Scouts wins £6.35M funding boost from DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund to support our growth work

This grant, the largest we’ve ever received, will have a transformative impact on our growth across the Scouts and Explorers Sections, aiming to bring Scouts to more young people in under-represented communities.

This funding will give them the skills they need for school, college, university, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge and the big dreams: the skills they need for life. 

The Uniformed Youth Fund was set up by the Government to support uniformed youth groups in England. Its aim is to reduce waiting lists and to create new provision. The funding secured will create 7,250 new places for 10 to 18 year-olds in under-represented and levelling up areas, where young people are most in need of what Scouts has to offer. 

Through this fund we'll: 

• Recruit new staff to form a team within the Growth and Communities team in England, who'll work with Groups to deliver taster sessions, build programme capacity and help set up new Sections to reduce waiting lists.  
• Recruit dedicated Community Marketing staff to work alongside volunteers in these areas and the new Growth and Communities team 
• Continue our work to transform the Volunteer Experience to make sure volunteers feel valued and supported 
• Continue work to improve data and youth insights  

If you live in Newcastle, or plan to visit within the next couple of months, you might start to spot some of our plan in action. We’ve started a targeted recruitment campaign to attract and welcome new volunteers from the area using digital billboards. 

This is just the start of our journey. We hope to be able to continue updating you on how this fund is being spent and the impact it’s having locally over the coming months. We’ll also start to communicate more around the work we do to receive vital funds that play a big part in supporting local Groups/Units and volunteers.  

A huge amount of thanks is owed to many of the staff at UKHQ, who put in a lot of work to develop and submit the bid, none more so than the Strategic Funding team.

The team have also been supporting local Scout groups to apply for the Youth Investment Fund for capital funds by running webinars and providing advice and guidance on how to complete an application. This includes setting up the Scouts Youth Investment Fund Facebook page for eligible groups to connect and help each other.  

Finally, we’d also like to take this opportunity to thank DCMS for their commitment to Scouts, and their support for this vital piece of work.