Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme – Using the Moderation Form
(FS120107) Published Oct 2024, replacing Jan 2014.
How to use this guidance
This guidance lists all of the standards included on the County Self Moderation form, both minimum standards and good practice and provides notes and guidance on what they mean / what is included within them. When a MAPS (Manager of the Activity Permit Scheme) is completing the self moderation form they should use the notes in this factsheet to help guide them as to whether their County has met each standard.
If there are any further queries regarding any of the standards after reading this factsheet then please contact the Safety Team at UK Headquarters.
The self moderation form
These are the standards that are found in the County Self Moderation form:
Minimum Standards
Every County needs to have a MAPS identified and recorded so that assessors are aware who their line manager is and everyone is aware of who to talk to about the permit scheme within the County.
The record on the membership system is the definitive record of whether a volunteer holds an activity permit. You need to make sure that all District Lead Volunteers are aware of this and the process for adding technical recommendations from external advisors to the membership system. A local record of all permits held by members under the age of 18 must be held and must include a record of the completed assessment checklist form and assessor recommendation as well as the full approval and granting of the permit. You need to make sure that all relevant parties are aware of this process.
All volunteers in Scouting must be recorded on the membership system, with the relevant Activity Assessor Accreditation. You should make sure all assessors are recorded when they are first accredited, and details are updated whenever you review their accreditation.
This is a learning requirement for the accreditation of Activity Assessor. Validation of this module is taking permit applicants through an assessment, so it’s possible to be recorded as an Activity Assessor after any needed learning has been done but before validation to allow them to carry out an assessment for validation. You can find records of completed module validation of all assessors on the membership system.
All assessor accreditations (like other appointments) last for a maximum of five years before they need to be reviewed. You can find details of all Activity Assessors’ appointment dates and the date of the next review on the membership system.
Having multiple assessors seeing an applicant or reviewing an assessment provides best practice in both providing multiple viewpoints on the abilities of the applicant and in helping to provide a level standard for assessing across all assessors. The ideal is that two or more assessors can see each applicant on an assessment, which is likely to already be happening where assessors are working on assessment courses with multiple assessors. However, it is impractical for this to happen for every assessment, so where this doesn’t happen the assessment will need to be reviewed afterwards by other assessors.
This review is not to change anything in the recommendation for a permit given to the applicant, and the applicant should still be given the recommendation straight away, not wait for the assessment to be reviewed. But it should allow assessors to talk openly about their own and each other’s assessments, helping to provide a level standard for assessing across all assessors.
Ideally, any reviews will include assessors for the same activity, but where there are limited numbers of assessors for some activities this may not be practicable, so reviewing similar activities can still provide benefits with regard to assessing best practices. These are likely to happen at County (or cross County) assessor meetings.
Shadowing other assessments allows assessors to experience other assessing techniques and best practice while also helping to provide a level standard for assessing across all assessors. To get the maximum benefit from each shadowing session this can be combined with working with assessors from different Counties, and should end with a discussion between assessors on what they have seen and learnt. Ideally, the shadowing would be for the same activity, but where there are limited numbers of assessors for some activities this may not be practicable, so shadowing similar activities can still provide benefits with regard to assessing best practices.
Where assessors are working on assessment courses with multiple assessors, this will already be happening.
You need to make sure that all District Lead Volunteers and permit approvers have been properly briefed / trained on their role in the permit scheme. This could be as part of their induction to their role, included in their learning for the role, or at a separate meeting with yourself. All District Lead Volunteers should be aware of who you are, how to contact you, what support you can provide them with and their role in the permit scheme.
For assessor appointments in the last year:
As with all other over 18s undertaking any responsibilities or involvement in Scouting, assessors must complete a personal enquiry check as part of their appointment process.
Some NGB qualifications have expiry dates or require other factors to be current, such as NGB membership, an up to date logbook or a current first aid qualification. You need to make sure that all new assessors hold the correct NGB qualification (details can be found in FS120104 Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme – Approved Assessors), and that the qualification is current and up to date.
Evidence of the assessor's NGB qualification with supporting evidence such as logbooks must be uploaded to the membership system.
Like all other roles in Scouting, assessor accreditation needs to follow the appropriate process, including being approved by the County Lead Volunteer or MAPS.
To make sure new assessors know what is expected of them and are best able to carry out their role, it is important that they are all inducted into their new role so that they understand how things work, what is expected of them, and what support is available to them.
Like other appointments in Scouting, new assessors should get a Learning Assessor. This is the person who will be able to support them through and validate the required learning of module 25 for activity assessors, as well as help them identify and carry out any further learning that they would find useful. Ideally, the learning assessor would be another assessor as they are best placed to know the role.
For assessors’ five-year reviews carried out in the last year:
As with all other over 18s undertaking any responsibilities or involvement in Scouts, assessors must have an up to date internal check.
Some NGB qualifications have expiry dates or require other factors to be current, such as NGB membership, an up to date logbook or a current first aid qualification. You need to make sure that all assessors continue to hold the correct NGB qualification (details can be found in FS120104 Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme – Approved Assessors), and that the qualification is current and up to date.
Evidence of the assessor's NGB qualification with supporting evidence such as logbooks must be uploaded to the membership system.
To make sure all assessors remain up to date with their activity and with their role they are required to take part in Continued Personal Development (CPD). This needs to be a minimum of two days within the five years of their appointment, of which at least one needs to be looking at activity specific / technical updates and at least one needs to be looking at the assessor role and assessment skills.
Good practice
To help make sure that activity permit holders are able to apply for a new permit before their old permit expires and not run activities without realising their old permit has expired, Counties should set up a system that notifies permit holders of when their permits will be expiring. This should be done in plenty of time so that permit holders can arrange to get a new permit granted and could also include Lead Volunteers and details of how to get a new permit.
Before being able to be assessed for a permit, members need to have the relevant skills and experience. It is therefore important that opportunities and support in gaining these skills are provided. This could be through you organising learning courses through County teams, activity centres etc, or it could be through identifying and promoting existing external opportunities like commercial providers or existing activity centre courses.
As assessors are required to take part in CPD it is important that they have the opportunity to do so. This could be through you organising CPD opportunities within the County or Region, possibly using the national Supporting Assessors Scout Active Support Unit to support a locally run assessor workshop or bringing in a technical adviser to work with assessors on the latest best practice for their activity. Alternatively, it could be about identifying and promoting other opportunities, such as nationally run assessor workshops or CPD opportunities and workshops being run by NGBs or associated associations.
The activity permit scheme is a national scheme, so it is important that assessors talk to and work with other assessors outside their County. This leads to level standards and best assessing practices being applied across the UK. Ideally, this will see assessors carrying out practical assessments alongside assessors from other Counties, possibly at assessment courses, but could also include cross County assessor meetings looking at previous assessments, attending workshops with assessors from different Counties, or assessing for NGB awards with other assessors outside Scouting.
Counties co-ordinating their provision of learning, assessment and other opportunities provides a number of benefits including more opportunities for members to make use of, avoiding date clashes for opportunities, and giving members the chance to work with and experience Scouting outside their County. You should work with MAPS from across your Region / Country to make sure the programme of opportunities makes the best use of time and resources to provide these opportunities to all members.
The most effective system for carrying out assessment is through assessment courses. This means that multiple applicants can be assessed so relies on less assessor time than one-to-one assessment, allows multiple assessors to see applicants and discuss assessments and recommendations, and allows multiple applicants and assessors to work together picking up ideas and best practice from each other, and allows both applicants and assessors to plan their time in advance. To make sure this happens you should work with your assessors to plan a timetable of assessment courses throughout the year that are then promoted in plenty of time to potential applicants.
Members from a County may wish to gain a permit in any activity from the activity permit scheme, so it would be useful to know where to find an assessor for any activity. This may be through a process of finding, learning and appointing further assessors within your own County, of working with MAPS from other Counties in your Region / Country to share assessor resources, or through signposting places to find external assessors through NGBs, activity centres, instructor associations or local commercial providers.
Moderation Form
Download the form