Our finances and the membership fee for 2025-26

Our goal is always to work within our best possible operating model, and the challenges we’ve experienced over the past year has made it harder to achieve this.

The UK HQ membership fee, charged for our youth members, covers the majority of the services that UK HQ provides for the movement. The rest of the services that UK HQ provides are funded from a combination of income that comes from our commercial operations, our partnerships, and the generosity of our brilliant funders. 

UK HQ services include:

• the overall design and support resources for delivering our Programme (including awards and badges) to young people;
• support and resources to enable volunteers to keep everyone safe in Scouts;
• training, guidance and support for running Scouts locally. including recruiting and retaining volunteers;
• and insurance for all members, along with many other services.

You can find out more about how the fee is spent. 

Last year, we welcomed 8,700 new young people into Scouts, as we all keep working to return to our pre-pandemic level of membership.

With 107,000 young people on our waiting list, our goal now needs to be to focus on how we can offer these young people the opportunity to enjoy Scouts and gain skills for life.  

Each County/Area/Region and District teams has been working carefully over the year to welcome more volunteers and open more spaces for young people. Over time, we look forward to seeing those on the waiting list joining Scouts.  

In the meantime, we’re still impacted by the same cost pressures that we’ve been transparent about in recent years, including inflationary pressures and litigation costs increasing.  

This year, we’re investing heavily in the safety support we offer our volunteers, as part of our commitment to make Scouts safer for all young people. This includes appointing a dedicated team of 17 full-time staff to give volunteers more safety support and guidance over the next 18 months, and enhancing safety training for all volunteers. We’re also investing in our digital tools to give volunteers more access to information, and transforming how we assess, approve and audit our Nights Away Applications.   

We must also maintain our frontline support to volunteers, and keep developing this as membership grows, while we continue investing in keeping our young people safe as a priority.

It’s for these reasons we need to increase the UK HQ membership fee for 2025-26. 

UK HQ Membership fee 2025-26  

Our UK HQ membership fee provides vital funding, which covers essential ongoing costs to support our volunteers.  

The UK HQ membership fee for 2025-26 will be increasing by £5 to £43 per youth member.  

There will continue to be a 50p prompt payment discount if we receive payment by 23 April 2025, making the amount paid per youth member £42.50. 

An increase is never positive news, especially in the current climate when families are under pressure from increased living costs. As we’ve seen with this year, cost pressures can be unpredictable, but we’re always committed to make sure any increase is kept as low as possible.  

We know this is likely to impact some families and we’d never wish for finances to be a barrier to a young person enjoying Scouts. You can use our guidance that gives suggestions about how you can support families.    

It’s also important to note that this fee relates to the services provided directly by the UK HQ.

Each Nation HQ, County/Area/Region, District and Group will be reviewing their own financial situation, so the amount you pay per youth member may differ and will depend on your area.

We’d expect all parts of Scouts to consider its own costs carefully in light of current financial pressures and planned activities to support Scouts locally, in the same way we have at UK HQ, before making any changes to local fees. We’re sure that you’ll hear about the membership fee you have to pay for your area soon. 

This increase will help us to provide enhanced support to our volunteers, protect our financial position for the long term and keep prioritising the safety of our young people.  

As always, thank you for your commitment as one of our brilliant volunteers. What you do locally makes a real difference to young people and gives them the opportunity to gain skills for life in fun and safe environments.