You do not need all the facts before reporting, but giving as much information as possible will help the right person or team to fully understand your concerns.

You could include:

When and where the event(s) took place
How often they took place
Whether it’s ongoing
Who was involved (including full names and membership numbers if you have them, how they were involved, and whether you’re in contact with them)
Whether you’ve reported your concerns to anyone else, and if so, what action was taken

If you don’t feel comfortable putting your concerns in writing, you can contact the relevant person or team to request a phone call.

If you’ve reported an incident that you witnessed, but weren’t involved in, the relevant person/team might need to get consent from the person experiencing the bullying or harassment before they can look into it further. This does not apply to any concerns that come under the Safeguarding Policy.

Once the relevant person/team have received your report, they’ll be in touch to give details about what will happen next. This may involve contacting you for further information.

6. Understanding bullying, harassment and disputes

This guidance is designed to support volunteers to understand and respond to bullying, harassment and other types of disputes they may witness or experience, either between young members, parents/carers, or other Scouts volunteers.

We need to be aware of young people and adults displaying bullying behaviours and attitudes that impact on others in a negative way. For example, using their physical presence to intimidate, influence or impress others, or a tendency to relate to others in a negative way, like persistently making negative comments.

Some conflict you see, or experience, won’t fit the definitions of bullying or harassment. It can be conflict sparked by a clash of personalities or by a build-up of incidents that cause tension. It can be distressing for those involved, but in a lot of cases, disputes can be resolved locally with active listening and honest conversation.

6.1. Responding to bullying, harassment and disputes between young members

Recognising the signs

Bullying isn’t always easy to spot as it often happens away from others. But you can watch for signs that someone may be bullied. For example, if someone:

Is hesitant to attend meetings or join in activities
Asks to change sections, Groups, and so on
Is last to get picked for a team for no apparent reason, or gets teased when people think you’re not looking
Is often the target of jokes
Is reluctant to go to some places or pair up with specific people
Has clothing or personal possessions go missing
Has bruising or other injuries*
Keeps ‘losing’ their money or is short of pocket money
Is quiet and nervous, withdraws from everybody else and becomes quiet and shy (especially if they’re usually loud and outgoing)
Refuses to talk about the problem
Is usually quiet but becomes suddenly prone to lashing out at people, both verbally and physically.

*If a child or young person has any bruising or other injuries, this may be a safeguarding concern and must be reported as soon as possible (always within 24 hours) to the UK HQ Safeguarding team.

How can I help?

Creating a positive culture

We expect young members’ behaviour to be in-line with The Scout Law and Values and upheld by the Promise.
Help to create a safe, respectful and friendly environment in your section or Group where bullying isn’t acceptable.
Read our guidance on promoting positive behaviour.

Putting it into practice

Continue to emphasise that bullying is never acceptable at Scouts.

Communication

Make sure all adult volunteers are aware of this policy, as well as young people and their parents/carers.
Let young people know you’re always there to help and explain how they can share any concerns about bullying and what steps you may need to take.

Observe

Work on your observational and listening skills so you can pick up on any subtle signs of bullying.
Look out for any early changes in behaviour that a young person being bullied may be displaying.

Act

Address all forms of bullying behaviour, no matter how small they seem.
Monitor and record any bullying and the actions you’ve taken to resolve the situation. Remember, serious bullying incidents need to be dealt with as a safeguarding concern. Make sure you follow our Safeguarding policy and procedures.
Programme activities may help prevent bullying by reinforcing the Scout values. They won’t resolve specific bullying instances - this needs to be addressed with the young people involved.

Responding to incidents

Your response when dealing with young people who are involved in bullying situations is important. Your priority is listening to the young person being bullied, finding out what’s happened, and the impact it’s had on them. Do all you can to help them feel safe, and to stop the bullying behaviour. This includes addressing all bullying behaviour fairly and consistently and following safeguarding procedures should there be a serious incident.

We should always aim to work in partnership with parents/carers of everyone involved, including the young member being bullied, and the alleged young member or members participating in bullying behaviour. This will depend on the young person’s age and severity of the situation. It may be done locally by the Lead Volunteer or by the UK HQ Safeguarding Team. If you’re unsure, please check with your District Lead Volunteer. Find out whether the young person affected has spoken to their parents/carers or if they’d like support sharing what’s happened. Where appropriate, suggest other sources of advice and help. If the situation is severe, you’ll need to pass on the information anyway so we can work together to get them help.

Sometimes bullying may involve a serious incident, such as a severe physical or sexual assault. Bullying might persist despite attempts to stop it. In these situations, you need to take a different approach. However, the goals remain the same: to make the targeted young person safe and stop the bullying behaviour. At this point, you should treat it as a safeguarding concern and follow the Yellow Card by contacting the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

6.2. Responding to bullying, harassment and disputes between adult volunteers

As The Scouts we’re guided by the values of integrity, respect, care, belief and co-operation.

The Scouts acknowledges that it can be a difficult decision to report a concern of bullying or harassment about someone known to you. A volunteer may also feel unsure about whether the behaviour they are experiencing or witnessing amounts to bullying or harassment.

Many complainants don’t want to enter a formal complaints procedure. They simply want to have their questions answered, their concerns dealt with, or their opinion noted. As a result, local, informal resolution should always be attempted before engaging the formal complaints policy. If a complaint is to be dealt with formally, the steps set out in the Scouts’ Complaints Policy should be followed.

6.3. Responding to bullying, harassment and disputes by/from parents and carers

Volunteers and young members should feel safe and valued as part of the Scouts movement. They shouldn’t be subject to bullying or harassment from anyone involved in Scouting, including parents and carers.

If a volunteer is being bullied or harassed by a parent or carer, you can manage this locally with your local Lead Volunteer and following the steps in the Scouts’ Complaints Policy. This includes situations where a parent or carer’s behaviour might be inappropriate without fitting the definitions of bullying or harassment.

If a young member is being bullied or harassed by a parent or carer, this automatically constitutes a safeguarding concern, and must be reported to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team in-line with our Safeguarding Policy.

6.4. Responding to bullying or harassment taking place outside of Scouts

If a young member or adult volunteers shares they are being bullied in school, in the workplace, online, at home, or in the wider community, your role is to listen, help them consider their options including who might be able to help, and raise any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Supporting young members

If a young member shares they are being bullied outside of Scouts, it can be difficult to know how to help.

Although you may not be able to take any action against the bully, being there as safe adults to talk to can help the child or young person to feel less alone. Scouts can be a safe space for them to feel comfortable and to help build their confidence.

If a young person has shared that they are being bullied:

You must make their parent or carer aware so they can support their child and take action. For example, by suggesting the parent or carer speak to the school if that’s where the bullying is taking place.
If the young person is finding it difficult to speak to their parent or carer, you could offer to do this for them, or be there when they do.
If the parent or carer already knows about the bullying, you might still want to let them know what their child shared with you and offer your support. There are lots of organisations you can suggest that can give support and advice to both young people and adults. You can find some of these at the end of this policy.
You must report to our UK HQ Safeguarding Team if a young member is being bullied by an adult. Especially one in a position of trust, such as a teacher or sports coach, or a family member.
You must report to our UK HQ Safeguarding Team if you’re concerned about the wellbeing of a young person.

Supporting adult volunteers

If an adult is experiencing bullying or harassment:

Encourage them to contact a specialist organisation for advice, for example, ACAS will be able to give them information if they’re being bullied or harassed at work. Specialist domestic abuse organisations will be able to support them if they’re experiencing bullying or harassment as part of a current or former relationship.
You must report to the UK HQ Safeguarding team if you’re concerned about the safety or wellbeing of the adult, or any children or young people involved.

7. Definitions

7.1. Discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 gives protection from discrimination. This is for anyone who is treated unfairly because of one or more of nine protected characteristics or because someone believes you belong to a group of people with protected characteristics. The Act also protects you if someone in your life (such as family or friends) have a protected characteristic and you are treated unfairly because of that.

Nine characteristics protected by the Act

The nine characteristics protected by the Act are:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage or civil partnership (in employment only)
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation

7.2. Types of discrimination

Direct discrimination

This is where a person is treated less favourably than someone else because of a protected characteristic. An example of direct discrimination would be refusing to employ someone because they were pregnant.

Indirect discrimination

This is where there is a practice, policy or rule that applies to everyone in the same way, but has a worse effect on some people with a protected characteristic than others. Indirect discrimination is not objectively justifiable. An example of indirect disability discrimination could be requiring interview candidates to quickly read and interpret a long piece of text, which could put a person with a learning difficulty at a disadvantage.

Discrimination by association

This is direct discrimination against someone because they’re associated with another person who possesses a protected characteristic, for example, against people who are carers for disabled people.

Discrimination by perception

This is direct discrimination against someone because the other person thinks they possess a particular protected characteristic, for example, against a straight woman who’s perceived to be gay.

Victimisation

This is where someone is treated less favourably than others because they have made or supported a complaint or grievance or have given evidence in relation to a complaint.

7.3. Bullying

Bullying is characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient. It’s more than a strong, firm or authoritarian interaction. It’s destructive rather than constructive, it’s a criticism of the person rather than their mistakes, to publicly humiliate rather than privately correct; and results in the individual feeling threatened or compromised.

Bullying usually results from the misuse of status; it can also result from the misuse of any form of individual power. It’s recognised that there is a difference between feeling bullied and being bullied. A volunteer may experience feelings similar to those of harassment, for example feeling compromised or threatened, if they’re being corrected or reprimanded by their Lead Volunteer or Team Leader. However, provided the correction or reprimand is carried out reasonably, and in an appropriate and constructive manner, this would not constitute bullying.

7.4. Types of bullying

Non-verbal

Excluding or ignoring someone
Withholding essential information/training resources
Setting impossible objectives
Unreasonable allocation of tasks/duties/responsibilities
Deliberate wrongful attribution of blame
Using imbalances of power such as age or role seniority

Verbal

Shouting, swearing, abuse, malicious gossip, assigning unwanted nicknames
Victimising or singling out someone for different treatment
Overbearing line management; over demanding or unfair treatment
Frequent unwarranted criticism or deliberate undermining of someone or their work
Public reprimand/humiliation, ridicule, sarcasm
Singling out or victimisation
Belittling or patronising comments
Invading personal privacy/unnecessary and intrusive phone calls
Spreading malicious rumours or gossip
Making physical or psychological threats

Physical

Striking or hitting
Grabbing a person or their clothes
Pushing, jostling or prodding
Practical jokes or initiations
Rifling, damaging or stealing personal possessions

It’s accepted that these descriptions represent extremes of behaviour, although in practice bullying may not always be clear and individuals may display behaviour that doesn’t fall into these categories or may not be explicit.

7.5. Harassment

Harassment is unwanted conduct that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. Even if the effect wasn’t intended by the person responsible for the conduct, it’s still harassment.

Harassment may be conduct based on protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, nationality, religion or belief, gender or sexual orientation. Harassment can also occur due to an individual’s language, political belief, social background or nonrelevant criminal background (the above list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive).

Scouts would also consider harassment to be the discrimination or persecution of any individual for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic or on a perception that an individual has a particular protected characteristic when they do not. This may be harassment by perception or association. See Types of discrimination for further information.

Harassment can take many forms; for example verbal and/or written abuse, ignoring or subjugating colleagues to unwanted attention, ridiculing and humiliating colleagues in front of others, mocking, mimicking or belittling a person.

A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended ‘target’. For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if the jokes create an offensive environment.

7.6. Examples of types of harassment and discrimination

Any such unwanted behaviour is unacceptable if it can reasonably be considered as having the purpose or effect of violating the recipient’s dignity and/or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment, therefore the list below is not exhaustive. Harassment generally consists of a number of incidents, although a single incident may amount to harassment, if sufficiently serious.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment can happen to anyone and is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. It has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of an individual, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Something can still be considered sexual harassment even if the alleged harasser didn't mean for it to be. It also doesn't have to be intentionally directed at a specific person.

Sexual harassment can be a one-off incident or an ongoing course of behaviour. Depending on the circumstances involved, some forms of sexual harassment may be a criminal offence.

Sexual harassment can happen in any number of ways, including:

Written or verbal comments of a sexual nature, such as remarks about a volunteer’s appearance, questions about their sex life or offensive jokes
Displaying pornographic or explicit images
Electronic communication with content of a sexual nature
Unwanted physical contact and touching
Unwelcome sexual advances or suggestive behaviour (which the harasser may perceive as harmless)

Disability discrimination

Discrimination towards disabled people can take the form of ignoring disabled people, making inappropriate comments or jokes about them, and excluding them from activities based on the assumption that they are unable to participate. The impairment rather than their ability becomes the focus of attention.

Racial harassment

Racial harassment may include jokes or gratuitous references to a person’s skin colour, race, religion and nationality. It may also include offensive remarks about dress, culture, customs which have an undermining effect on an individual. In extreme cases there may be hatred or prejudice towards individuals from particular groups.

Racial discrimination

Racial discrimination is treating a person unfairly because of their race, or because of the race of someone they are connected with. This might include excluding a person from an activity because of their race

8. Relevant legislation

Certain types of bullying or harassment, if linked to the protected characteristics of Equality Act 2010, will be unlawful and can lead to civil proceedings being taken against the person responsible. In some cases, the behaviour may constitute a crime such as racial hatred or sexual assault and therefore could lead to a report to the police being made and a criminal prosecution.

Complaints that reach a criminal threshold or are serious in their nature should be reported to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

In line with POR, all members of The Scout Association are expected to seek to practice equality, especially in promoting equal access to Scouts for all young people. The Scout Association opposes all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. All Groups, Districts and Counties, as separate charities, have a duty to comply with relevant equalities legislation. All volunteers should make reasonable adjustments where possible to support all young people with disabilities to access Scouts. See further information about inclusion and diversity.

9. Contact information

You can contact the Safeguarding Team by:

Online Safeguarding Reporting Form
Phone 020 8433 7164 (9am – 5pm weekdays)
Email [email protected]
Use the downloadable safeguarding reporting form

You can contact the Resolutions (complaints) Team by:

Email [email protected]

You can contact the EDI Team by:

Email [email protected]

10. Support organisations

ACAS – free human resources support and legal help for UK-based employees.

Anti-Bullying Alliance – a coalition of organisations and individuals united against bullying.

BulliesOut – a charity providing education, training and support around bullying, plus a free mentoring service via email for anyone experiencing bullying.

Childline – a free, confidential helpline for children and young people offering advice and support 24 hours a day. There's a whole section on their website about bullying issues.

Men’s Advice Line – a charity supporting men who have experienced violence and abuse.

National Bullying Helpline – a helpline providing assistance to individuals experiencing bullying.

NSPCC – the UK's leading children’s charity, providing information on child abuse.

Refuge – a charity supporting women and children who have experienced violence and abuse.

RespectMe – Scotland’s anti-bullying service.

Samaritans – a charity working to make sure there’s always someone there for people in need.

Switchboard LGBT – a confidential listening service for the LGBT+ community.

Victim Support – an independent charity for people affected by crime and traumatic events in England and Wales.

Victim Support Scotland – provides support and information to people affected by crime and campaign for victim and witness rights.

Victim Support NI – an independent charity which helps people affected by crime.

YoungMinds – the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health.

11. Review

This policy is due for review:

Every 24 months, or;
Following any legislative changes, or;
Following any learning by the Scouts, or;
As required by the Charity Commission, or;
Any change in jurisdictional guidance, whichever comes first.

The policy will be reviewed alongside any policy that is referenced within this policy by the Safeguarding Committee and revisions will be recommended to the Board of Trustees.