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Managing your District's waiting list

Handle your District's youth waiting list in a way that saves time and increases the chance a young person will access Scouts

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If your Groups have waiting lists that are excessively long or difficult to manage, or you just want a smoother way of managing them, then holding a District waiting list might be the best option for you.

How can you set up a waiting list for your District?

A District waiting list is best managed by someone in the District Support Team. Make sure they're happy with IT and are a friendly face to people wanting to join Scouts.

There needs to be a strong process in place so everyone knows what's going on.

How will young people be added to the list?

  • You'll need Groups to direct their enquiries to you when they're full, so have a dedicated email address for parents and carers to get in touch with you, that the Groups can distribute. You may want to have a form so that adults can get the right details to you first time.

How will you know when Groups have space?

  • Contact Groups at least once a term to ask if they'll have any space and keep a log of their availability so you don't have to ask every time an enquiry comes in.

How will you pass a young person's details on?

  • Make sure you have a contact in each Group so that when you pass the details on they're received by someone and not an empty email address.

Whatever you're using, whether it's an online tool, spreadsheet or form, make sure you can easily store, view and manage the details.

Use our template waiting list to help you kick-start your own.

Many Groups are very proud of their waiting list and will be worried that if it's taken away from them they will run out of young people. But for a District waiting list to work, you need every Group to be on board with it.

Explain the benefits for all:

  • No more back and forth with parents to see if they still want a space - any enquiries they get from District will be good to go.
  • Those with lower numbers will get a boost from sharing the young people.
  • Those with long waiting lists will no longer feel the pressure to find spaces.
  • Time saved by not having to manage their own list.
  • Waiting times will be reduced as distribution across the District is easier.
  • Communication can improve by having a volunteer at District solely dedicated to managing the waiting list.
  • More chance of young people getting a place in Scouts.

Talk them through your process and accept feedback on how to improve it.

You'll want to create some wording to send to your Groups so they can update their advertising. For example "Our Group is full and we are currently operating a waiting list, which is managed by our District. If you would like your child to join Scouts, please contact [email protected] and you will be added to the list"

 

 

How can you manage your waiting list?

Step 1 - Gather details

Ask for more details and confirm that you'll add them to the waiting list.

You'll want to know their child's name and date of birth, their name and contact details, and their postcode, so you can give contact details for other Groups local to them.

Let them know a rough idea of when there might be a space with their preferred Group and let them know there are other Groups with a shorter list or immediate access.

Be clear that when a space is available they will need to respond to you promptly, otherwise it will be passed to someone else.

Respond to an enquiry using our example email

Step 2 - Add them to your list

You can use online tools, forms or spreadsheets, whatever works for you to manage your waiting list, so long as you can easily store and view their details, keep on top of the admin and contact their adult.

Sort and add filters to your list to work out which section everyone is waiting for so you can offer the right person the next space. For example, you might want to sort the list so that those who have been on the list the longest appear at the top and add a filter to show only those for each section.

Create your District waiting list from our template

Step 3 - Keep in touch

While someone is on the list contact them regularly to check in. If they've found a different club to go to, they might not tell you, so send them a message every term to see if they still need their space and to give an update on timescales.

Share details of other Groups that have space and see if they'd be interested in going elsewhere.

Contact them regularly with our termly example email

Step 4 - Find them a place

When a place comes up in a Group, head to the top of your list to see who is next and offer them the place.

Be clear that they need to get back to you or you'll offer the space to someone else.

Ask for more details like emergency contacts, and medical and additional needs.

Pass their details on the Group and advise the Group to get in touch asap to give further information, like when the first meeting is and what they need to bring. Then the Group can take it from there.

Offer them a place by using our template email

From our 2025 survey of District Lead Volunteers who have a District-managed waiting list:

  • 84% said that they were able to distribute young people more effectively
  • 74% said that they were able to reduce waiting list duplication
  • 84% said youth enquiries are easier to manage this way
Our surveyed District Lead Volunteers have offered some advice:

1 - Choose a reliable and efficient coordinator, or even better, build a team.

2 - Don't rely on a postcode to find the right Group, ask them if there is an area they would be willing to travel within.

3 - Let Group Lead Volunteers see the list, then they can contact you to ask for someone if they have space. (Keep your GDPR learning in mind!)

4 - Set up an automatic reply if using an OSM waiting list, and copy yourself in, so that when someone joins the list you get notified too.

5 - Create a map on Google Maps. It will help you see better where the Groups are and where the enquirers are so you can find the right place for them.

Who gets the next place?

Prioritising young people based on certain criteria is possible, provided it’s a fair way to support those people.

You can take positive action to provide support to potential members who are under-represented because they share that criteria, and it puts them at a disadvantage. But bear in mind that the support needs to be balanced against the potential disadvantage to those who don’t share the criteria.

Instead of letting people jump waiting lists, use other initiatives, for example:

  • To become more representative, try changing your advertising to bring more young people of all backgrounds onto your waiting list
  • Consider what additional support and outreach you can provide to help young people who are underrepresented and share a disadvantage, for example how you manage and promote your waiting lists
  • If you're asking their adults to volunteer try to make sure that if they do, you accept others from the list who don't have an adult who can volunteer, as a result

If you're going to set criteria for prioritising young people, you need to be able to justify it and make sure there isn't something you can do that is less discriminatory to others.

Not sure what to do? Take a look at the Equality Act 2010 or get in touch with the Scouts Support Centre.