Steps in the volunteer joining journey

Check the applicant is eligible 

Before the new adult starts on their joining journey the line manager must make sure that the person:

1. is over 18 years old when their role starts

This will normally be the date that initial details of the applicant are added to the membership system. Applicants for an adult role may be added to the membership system for the purposes of carrying out a criminal record check up to 180 days before their 18th birthday

1. for a Youth Lead role, the applicant must not have reached their 25th birthday at the time of appointment 
2. that the applicant has the time and capacity to carry out the role 
3. if applicable, can recognise and manage any real or perceived conflicts of interest between any current roles, where rules don’t already expressly prohibit holding the proposed combination

To start the ball rolling the new adult’s Team Leader or Lead Volunteer should make regular contact with them to talk about:

• how Scouts works (nationally and locally)
• what time they have to volunteer
• what tasks they’ll do
• the yellow card
• the learning that they’ll need to do

and generally, support them through their first few weeks of being a volunteer.

All volunteers registered on the membership system need to complete vetting and safeguarding checks when they join. So, this is also a great time to start these too. 

First things first

To start the ball rolling the new adult’s Team Leader or Lead Volunteer should make regular contact with them to talk about:

• how Scouts works (nationally and locally)
• what time they have to volunteer
• what tasks they’ll do
• the yellow card
• the learning that they’ll need to do

and generally, support them through their first few weeks of being a volunteer.

All volunteers registered on the membership system need to complete vetting and safeguarding checks when they join. So, this is also a great time to start these too. 

A new volunteers joining journey begins with the Lead Volunteer or Team Leader adding them to the membership management system (digital systems) at scouts.org.uk.

Initially the new applicant will have a provisional membership status on the membership system. While the role has provisional status, your new ‘team member’ must always be supervised when with young people and must not take part in any form of regulated activity. The person(s) supervising must have a full appointment with a current personal Enquiry (DBS).

How to add a new adult to the membership system

If the person has enquired to join your group through the adult recruitment tool, you can send them an invitation to join Scouts in the system by clicking ‘Send invite’. On the ‘Review invitation email’ page, click ‘Send invite’.

To add a new adult directly into a team you will need their:

• first name
• surname
• date of birth 
• post code 
• email address 

You can view the full process to add a new member here

Once added to the system, the new applicant will receive an email asking them to login and finish entering their personal and application information. The email will also include their login details.

If the applicant is unable to access the membership system the relevant Lead Volunteer, after consultation with the applicant, can nominate another member to the team to act on their behalf to manage their personal details using the systems ‘proxy access’ functionality.

Scouts is a regulated activity provider and must comply with the law in respect to adults engaging with children. Regulated activity with children refers to work that a barred person must not do. A barred person is someone who has harmed or poses a risk of harm to children or vulnerable groups.  

In England and Wales, regulated activity is defined in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.   

Regulated activity in Scouts means where a person aged 18 or over meets any of these criteria:

1. is taking on a formal adult appointment to help run or support scouting   
2. will be assisting with, and be present overnight at, an overnight activity
3. may be helping once a week (or on four occasions in a thirty-day period), 
   or more frequently 
4. Could have unsupervised access to young people
5. will be involved with the handling or management of money and/or personal data

Any adult member or helper delivering or likely to participate in regulated activity must hold a satisfactory Personal Enquiry (that’s a criminal record DBS check, an internal (UKHQ) check, references).

As a Movement, we are committed to meeting the NSPCC guidelines around safer recruitment. This framework helps us to minimize the risk of appointing someone unsuitable and helps us make sure that new volunteers are ‘safe’ to work with our young people. To ensure a fair and consistent process we do this through disclosure (DBS) checks, references, welcome chats, and learning. 

A satisfactory criminal record (DBS) check must be completed within 30 days of the start of the new adult’s provisional role.

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

If the satisfactory criminal record check is not complete after 180 days but the application for a criminal record check was made within 30 days of the start of the Provisional role then 

the applicant may continue to operate supervised, provided that all other steps of the volunteer joining journey have been completed.

PLEASE NOTE: The Scout Association does not accept DBS checks from other organisations. This is because the nature of the information that may be disclosed on an enhanced scout DBS criminal record check may differ from that provided to another organisation.

We seek to be open and accessible to all. A criminal conviction will not necessarily prevent an individual from volunteering. This will, however, depend on the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of their offences.

All convictions, including those that are spent will show on a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Some criminal convictions, disciplinary proceedings or behaviour may disqualify adults from certain roles in scouting, specifically any convictions or disciplinary proceedings which involve the harming of children, young people or vulnerable adults in any way.

This is a check of internal records held at UK Headquarters. This is an automated process, making it quick for the check to be completed. New volunteers and their Team Leaders will see the results and will be aware if any restrictions have been applied to someone's membership by UKHQ. 

We need references so we can keep young people safe and check all new volunteers are right for Scouts. 

Volunteers enter their referee information directly into their adult membership record and requests are then sent automatically by the system. References with no comments or issues are approved automatically by the system.

If reference requests have not been received within 30 days, the new volunteer will received a notification from the membership system asking them to submit different people to request references from. 

Any issues flagged by references received will be reviewed locally by members of the District Volunteer Development Team. 

The purpose of our volunteering declaration is to confirm that all new volunteers agree to uphold the values, rules, and policies of the Scouts. This declaration includes an acknowledgment of the fundamental principles of Scouting, which focus on the personal development of young people and their positive contributions to society. By signing the declaration, volunteers are showing their commitment to supporting these goals and ensuring that they will operate within our guidelines and mission.

These have been made clearer with improved wording and making only the relevant declarations visible to new volunteers when they first sign in to scouts.org.uk.

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

New volunteers are asked to accept and ‘sign’ the volunteering declarations, relevant to their role when they first login to the membership system.

All adults interested in becoming a trustee are required to satisfactory complete a trustee eligibility check by the trustee board they are joining. The relevant team responsible for providing administration support can carry out this check on behalf of the trustee board. 

It’s important to keep a local record that the trustee eligibility checks have been carried out. For example, it could be added as an agenda item and noted in the minutes of the first Board meeting following the Annual General Meeting (AGM):

On [Date], [Full Name] reported that searches were made of the Individual Insolvency Register, Register of disqualifications, and Register of removed charity Trustees. They checked for all Trustees and found no adverse information.

Below is a list of the checks required as of January 2024. Legal requirements can change, so make sure to read the England and Wales Charity Commissions guidance (www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-disqualification) for the latest information on Trustee eligibility.   

There are three registers to check. If a person is listed on one or more of these registers, they’re not able to be a trustee.   

Individual Insolvency Register
web address: www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

Register of disqualifications
web address: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/register-of-disqualifications/A

Register of removed charity Trustees 
web address: https://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/trusteeregister/search.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=&CurrentLanguage=English&SubsidiaryNumber=&=DocType& 

Growing Roots is the mandatory learning that new volunteers must undertake. It comprises of two parts: the learning that all adults must undertake, and the learning that is required for specific roles. The safety and safeguarding learning elements of Growing Roots needs to be completed within the first 30 days of a new adult being added to the membership system.  There are more details about Growing Roots learning in the next section of this guide.

The welcome conversation is an opportunity to chat to new volunteers, find out more about them, make sure they understand and commit to our values and volunteer culture, and how we keep young people safe. Detailed information on how to run effective welcome conversations can be found later in this guide.