Administration & Governance

District fees

We would like you to record the district membership fee you charged young people last financial year and what you plan to charge this year. This is not the entire membership fee but just the amount charged by your districts.

Gift aid and charity status

From 2020, if your district claims gift aid, we’ve asked how much you have received. We have asked this question because we’re trying to understand the different amounts of gift aid that is claimed on average in different economic areas – this is part of our ‘extending reach’ programme of work. Not sure what gift aid is or how to claim it? Learn more about claiming gift aid. Please enter a value rounded to the nearest £1.

If your District’s registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales, OSCR in Scotland, or the Charity Commission in Northern Ireland, we ask you to provide your charity registration number. Please note that isn’t the same as a gift aid, or HMRC registration number. This information will give us an accurate picture of the number of groups, districts and counties across the UK that are registered with the regulators and will feed directly into the governance programme of work currently underway. If you aren’t sure, you can use the charity regulator websites to search for registered charities in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Constitution and District Executive Committee

From 2020, we’ve asked for slightly more information about how your executive committee is made up, including how many are under 25 year olds are members, and how many other adults have a leader role in Scouts.

We have also asked if the District has formally adopted a constitution at one of its AGMs. There’s a standard constitution in POR rule 5.4 which is used by many districts, but this, or another constitution should be formally adopted. If you aren’t sure if this has ever been done, we’ve provided an option for ‘not known’. This will provide the governance programme of work with a clear understanding of the various constitution models that are currently in place across UK Scouts.

Complaints

The complaints question relates to complaints raised formally under The Scouts complaints policy. It does not include informal concerns raised which may have been resolved informally. We are seeking this information as we are always looking to improve our policies and procedures including the complaints policy. This information will help us to build a picture of the volumes of formal complaints received as a movement overall. We plan to work closely with a representative sample of the movement to explore changes in how we deal with complaints. We also want to look at the advice and guidance available for all stakeholders including complainants and their representatives, managers and individuals subject to the complaints process. This data will also be helpful for the line management chain to get a better understanding of their respective areas in Scouting when it comes to concerns and complaints

Waiting lists

You’re asked to record the number of young people you have on joining lists for each section. This means the number of young people who are currently (on 31 January 2023) the right age to join that section – don’t record those who are too young to join. We collect information about how many young people are interested in Scouts so that it can be used locally to inform our growth and development plans. It can help identify where new sections and Groups may be needed. We have changed this question for 2020 to recognise that in some areas the waiting list is managed by the District, and in other areas this is managed by Groups. If the District manages the waiting list of young people on behalf of the groups, please click yes, and you’ll be presented with the fields to tell us how many young people are on your waiting list currently.

Other Property

If your District owns, leases or rents any other land or buildings, in addition to your section’s main meeting places, can you tell us whether this is freehold, leasehold, is rented or is used with no cost. You can select multiple options if more than one apply. This is also part of our governance programme of work and this information will give us an accurate picture of the level of property ownership of Groups, Districts and Counties across the UK.