To not pay subs?

We had this when DS joined beavers. I agreed to help but they wanted me to pay for a dbs check and fill in all these bloody forms as well as lose a days pay to do so. His dad dropped him off en route to work and I collected him on my way home ( this was done for DS. His dad could've kept him with him while he set up the gig and I collect from there so wasn't for childcare)

I also offered to sort out their Web page and any admin stuff also but the leaders were like awkward teachers who don't seem to realise that people have other work. His elder sister also offered to help out during sessions but they insisted had to be a parent .

I pulled him out at first half term due to this.

In my experience, most groups would not guarantee a minimum number of sessions - they will provide them as often as they possibly can, but sometimes life just gets in the way. I would imagine that if it was happening too often, then their district might get involved to help get cover, but it's often not possible due to lack of leaders

If it's girlguiding they need to complete a certain numbers of hours per term to get their badges, that works out at about 8 hours in Rainbows. We do about 10-12, and have a few things which are there just for fun, and not directly related to girlguiding programm.

For £25 a term, it’s not arguing over. Many sports clubs pay that a month, and then you have to buy kit etc on top that.

But also your job and your husbands job did actually allow for you to do it, not everyone’s does. Having jobs that don’t allow for volunteering on a set night doesn’t mean you don’t care, it’s not always an excuse, some people just have different circumstances to you

I appreciate that it may not be possible for everyone to volunteer every week - that's a big commitment that not everyone is able to/ wants to make. But most should be able to attend perhaps once a term. surely? Even if it means that they have to get a sitter for the evening, or bring their younger children with them. It's strange how they can do it if they want an evening out, but can't to attend cubs/brownies/rainbows etc.

At cubs, we don't currently run a compulsory rota, but we do ask for a couple of parents each week. It's quite noticeable that it's always the same few parents who step up.

They probably have a term that guarantees a minimum of x sessions a year, with the cist averaged out over the year across y payments

Yes, but it's made clear when signing up that parents will be expected to help at least once per term each. People can plan childcare for 1 time per term - this area is very affluent with lots of mums who don't work or work flexibly from home. Some sessions we say can bring siblings, especially if older.

And I had to cut my hours to keep doing the group, with a loss of pay, and husband had to adjust his working schedule, it wasn't easy.

But also your job and your husbands job did actually allow for you to do it, not everyone’s does. Having jobs that don’t allow for volunteering on a set night doesn’t mean you don’t care, it’s not always an excuse, some people just have different circumstances to you.

OP it's basically free. £25 a term is insanely cheap. Stop being so tight; it's run by volunteers!

Yep, absolutely. When I joined Rainbows as a leader (mainly to get my oldest in as wait list was 2-3 years, but loved it and stayed) my oldest was 5 and my youngest was 2. My husband knew that at 5pm on Thursdays he had to have finished work to look after our youngest and he adapted his work around this.

And from 3 my youngest used to come along and join in.
When we ask for volunteers to help, we always get same excuses 'I work' or 'I have younger children'. I have to stop myself from replying 'yes I work and have younger children too, and i have a disability'. As someone said upthread, the people volunteering to run groups, PTA etc almost always are already very busy, but they are generally motivated people so juggle it all.

Thanks for being willing to help, definitely worth repeating your offer, as some parents will say on the form they can help occasionally, but won't actually offer when 'we need some parent help on these three dates' is sent out.

In some cases being willing to help won't make a different unfortunately - in Guiding there needs to be someone with a level 3 safeguarding training, a leadership qualification and a first aid qualification at every meeting, so if there's only one leader with those, if she's off the meeting has to be cancelled. I'm sure it's similar in scouting too.
Please do bare in mind that leaders in both organisations aren't paid at all, and often give up annual leave to do things like take other people's children away, do the first aid training needed to run meetings, and they're fully within their rights to take their annual leave and holidays whenever suits them, even if it does mean there's no clubs for a fortnight whilst they're away, and that the community generally aren't entitled to these volunteers time, or to dictate what they do with it.

Guide and Scout units also don't have to run every week, or in accordance with schools - I know one of the first things which one of our commissioners suggested to a leader who was getting overwhelmed was to take some more weeks off - So their unit had two extra weeks off per half term compared to our unit for a while - this allowed the leader to actually run the unit those weeks, and the other alternative would have been that it closed for a while (and likely didn't re-open), and there were no meetings whatsoever. If parents had started complaining, or refusing to pay full subs (I realised you're not refusing, but I'm just explaining here), the unit would have simply closed, because she didn't have the mental space to deal with it, but the hall rent still needed payed, the girls still earned badges, and annual census is still a huge amount (compared to what parents pay to units.)

Just so you understand a bit more
Our annual subs breaks down as;
PAID 3 x £35 per term = £105 per year per child
COSTS
Census was £53 per head, which means girls paid about £66 each (as in Girlguiding, leaders have to be paid for by units too)
That leaves £39 per year for everything else.
Roughly £10 per girl goes on hall rent (exceedingly cheap compared to us hiring a hall on a commercial agreement)
so we've got £29 for activities, badges, leader trainings, ingredients, craft supplies, and everything else we do across the entire year (approx 37 meetings).
We don't charge a set fee per meeting - we work to a cost across the year, which is why we don't give discounts; there's nothing to discount if we miss a few meetings.

Why don’t you volunteer to help?

if they are having to cancel due to holidays and appointments then they clearly are short of help

filling in a form years ago isn’t putting up your hand.

and you are grudging a few quid a week

give your head a wobble.

There were always more than enough volunteers to cover illness etc and the troop was run incredibly well

And there's the point. Generally, sections that have plenty of volunteers will be able to cover holidays/illness/last minute emergencies etc. But if there are not enough leaders to cover, then the section will have to cancel a meeting when leaders are not available. No-ones fault, it's just the way it is.

And honestly, getting enough leaders can be like pulling teeth. It's a big commitment, and very few people want to take it on. It's not just rocking up to each meeting, but a huge amount of planning and admin goes into running a group. I'm a cub leader, and one of my biggest bugbears is having to chase parents for payments. It just adds to our already huge workload. My mum died last year, two of my leaders were away on holiday, and my young leader was taking exams. I had to cancel the meeting. A parent questioned whether they would get a refund for that session. It took every ounce of patience I have to not give them both barrels. I still don't really know how I held it together, but it really pissed me off.

OP, the volunteers have lives outside of the club - likely they have jobs, perhaps kids, perhaps elderly parents, they get sick like everyone else, they have family emergencies like everyone else, they take holidays if they are lucky.

If you don't like it, step up to help (actually offer to do the leader training) or vote with your feet. Don't question the already extremely cheap subs.

I’m guessing it’s rainbows/ brownies. I’d pay the subs but look for another group for your daughter to attend. I know my DC would be disappointed if it got cancelled that many times as they look forward to it.

I volunteer with a youth group and always have to chase folk who haven't paid subs. It feels like a piss take to be chasing such piddly amounts for what amounts to cheap childcare with activities on top.

£25 a term = £75 a year. For 40 weeks' entertainment, or £1.87 a session. Even if you break that down minus the 8 weeks THE VOLUNTEER LEADERS haven't been able to run the session it's £2.34 a week.

A Costa coffee is more than that. My lunch at work today in our subsidised canteen cost more than that. A cinema ticket is almost a tenner each before you've bought a drink and popcorn. There is literally nothing else you can do with a kid for lower cost.

Pay the subs
Put your name down to volunteer
If you don't like it, pull out your kid and find something else to occupy them that costs a quid an hour.

My group is set to close in the next 12 months as volunteers leave as their kids age-out. Then folk will moan. But they don't appreciate how many hours goes in behind the scenes for any activity.

It does look like they need volunteers, filling out a form and offering is very different to actually asking the question "do you need a parent helper next week?" But admittedly you have already stated you have another child to consider and it's difficult. The same could be said for other parents and also the volunteers,however instead of complaining put yourself out there and ensure the sessions run for the benefits of your dc.

Yes, but if she isn't happy with this group she should withdraw her daughter and find a different group. I'm a Rainbows leader and we have a huge 2 year plus wait list because we do lots of fun things, residentials, trips etc. Other local groups are half empty.

The leaders / volunteers will be working hard behind the scenes - admin, keeping their training like first aid, safeguarding all up to date, in their own time, no expenses
planning activities
filling in the forms etc etc
if they have cancelled some meetings it will because they have no other choice -
parent helpers are great, but you need sufficient leaders to manage the parent helpers so sometimes it is easier to just cancel, it won’t be done lightly though,

pay the bloody subs
dont Make it any harder for them

as pp said a huge chunk of that money goes to national for ‘census’ fee

I think you were being pretty stingy and rude asking for a discount on the WhatsApp group. You will have pissed off the group leaders / volunteers by doing this.

No it wasn’t, it was a perfectly reasonable question when you were complaining about 2 terms. Anyway you were wrong to consider not paying and you’ve realised that now so there’s not much more to say.

I think I’d pay the subs and separately raise that your child missed the enjoyment of the sessions cancelled recently and can you help support the group to prevent that in the future?

Subs will likely mostly cover rent and insurance which will be fixed costs.

Having been a volunteer I get vibes from this that someone is ill or on their way out, or there’s been a disagreement between volunteers.

Sounds like they need more support, could you provide some additional support on some weeks when needed? I do this for two clubs like this that my son and daughter attend.