Digital transformation
Our digital strategy supports our members, grows the movement and puts our people at the heart of what we do
Making Scouts digital first
Being digital first isn’t simply about everyone using technology. It means making sure people, processes and technology, work well together to support our members and grow our movement.
Our digital strategy is putting people at the heart of the digital tools and services we’re developing. This means that what we introduce aim to be easy, fun, and empowering for our volunteers, staff and young people. This will help us make even more of a positive difference.
Our progress and achievements so far
We’re introducing a new digital system to improve our volunteering experience. By signing in to scouts.org.uk, volunteers will have access to new digital tools which will help support them with:
- The management of membership data, with our My Membership digital tool
- Providing a warmer welcome to new volunteers, with our Volunteering Opportunities digital tool
- Providing more engaging learning with our My Learning digital tool
This will make volunteering together at Scouts more easy, flexible and fun, so we can attract and retain more volunteers, and help even more young people gain skills for life.
Features of the new digital system
The features of our new digital system have been designed to improve volunteering, so we have more time to do what we love.
To watch in full screen, double click the video
At Scouts, we'd be lost without you, our volunteers. It’s through your dedication that so many young people gain skills for life.
The thing is, paperwork isn't exactly everyone's favourite task, not even for our wonderful volunteers.
So, we've created a range of easy-to-use digital tools via scouts.org.uk that provide a one-stop shop for all of your Scouts’ admin.
You'll only need to sign in once to access everything you need, just like that.
Want to update your personal details?
No problem! It's a simple process sorted in just a few clicks.
Need to improve your knowledge of a Scouts learning course?
No worries! Courses specially tailored to your role are always available.
You can easily understand what you need and with more learning content available, gain new skills too. And your progress is recorded automatically.
Looking to apply for a permit or organise a camp?
Let's be honest, it could be time consuming and tricky.
Not any more.
Now you can easily apply for or renew permits, choose assessors and track progress all online.
Everything is straightforward and easy to use.
Maybe you’d just like to make managing your team that little bit easier.
Whether you're sharing tasks or getting updates on new volunteer enquiries, with our digital tools it's a straightforward, intuitive process.
Team Leaders - you can easily get real time reports and make your own.
Have a sub-team managing a district or county event?
With our new system you can easily keep on top of team tasks, so everything runs smoothly.
Designed and tested by Scouts volunteers, our digital tools make admin straightforward, it's almost, dare we say it, fun.
Accessed on a computer, tablet or smartphone, these digital tools are real time savers, giving you, our volunteers, more time to help young people gain skills for life.
Thank you for everything you do.
Next steps
Our new digital system has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use. There will be support available to make sure you can adopt the new digital tools with ease.
- Our award-winning Digital Skills Tool can help you build your digital confidence, and there are Digital Champions on hand to support
- There’ll be volunteers in your County to support you when the digital tools go live; contact your Transformation / County Lead to find out more
- We will soon launch ‘How to’ guides with videos and easy to follow instructions on the new digital system if you need more detailed guidance
Scouts.org.uk
We continue to improve the website so it's the one-stop-shop for all volunteers need to deliver great scouting. We’re currently focussing on making sure you can easily navigate what’s relevant to you.
All improvements are supported by our digital principles, so we make sure our users’ needs, data and insights inform our decisions every step of the way.
We also deliver each part of our digital strategy through a close collaboration between our staff and hundreds of volunteers up and down the country.
Our 8 digital principles
We build our digital principles into the foundations of how we develop and deliver new digital tools, services and processes:
1. We put people at the heart of everything we do
2. We are bold and open to change
3. We create digital-first, responsive and accessible services
4. We use data and insight to drive our decisions
5. We measure, test and learn
6. We engage, collaborate and partner
7. We provide safe and secure services
8. Our systems are flexible, sustainable and interoperable
1. We put people at the heart of everything we do
We create services with and for our members to deliver what they want and need. At the same time, we help our members improve their digital skills and confidence.
2. We’re bold and open to change
We aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo – we think differently and we innovate. We’re not afraid to get things wrong and learn from things we do. We’re here to transform the movement, making change happen in a positive and sustainable way.
3. We create digital-first, responsive and accessible services
We design and deliver digital services, tools, platforms or content that work across most devices, are available anywhere and are accessible for all.
4. We use data and insight to drive our decisions
We capture, monitor and analyse data across the movement to inform decisions and create insights. This supports the development of our services, using data to help make decisions
5. We measure, test and learn
We test and learn, listen to users’ feedback, measure our results and continually improve.
6. We engage, collaborate and partner
We encourage innovation and creativity from across our movement. We work collaboratively in co-design between staff and volunteers. We share knowledge and information across the charity sector and with our partners and suppliers.
7. We provide safe and secure services
By maintaining the highest security and data standards, we make sure that our digital and technology services are safe and secure. We meet all regulatory and compliance obligations for technology.
8. Our systems are flexible, sustainable and interoperable (they work with each other)
Our technology infrastructure, architecture and systems are reliable and robust, using technologies with a cloud-first, open source approach. This means they are more sustainable and give us better value. Our digital platform is flexible and supported by re-usable components. This allows them to work across different systems. We use open standards for data and coding wherever possible so that we can share these across the movement or the sector.
In 2024, we’re introducing new digital tools to support a range of changes to the volunteer experience at Scouts.
Learn more about key digital skills which will help plan and deliver Scouts’ activity.