County Lead Volunteer Handover Checklist

Page last reviewed: February 2026.

How to use this checklist

County / Area / Region (Scotland) Lead Volunteers can use this checklist to gather key information about their patch when starting their role. 

They might consider having individual handover conversations with County / Area / Region (Scotland) Leadership Team Members, Lead Volunteers, Trustees, paid staff and the outgoing Lead Volunteer, as appropriate.

County / Area / Region (Scotland) Lead Volunteer handover checklist 

County characteristics 

• What County’s geographical area is, and what the Districts within the County are.
• How many volunteers and young people there are in the County.
• Who the key external supporters and partners are in the County, such as local businesses and organisations that work together with the local communities.  

County Teams 

• Overview of the County structure, its teams and sub-teams.
• Who the County Leadership Team Members are, and any relevant information about them.
• Who the County Team Leaders and Team Members are, and any relevant information about them.
• Who the County Trustees are and how they work together with the County Teams.
• Who has County Accreditations, and if this needs to be reviewed.
• Any recruitment needed for County Teams.
• People dynamics within the County Teams. 

Priorities and ongoing tasks 

• What the top 5 priorities for County Leadership Team are.
• What tasks require immediate attention.
• Overview of the County compliance with learning and criminal records checks.
• Any ongoing suspensions, complaints and incidents. 

Events and meetings 

• When the County Leadership Team meetings are.
• When the County Trustee Board meetings and AGM are.
• What the County events for volunteers are.
• What the County events for young people are, including Jamborees, Moots and Roverways.
• How and when the County celebrates and recognises young people, volunteers and members of the community who support Scouts locally.
• What District events there are, and which of them the County Leadership Team might want to join.

Local processes and tools 

• What the main County communication channels are, and who manages them.
• What the local digital tools are (e.g. OSM, Dropbox, Google Drive), how they’re used to record County information and who manages them.
• Where passwords are stored, and who has access to them. 

Support for Districts 

• What the top 3 priorities for each District Leadership Team are.
• What the main challenges are in each District.
• Overview of each District’s Growth and Development plan.
• How the County Teams support each District.  

Youth participation 

• Who the County and District Youth Leads are.
• What projects the Youth Leads are leading, and what their 3 top priorities are.
• How the County Teams support the Youth Leads. 

Finances 

• Overview of County’s finances and main sources of income.
• What the County finance policy is, and what’s the process for claiming expenses.
• What the County bank accounts and investments are, who accesses them, and who the signatories are.

Properties & Equipment 

• Overview of buildings, campsites and estates leased and owned by the County.
• Overview of vehicles leased and owned by the County.
• Overview of who has access to County properties and vehicles, and who has their keys.
• Overview of equipment owned by the County, including for activities and any technology equipment provided to County Team Members and paid staff.

Paid staff 

• Who they are and who line manages them.
• What their tasks and responsibilities are.
• What their contract is, who’s responsible for paying them and where the funds come from.
• How they’re keeping up to date with processes and compliant with health and safety regulations. 

Historical information 

• Relevant information on historical safeguarding cases in the County.
• Relevant information on historical incidents in the County.
• Relevant information on historical complaints in the County.
• Relevant information on past situations in the County that attracted media and public attention. 

Growth 

• Overview of County’s Growth and Development plan.
• Overview of waiting lists.
• What the previous initiatives on growth were, what worked well and what didn’t.