3. Supporting Lead Volunteers and Permit Approvers with their role within the activity permit scheme

A key part of the activity permit scheme lies with the Lead Volunteers, normally District Lead Volunteers but also the County lead Volunteers for those with County roles. As a general rule Lead Volunteers are unlikely to be activities practitioners, so they will need support through their part of the scheme.

The Lead Volunteer / Permit Approver role starts when they receive a recommendation via the membership system (or for those under 18's via the assessment form) with a recommendation from an Assessor. At this point, they have a checklist of things to do listed.

The key points you need to make sure Lead Volunteers / Permit Approvers are aware of are:

• They know where to find guidance relating to the Permit Scheme relevant to them
• They're aware that they can’t grant anyone a permit without a recommendation from an Assessor (this must be though the membership system).
• That they need to grant (though the membership system for over 18s) or sign (the assessment check sheet for those under 18s) for every permit.
• That any restrictions they place on a permit need to be justified to the applicant and can’t be blanket restrictions for all permits they grant. This is a combination of the restrictions from each restrictions box on the membership system or the form. They can’t ignore any restrictions recommended by the assessor.
• Supporting evidence for the recommendation is attached to the recommendation.  As a minimum, this includes the assessment check sheet.
• That all permits must have an expiry date that is no further than five years away.
• That all permits issued to those under 18 must check all pages and sections of the Assessment check sheet have been completed and a copy of the fully completed given to the permit holder.

As well as from yourself they can find support through resources such as.

• County Programme Team
• A-Z of Activities
• Permit approver learning

From November 2024 all adult permits must be applied for and approved via the membership system. As this is a national scheme there must be national records held on who holds a permit. This also allows Counties etc. to see what permit holders there are in their area and allows UKHQ to easily contact them with updates etc. should the need arise. This is the definitive record of what permits have been granted, so if it is not recorded on the membership system then the permit does not exist.