Steps in the volunteer joining journey

So that new volunteers understand what they need to do and feel welcome, as quickly as possible, the Team Leader or Lead Volunteer will be in touch regularly in their first few weeks. They’ll talk about how Scouts works, what time they have to volunteer, agree what tasks they’ll do, share the yellow card, explain the learning that they’ll need to do and generally support them through their first few weeks of being a volunteer. 

All new volunteers will have to complete vetting and safeguarding checks when they join Scouts. 

Here’s a handy illustration which explains the steps new volunteers will take to become a full member:

Our digital system, on scouts.org.uk, will show a set of steps, relevant to each new volunteer, that they need to complete when joining Scouts. 

All steps, except for Growing Roots learning, will need to be started within six weeks of becoming a member. They can be done in any order at any time.

Criminal record checks

In England and Wales, we’ll use a mobile friendly self-service criminal record check process through Atlantic Data. 

Please note, we don’t use the Disclosure Update Service. This means new volunteers will have to complete a criminal record check, even if they’ve already completed one for another organisation. 

For Scotland, Northern Ireland, British Scouting Overseas and Branches, we’ll introduce an improved criminal record check process that’ll reduce additional admin time. 

References

We need references so we can keep young people safe and check all new volunteers are right for Scouts. To make our references process easier: 

• Volunteers will directly enter their referee information and requests will be sent automatically. 
• Referees will be able to respond directly, and references with no comments or issues will be approved automatically. Any issues flagged by references received will be reviewed locally.

Welcome conversation

When a volunteer first joins Scouts, they’ll attend a Welcome Conversation with their Team Leader and a volunteer who has the Welcome Conversation Volunteer accreditation.

It’s an opportunity to chat to new volunteers, find out more about them, make sure they understand and commit to our values, and how we keep young people safe.

From 1 June 2024, Early Adopter Counties will be rolling out Welcome Conversations, so new volunteers in these Counties should be invited to have a Welcome Conversation, instead of an Appointments Panel. By 1 September 2024, all our Early Adopter Counties will have made the transition.

Internal check

Our UK Headquarters will automatically check a new volunteer's name against internal records. We're making this step easier by:

• Introducing an automated internal check process, making it quicker for checks to be completed. 
• Allowing new volunteers and their Team Leaders to see their information, so they’re aware of any restrictions applied to someone's membership by UKHQ. 

Declarations

Volunteers will continue to make a commitment when they join to accepting Scout values, following Scout policies and completing the learning required. 

All charity trustees in the UK must also complete an eligibility declaration form saying they are eligible to be a Trustee. 

We’re making these clearer by improving the wording of our declarations and making only the relevant declarations visible to new volunteers when they first sign in to scouts.org.uk. 

Growing Roots learning

New volunteers, or volunteers starting a new type of role, will have six months to complete their Growing Roots learning.