Supporting and approving Good Service awards
The information on this page is aimed at Lead Volunteers and individuals who hold an 'Award Nomination Supporter' Accreditation for their location
All members who can sign in to scouts.org.uk have the ability to nominate eligible individuals for a Good Service Award.
To support the local review of award nomination forms
Lead Volunteers in all locations are encouraged to set up an Awards and Recognition Team as a sub team of the Volunteering Development Team.
Local decisions
The decision to approve the following awards is done locally via 'My Membership':
- The Chief Scout's Commendation for Good Service
- The Award for Merit
- The Bar to the Award for Merit
- The Silver Acorn
The decision to approve these lower Good Service awards sits with the Lead Volunteer or individuals who've been assigned the Award Nominations Supporter accreditation for their location.
Before supporting/approving a nomination (especially if the nomination is for a Lead Volunteer), you should communicate with and gain support from their immediate line manager to ensure the award is appropriate and supported by them.
Read the Awards Digital Tool Guide to nominate, support and approve award nomination.
Once the decision to approve a nomination is made locally, the nomination is then automatically passed to the UK Headquarters Scout Awards Team for further checks and processing.
To ensure awards being presented across the Scouts in the UK are for equal merit and achievement, part of the National Awards Advisory Groups role is to undertake moderation of the Good Service awards which is carried out in the following ways for the Good Service Awards decisions made locally:
- Before awards are sent out, all submitted award decision are checked against the Scouts vetting system.
- If an award decision is not approved by vetting, it is withdrawn from the process and will not be sent out.
- After awards have been sent out, at least 10% of Bar to the Award for Merit and Silver Acorn award decision submissions are randomly selected for the National Awards Advisory Group to review the nomination form supporting the award decision to ensure they are of the correct standard for that award.
- If the National Awards Advisory Group feel the nomination doesn't meet the required level, nomination from additional awards will be reviewed for further scrutiny. If these are also found to not meet the required level, further action will be taken.
National Awards Advisory Group decisions
The decision to support the following awards is done locally via the membership system:
- The Bar to the Silver Acorn
- The Silver Wolf
The decision to support these higher Good Service awards sits with the Lead Volunteer or individuals who've been assigned the Award Nominations Supporter accreditation for their location.
Read the Awards Digital Tool Guide to learn how to nominate, support and approve award nomination.
Once the decision to support a nomination is made locally, the nomination is then automatically passed to the UK Headquarters Scout Awards Team for further checks.
Once all checks have been completed the National Awards Advisory Group review all nominations and make a decision on whether to approve the award or not.