Skip to main content

Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Our impact and reports

Throughout the year, various reports are issued to measure Scouting's performance and impact on its members and the communities they serve.

The annual review and impact report are issued shortly after the Annual General Meeting.  Scouts is a movement, and to live up to the name, we have our strategy Skills for Life to set the direction of how we want our members to feel. 

Annual reports

We believe that through adventure we challenge individuals so that they learn and experience new things and enrich their lives.  Each week over 400,000 young people and 100,000 adult volunteers take part in Scouting projects and activities at the heart of the UK's communities. It's our role to ensure that every one of our members has the facilities, needs and support to take part in these activities safely.

World Scout Jamboree South Korea reviews

In August 2023, thousands of Scouts from the UK headed to South Korea for the 25th World Scout Jamboree (WSJ).

During our time in South Korea, we faced a number of challenges in keeping people safe, which the Scout Association managed as a critical incident. The associated decisions to keep young people safe required additional investment from our reserves, approved by our Board of Trustees.

We are now undertaking two reviews to make sure we learn from this experience as fully as possible.

The Scout Experience Survey

Every year we complete the Scout Experience Survey to see the difference which Scouts makes to our young people, as well as giving us a valuable insight into our adult volunteers and their thoughts and experiences. 

2022 results

2021 results

2020 results

2019 results

Gender pay gap

For the staff employed by The Scout Association we have a statutory requirement to report specific information on our pay levels based on gender. On data for 334 staff from our March 2019 payroll the following data has been compiled, verified and reported. 

Difference in hourly rate

Women earn £1.06 for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly wages. Their median hourly wage is 6% higher than men’s. 

When comparing mean hourly wages, women’s mean hourly wage is 0.8% lower than men’s. 

Proportion of women in each pay quarter

In this organisation, women occupy 59.3% of the highest paid jobs and 56.3% of the lowest paid jobs. 

A graph showing the proportions of men and women in each salary bracket.

Theory of Change

Our Theory of Change shows the positive difference Scouts make in society. We welcome young people and volunteers from all backgrounds, and with us, they learn and share skills, enjoy engaged and varied programme of activities, honour the Scout values and become active citizens of a connected community. We produce happier, more resilient citizens who work together towards greater social cohesion and an undeniably better world. Over the last two years, we’ve conducted research with 13–17 year olds through the Scout Experience Survey. Based on responses to a variety of questions about their daily lives, activities, interests, citizenship and wellbeing, the research compares the experience of young people aged 13–17 who are not Scouts with those of the same age group who are, in order to gauge the impact that our movement is making. 

The results of this research show that Scouts are contributing more to their communities. It shows that compared with young people who aren’t part of our movement, Scouts are learning more skills, volunteering more often, and contributing to a kinder, more cohesive society. 

The role of volunteers delivering an amazing programme is vital to the impact that Scouts is making. 

See the chart of the interactive elements of our Theory of Change.