Lesson 4: Understand the Trustee roles and responsibilities in Scouts
Lesson 4: Understand the Trustee roles and responsibilities in Scouts
Key responsibilities of the charity trustees in Scouts
Group trustees must act collectively, and in the best interests of its members to:
- Comply with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of Scouts.
- Make sure buildings and equipment owned by and/or used by the Group are working well.
- Look after Group finances.
- Have the right insurance for people, property and equipment.
- Make sure there are sufficient resources for Scouts to operate. This includes, but is not limited to supporting recruitment, other adult support, and fundraising activities.
- Promote and support the development of Scouts in the local area.
- Follow POR, key policies (including safety, safeguarding, data protection, and equality, diversity and inclusion), and charity regulations.
- Make sure that a positive image of Scouts exists in the local community.
- Appoint and manage the operation of any Trustee Board sub-teams, including appointing a sub-team leader to lead the sub-teams.
- Make sure that young people are meaningfully involved in decision-making at all levels within the Group.
- The opening, closure and amalgamation of Sections in the Group as necessary.
- Appoint Administrators, Advisers, and Co-opted trustees.
- Approve the Annual Report and Annual Accounts after their examination by an appropriate auditor, independent examiner or scrutineer.
- Present the Annual Report and Annual Accounts to the Scout Council at the Annual General Meeting; file a copy with the District Trustee Board ; and if a registered charity, to the appropriate charity regulator if the regulator’s rules require it.
- Maintain confidentiality with regard to appropriate Trustee Board business.
- Where staff are employed, act as a responsible employer in accordance with Scouts’ values and relevant legislation.
- Make sure line management responsibilities for employed staff are clearly established and communicated.
District trustees must act collectively, and in the best interests of its members to:
- Comply with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of Scouts.
- Make sure buildings and equipment owned by and/or used by the District are working well.
- Look after the District finances.
- Have the right insurance for people, property and equipment.
- Make sure there are sufficient resources for Scouts to operate. This includes, but is not limited to supporting recruitment, other adult support, and fundraising activities.
- Promote and support the development of Scouts in the local area.
- Follow POR, key policies (including safety, safeguarding, data protection, and equality, diversity and inclusion), and charity regulations.
- Make sure that a positive image of Scouts exists in the local community.
- Appoint and manage the operation of any Trustee Board sub-teams, including appointing a sub-team leader to lead the sub-teams.
- Make sure that young people are meaningfully involved in decision-making at all levels within the District.
- The opening, closure and amalgamation of Groups, Explorer Scout Units, Scout Network and Scout Active Support Units in the District as necessary.
- Appoint and manage the operation of an Appointments Advisory Committee, including appointing an Appointments Committee Chair to lead it.
- Supervising the administration of Groups, particularly in relation to finance and the trusteeship of property.
- Appoint Administrators, Advisers, and Co-opted trustees.
- Approve the Annual Report and Annual Accounts after their examination by an appropriate auditor, independent examiner or scrutineer.
- Present the Annual Report and Annual Accounts to the Scout Council at the Annual General Meeting; file a copy with the County Trustee Board; and if a registered charity, to submit them to the appropriate charity regulator.
- Maintain confidentiality with regard to appropriate Trustee Board business.
- Where staff are employed, act as a responsible employer in accordance with Scouting’s values and relevant legislation.
- Make sure line management responsibilities for employed staff are clearly established and communicated.
County trustees must act collectively, and in the best interests of its members to:
- Comply with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of Scouts.
- Make sure buildings and equipment owned by and/or used by the County are working well.
- Look after the County finances.
- Have the right insurance for people, property and equipment.
- Make sure there are sufficient resources for Scouts to operate. This includes, but is not limited to supporting recruitment, other adult support, and fundraising activities.
- Promote and support the development of Scouts in the local area.
- Follow POR, key policies (including safety, safeguarding, data protection, and equality, diversity and inclusion), and charity regulations.
- Make sure that a positive image of Scouts exists in the local community.
- Appoint and manage the operation of any Trustee Board sub-teams, including appointing a Chair to lead the sub-teams.
- Make sure that young people are meaningfully involved in decision-making at all levels within the County.
- The opening, closure and amalgamation of Districts, the County Scout Network and Scout Active Support Units in the County as necessary.
- Appoint and manage the operation of any Trustee Board sub-teams, including appointing a sub-team leader to lead the sub-teams.
- Appoint Administrators, Advisers, and Co-opted trustees
- Approve the Annual Report and Annual Accounts after their examination by an appropriate auditor, independent examiner or scrutineer.
- Present the Annual Report and Annual Accounts to the Scout Council at the Annual General Meeting; file a copy with National Headquarters and if a registered charity, to submit them to the appropriate charity regulator.
- Maintain confidentiality with regard to appropriate Trustee Board business.
- Where staff are employed, act as a responsible employer in accordance with Scouts’ values and relevant legislation.
- Make sure line management responsibilities for employed staff are clearly established and communicated.
Let’s look at a few of these responsibilities in a bit more detail.
It’s the responsibility of all those involved in Scouts to, as much as is reasonably practicable, to make sure that all activities are led safely, without risk to the health of our young people and volunteers.
The Safety Policy sets out our rules that all those involved in Scouts should comply with. The Safety Policy can be found here.
These are:
- Properly assessing the risk of every activity undertaken as part of Scouts. This assessment should be suitable and sufficient for the activity in question. Naturally, activities with higher risk should have a more in-depth assessment.
- Providing and receiving clear instructions and information, and adequate training, so that all members can properly tackle their task.
- Preventing accidents and cases of ill health by managing any health and safety risks in Scouts.
- Maintaining safe and healthy conditions, especially when it comes to equipment, machinery, and the safe storage/use of substances.
- Reviewing risk assessments as often as necessary when things inevitably change.
- Never being afraid to change or stop an activity if risk increases.
It’s the job of every Trustee Board in Scouts to make sure it’s happy that this policy is being put into effective use, and to engage and consult with members on the health and safety conditions within the Scouts. It should be on the agenda at all meetings.
Scout Groups, Explorer Scout Units and Scout Networks have to be properly accommodated and equipped. That way, they can offer the best adventures possible.
The responsible body for making sure that every premises or location operated and/or used by Scouts (that’s all buildings/campsites/Headquarters) is the relevant Trustee Board. This means the Trustee Board also becomes the Managing Controller of the premises, if owned by Scouts.
Trustees don’t have to conduct the operational tasks themselves (such as premises management or equipment maintenance), but they’re responsible for making sure that premises and equipment are safe. They can work together with other support volunteers or Leadership Teams to make sure these tasks get done. These tasks could include, for example:
- asbestos management
- electrical testing
- water quality testing
- fire safety and evacuation
- gas boilers and cookers
- general maintenance of equipment and buildings
- proper use of activity equipment
- access to the property
If Scouts use a premises that isn’t Scouts owned, the Trustee Board does still need to make sure that the above checks have been completed and are happy the premises are safe. Need help with this? More guidance is available here.
Advice on carrying out risk assessments, communicating controls with the users of the premises and a safety checklist can be found here.
The Trustee Board could appoint a support volunteer or sub-team to look after the care and control of the equipment.
They should work closely with the Treasurer, who’s responsible for the inventory and insurance of the equipment. Having someone to deal with the day-to-day upkeep, repair and booking in and out of equipment will really help to make sure equipment is looked after and ready, whenever needed.
Every Scout Group, District and County must maintain adequate insurance cover, to be reviewed annually, in light of risks such as:
- property and equipment, owned, hired or borrowed, including the risk of loss or damage to equipment whilst on the move, at a camp, or on an expedition
- minibuses and other motor vehicles, including passenger risk, in the British Isles or abroad
- marine and boating risks
- aviation and air activity risks
- travel
- employers’ liability for people a Scout Group, District and County may employ
Unity (Scout Insurance Services) is the official insurance broker of Scouts and is one company that can arrange insurance cover that meets the standards described above.
Scouts provides protection for liability claims (Public Liability Insurance) made against members or groups and medical expenses (Personal Accident and Medical Insurance) that are a result of a Scouts activity. It also provides protection for all Scout Trustee Boards and trustees (Trustee Indemnity), as long as they acted correctly.
There’s a handy chapter in Policy, Organisation and Rules on Insurance responsibilities which can be found here.
Scouts need funds, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to provide the wide variety of activities and events, or purchase equipment and badges (and so on).
One of the main jobs of the Trustee Board is to make sure that there’s enough funding for Scouts to properly operate.
Gift Aid is a great way to grow income for Scouts. You can claim back 25p every time an individual donates £1 and this includes membership fees. This is available for those in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can find more information on Gift Aid here.
If your charity owns buildings and/or land, this could be rented out to generate income. You’d need to consider the way this is done and the legal implications of lettings and extra insurance for example.
The proper financial planning and budgetary control of a Group/District/County lies with the Trustee Board.
A statement of accounts must be prepared annually and be put under the microscope, independently examined or audited. Following approval by the trustees they are presented to the Scout Council at the Annual General Meeting, before being filed with the Charity Commission.
The Treasurer will lead this area of responsibility.
You’ll find more information on managing finances on the Tools for Trustee Boards webpage.
Sometimes things will go wrong. Trustees have responsibility to report serious incidents to their regulator (Charity Commission, OSCR etc).
A serious incident is an unfortunate event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant:
- harm to beneficiaries, staff, volunteers or others who come into contact with your charity through its work
- loss of charity’s money or assets
- damage to charity’s property
- harm to charity’s work or reputation
For the purposes of this guidance, ‘significant’ is in the context of your charity, taking account of its staff, operations, finances and/or reputation. For example a significant loss to a Scout Group may be different from a Scout County. If in doubt report it!
UK Headquarters will report serious incidents relating to safeguarding and safety. Other serious incident reporting is down to the local trustees. More detailed guidance can be found via the following links.
Each Trustee Board (at Group, District and County levels) is responsible for maintaining the records of the completed complaints file, upon conclusion of the complaint.
This should be stored in line with the Scouts Data Protection Policy and following guidance set out in the Complaints and Handling personal data guide.
Every week, Scouts give almost half a million people 4-25 year olds the skills they need for school, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge: the skills they need for life. It’s important then, that young people are at the centre of the conversation when it comes to decision-making in the Scout Movement.
Where possible, Group, County and District Trustee Board should have, as full voting members, at least two young people between the age of 18 and 25 years old.
Being a part of the Trustee Board is just one of the many ways in which young people can shape Scouts, and it’s vital they’re supported in doing this.
A person under the age of 18 cannot act as a charity trustee. However, they can still have a full role on any Trustee Board sub-team and attend Trustee Board meetings (with no formal vote).
Each year, all Scout Councils, are required to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM), within six months of the end of the financial year.
It’s important that all trustees attend, along with as many members as possible from the Scout Group, District or County Scout Council. Many of the Trustee Board’s most important tasks can be traced back to the Annual General Meeting.
The Annual General Meeting is where the Scout Council receives a report and accounts from the Trustees that they appointed at the previous AGM, and appoints the Trustees that will form the Trustee Board and other key roles for the next year.
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