Administration & Governance

District fees

Please use these questions to record the Membership fee or levy charged by the District. Not the total membership fee but just the part charged by your District.

Gift aid and charity status

If your District claims gift aid, we also ask how much you have received. We have asked this question because we’re trying to understand the different amounts of gift aid that is claimed on average in different economic areas – this is part of our ‘extending reach’ programme of work. If you’re not sure what gift aid is or how to claim it, you can learn more about claiming gift aid on the gov.uk website. Please enter a value rounded to the nearest £1.

If your District is registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales, OSCR in Scotland, or the Charity Commission in Northern Ireland, we ask you to provide your charity registration number. Please note that isn’t the same as a gift aid or HMRC registration number. This information gives us an accurate picture of the number of Groups, Districts and Counties across the UK that are registered with regulatory bodies. If you aren’t sure, you can use the charity regulator websites to search for registered charities in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Constitution and District Trustee Board

Since 2020, we’ve asked for slightly more information about how your Trustee Board is made up, including how many members are under 25 years of age, and how many adults also have a leader role in Scouts.

We’ve also asked if the District has formally adopted a constitution at one of its AGM’s. There’s a standard constitution in POR rule 5.4 which is used by many Districts, but this, or another constitution should be formally adopted. If you aren’t sure if this has been done, we’ve provided an option for ‘not known’. This will provide a clearer understanding of the various constitution models that are currently in place across UK Scouts.

Complaints

The complaints question relates to complaints raised formally under The Scouts complaints policy. It does not include low level concerns raised which may have been resolved informally.

We are seeking this information as we are always looking to improve our policies and procedures including the complaints policy. This information will help us to build a picture of the volumes of formal complaints received as a movement overall. We plan to work closely with a representative sample of the movement to explore changes in how we deal with complaints.

We also want to look at the advice and guidance available for all stakeholders including complainants and their representatives, managers and individuals subject to the complaints process. This data will also be helpful for the line management chain to get a better understanding of their respective areas in Scouting when it comes to concerns and complaints.

Waiting lists

You’re asked to record the number of young people you have on waiting lists for each section. This means the number of young people who are currently (on 31 January 2025) the right age to join that section – don’t record those who are too young to join. We collect information about how many young people are interested in Scouts so that it can be used locally to inform our growth and development plans. It can help identify where new sections and Groups may be needed. We changed this question in 2020 to recognise that in some areas the waiting list is managed by the District, and in other areas this is managed by Groups. If the District manages the waiting list of young people on behalf of the groups, please click yes, and you’ll be presented with the fields to tell us how many young people are on your waiting list currently.

Other Property

If your District owns, leases or rents any other land or buildings, in addition to your section’s main meeting places, can you tell us whether this is freehold, leasehold, is rented or is used with no cost. You can select multiple options if more than one apply. This is also part of our governance programme of work and this information will give us an accurate picture of the level of property ownership of Groups, Districts and Counties across the UK.