Lesson 5: Understanding the Equal Opportunities policy and ways to support inclusivity in Scouts

Scouts is, by its very nature, a movement that embraces diversity.

We strongly believe that everyone has the right to be treated fairly, regardless of their age, gender, socio-economic status, ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith or beliefs. This is what makes Scouts such a powerful movement, because we live our values to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion for all.

Equal Opportunities Policy

Our equal opportunities policy outlines everything we do as a movement to make sure Scouts is open and accessible to all, and everything we do to make sure that people are treated equally and with respect. This policy mirrors the
Scout ethos, as expressed by the fundamental values we talked about earlier (integrity, care, co-operation, respect and belief) and our commitment to delivering Scouts for all. Practise equality and promote equal access to Scouts for all. No young person, or anyone volunteering their spare
time, should suffer any disadvantage or discrimination because of:

• class or socio-economic status
• ethnic or national origin, nationality (or statelessness) or race
• gender (including gender reassignment)
• marital or civil partnership status
• sexual orientation
• disability
• political belief
• Pregnancy and maternity
• religion, belief or faith (including the absence of religion, belief or faith)
• sex
• age

View our Equal Opportunities Policy.

Scouting for all

Wondering how you can make Scouts more inclusive? It’s about being open to all, getting to know your young people and volunteers and picking up on any changes you could make to the environment in order to make everyone feel included. Top tip: it’s always best to change the environment for all, rather than focusing in on any one individual.

Including young people with additional needs.

Making reasonable adjustments

Reasonable adjustments is a legal term, one which recognises that each group will have different practical resources to meet the needs of an individual young person.

Making reasonable adjustments means spotting and removing any barriers a young person faces to fully access Scouts. During this process of change, it’s important to avoid making any assumptions.

Working together with parents and carers to identify any individual needs is key, as they’ll know what support strategies work best. This really is the best way to find and agree on any adjustments. We’re not only committed to being inclusive, but have a legal duty to make these reasonable adjustments.

There’s lots of support for volunteers who need to make adjustments; it’s not something that should be done alone. Support can come from other leaders in the group: the Group Scout Leader, the District and County Teams, as well as from Headquarters. There are also further training modules that zone in on this very topic.

Involving parents, carers and young people

When it comes to the successful inclusion of all young people in Scouts, open communication with parents or carers is key.

It’s helpful to have an initial meeting with the parent or carer and the young person all together if additional needs, medical conditions or disabilities are in play. Here you can plan any extra support that’ll be needed so the young person can fully access and enjoy Scouts. And all without anyone making assumptions.

There are a wide range of resources and tools on our website to help make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to diversity and inclusivity within the movement. You can find these on our website.

As part of your learning journey, you can take some additional training modules to help develop your understanding and give you the tools you need in your role. Interested? Find out more on Inclusive Scouting training.