Accreditations
16.4.1 About accreditations
16.4.1.1 Purpose of accreditations
- Accreditations are a way of sharing tasks and responsibilities, where a volunteer needs to be given certain permissions to take these on.
- An accreditation is an additional responsibility granted to an adult member of the organisation. This is regardless of the team membership that the member holds.
- Accreditations are normally specific tasks that operate wider than an individual team and often may be carried out by one or more individual volunteers.
16.4.1.2 Types of accreditation
There are two types of accreditations:
- An accreditation that may be granted to any number of individuals and used anywhere across the hierarchy. For example, members who are accredited to support Welcome Conversations as part of the joining process.
- A responsibility delegated to a member within a specific location in the hierarchy. For example, the place or person in a District that Awards and certificates must be posted to.
16.4.1.3 Further information
Further information about accreditations is available.
16.4.2 Grant an accreditation
16.4.2.1 Meeting requirements
Before an accreditation is granted, the volunteer must meet the pre-requisites for the accreditation specified in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2).
16.4.2.2 Visiting Scotland accreditation
There is one exception to POR 16.4.2.1. The Visiting Scotland accreditation has a pre-requisite that the person is planning or intending to interact, in Scotland, with Scottish young people. Granting the accreditation enables the criminal record check (Scouts PVG disclosure) application to be made.
Before any interaction, in Scotland, with Scottish young people the criminal record check (Scouts PVG disclosure) must be completed and recorded on the person’s membership system record.
The Visiting Scotland accreditation must be granted only for roles based in any country other than Scotland, and where the role holder is planning or intending to interact, in Scotland, with young people who normally live in Scotland.
If the criminal record check (Scouts PVG disclosure) has not been applied for within 60 days, the accreditation must be ended.
See the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2).
16.4.2.3 Limitations
While tasks may be delegated by Lead Volunteers and Team Leaders, no local accreditations may be created. All available accreditations are listed in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2).
16.4.2.4 Recording accreditations on the membership system
Accreditations granted are recorded on the member’s record on the membership system.
16.4.3 End an accreditation
16.4.3.1 Volunteer no longer meets the requirements for an accreditation
If a volunteer no longer meets the requirements for an accreditation listed in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2), their accreditation must be ended by a volunteer who holds a role shown in the 'who may give or remove an accreditation' column in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2)
16.4.3.2 Volunteer ending their own accreditation
A volunteer may end their own accreditation by informing a role holder shown in the 'who may give or remove an accreditation' column in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2).
16.4.3.3 Authority to end an accreditation
A role listed in the 'who can give or remove an accreditation' column in the Accreditations Table (POR 16.11.2) has the authority to end an accreditation at any time.
16.4.3.4 No right of appeal
The removal or ending of an accreditation cannot be appealed.
16.4.3.5 Obligations on ending an accreditation
The obligations on the volunteer in POR 16.8.4 also apply when an accreditation is ended.