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Understanding the differences between Team Members and helpers 

Team Members

Team Members are volunteers who plan, deliver, and support an amazing programme for young people. 

They can volunteer flexibly. Some may give their time every week, while others may give as much or as little time as they can. 

To become a Team Member, a volunteer completes the necessary steps in the volunteer joining journey. Team members are required to complete Growing Roots learning and gain a First Response certificate. 

Helpers

Helpers are people, 18 or over, who are not members of the Scouts but provide informal support, normally to help deliver the programme. They may be, for example, parents or local subject matter experts.

Many helpers do not need to be recorded on the membership management system at scouts.org.uk as they aren't undertaking regulated activity (see above), and therefore they don’t need a criminal record check or internal check.

If a helper undertakes regulated activity, they must have a satisfactory criminal records check and a satisfactory internal check, and they must be recorded in the adult membership system to enable those checks to take place. 

Some examples of what helpers that aren't undertaking regulated activity can and can’t do

Since they do not have a DBS check: 

  • the maximum they can volunteer is three times in any thirty-day period

  • they are not a member of a section team or wider teams

  • they’ll always be supervised by team members or team leaders

They can:

  • be put on an adult rota. This could be any adult, parent or caregiver

  • run an activity with a group of young people under supervision of a member of the section team

  • attend a session or event, walk young people down the road as part of a group, or prepare squash and biscuits 

  • be a valued extra pair of hands, eyes and ears to help run weekly meetings 

They cannot:

  • attend overnight events

  • have access to personal data about young people or adults

  • handle money or personal data

  • have unsupervised access to young people

  • volunteer more than three times in any thirty-day period

  • be a Trustee 

  Some people who help us will need a disclosure check and an internal check, as their support involves regulated activity. They'll be registered on scouts.org.uk as ‘Non-member – needs disclosure’.

We’ve previously called these people ‘Occasional Helper’ (this will also apply to family members, over 18 that are attending a residential experience).

Some examples of what ‘Non member – needs disclosure’ can and can't do

Since they have a DBS checks, they can: 

  • support a section occasionally without needing supervision 

  • help out once a week (or on four occasions in a thirty-day period), or more frequently

  • attend residential experiences   

As ‘Non member – needs disclosure’ don't get membership status with Scouts, they will not:

  • get the usual benefits members receive, such as personal accident insurance

  • their time with us also won’t count as volunteering time towards ‘length of service’ awards

  • they won’t have access to personal data about young people or adults

Talking to your helpers about joining your team

If you think a helper might be a great fit to join your team:

  • have a conversation with them 

  • Tell them about all the benefits of being a Team Member

Remind them they’ll still be able to volunteer flexibly and in a way that suits them. 

What we expect from our helpers

Anyone helping out at Scouts must read, understand and commit to following the Yellow Card. This is our code of practice for all adults in Scouts, where we commit to making the safety of young people our priority.

Sticking to the rules outlined in POR is really important. It’s key for everyone to understand who can and can’t have unsupervised access to young people, and how often they can volunteer.

  Following Our Volunteering Culture will guide helpers on what we do and say, how we support each other, following our values and being at our best. 

What helpers can expect from us 

Team Leaders and Team Members should make sure any helper knows who their main point of contact is. 

They should make sure all helpers have read and understood the Yellow Card, given them basic health and safety information, and told them about basic safety and safeguarding procedures, including who to report safeguarding concerns to.

They should also brief the helper to make sure they know what they can do to help (and what they can’t).