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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Trying to include families in financial hardship in Scouting?

52 replies

Bumble2021 · 07/07/2021 03:46

Hello 👋🏻
I’ve a family at the local Beaver Scouts that literally cannot afford the monthly subscriptions. Looking online, everywhere says that no one will be excluded from Scouting due to financial problems, but when the mum spoke with the GSL about being unable to pay her child’s subs, she was told that they had “never had anyone not be able to pay before!”, which I thought was probably not the most sensitive thing to say!
Any mums, especially those who are Scouting or Guiding leaders, have experience in this area? I’ve only been volunteering for a couple of months, so this is all new to me.
Thanks for your time ladies x

OP posts:
sashh · 07/07/2021 04:27

?avers have uniform?)

You would be surprised at how many small charities are around that can give small grants.

Lots of supermarkets also have funds / links with charities. The coop bank have always had schemes with links to the community, I used to belong to a camera club sponsored by the coop bank.

The YET awards gives funding for under 19s to undertake 'adventures', the child has to apply but I think they are allowed help.

www.theyet.org/what-we-do/grant-awards/

Droppingdown · 07/07/2021 04:38

The district should have funds available for this sort of situation, worth an email to the District commissioner to find out their policy.

listsandbudgets · 07/07/2021 06:44

Yes there should be help available.

I used to help at Brownies and there was a girl there whose family couldn't pay subs. I think they were just waived and some kind of arrangement was put in place for trips etc. As for uniform Brown Owl used to ask parents to donate outgrown items to her "stash" which was quietly given out as necessary

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 07/07/2021 06:48

Weve had this at our group.
Some children got a grant from district.
The children in Foster care we just absorbed the cost (although if we had had more than a couple, we would have had to ask for help).
As a group lots of fundraising was done to keep subscriptions low.

Mumdiva99 · 07/07/2021 06:49

I'm on our scout group committee. So I'm not a leader. But I have heard them say that children will not be excluded based on ability to pay if it's a family in genuine hardship.

There needs to be a balance as the funds parents pay keep the group running. But equally we wouldn't want a child to leave because there parents are having a tough time.

Backhills · 07/07/2021 06:50

When I was a Guide and then a leader, 30 years ago we never excluded anyone because they couldn't pay. Captain always had a stock of second hand uniform for people who needed it too.

We were in a deprived area though and all the activities were arranged on a shoestring for everyone. We never did fancy camps in exotic locations or even the official guide campsites. It was all farmers fields and emptying the toilets into a pit. If we knew of someone who couldn't come because of the cost, the cost would be waived.

Backhills · 07/07/2021 06:57

We met in a church hall, where Captain was very active with the church. We had a few cleaning jobs we did as part of our weekly meetings and occasionally ran activities that involved tidying the grounds etc, but the church didn't charge us anything so we could keep the subs very low and afford to waive them for those in need.

kowari · 07/07/2021 07:04

I think there should be help available, but as has been said, it's a balance. A paying parent may be in a worse financial situation than a non paying one, they should not have to absorb the cost.

LordEmsworth · 07/07/2021 07:06

Well obviously the GSL is a bit ignorant of reality...

If I were you, I would approach the District and say exactly what you've said above - no-one should be excluded, but the GSL is unaware and not actually very helpful, could you help the GSL to understand what support is available please.

Iggly · 07/07/2021 07:08

Well then that GSL sounds appalling.

I used to chair a local scouting committee and we had one family who struggled to pay. They were offered a “token” amount to pay, we had secondhand uniform and for trips they would again pay a token amount.

I would ask to contact the chair of the committee and speak to them in confidence. Or change group.

Oriunda · 07/07/2021 07:09

Our group doesn’t exclude anyone experiencing financial hardship. They subsidise things like subs and the expensive camping trips etc. I help them fundraise to cover this, and the supermarket schemes in particular are easy to apply for. Try the Waitrose one, as it’s just a form, and Asda. Tesco have also given our group cash from their Bags of Help scheme.

It might take you approaching the leadership to stress the point about this particular family. I’m surprised they responded negatively in the way they did.

Iggly · 07/07/2021 07:09

@kowari

I think there should be help available, but as has been said, it's a balance. A paying parent may be in a worse financial situation than a non paying one, they should not have to absorb the cost.
Then they should ask for help too.

We should live in a society where we try and take collective responsibility to help each other out. Makes for a nicer world all around.

Moonflower12 · 07/07/2021 07:11

There should be help available at District level. We have just had our AGM this week and this subject came up. We are in a fairly affluent area but some families have been very hard hit by Covid. We decided to deal with each family case by case. The strong message was that Scouting was available to all irrespective of money.
There is a brisk trade in secondhand uniform too. Many items going two or three times round the village.

LordEmsworth · 07/07/2021 07:11

@kowari

I think there should be help available, but as has been said, it's a balance. A paying parent may be in a worse financial situation than a non paying one, they should not have to absorb the cost.
The point is over there, as you're struggling to find it ->

Someone in a bad financial situation should not be struggling to pay subs/uniform etc. The "paying parent" should be able to ask for help if they need it. It's not about someone refusing to pay and getting a handout Confused it's about ensuring that no-one is excluded...

romdowa · 07/07/2021 07:14

When I was a volunteer with the guides years ago, there was definitely a fund in the district for children who's families couldn't afford to pay. We also did alot of fund raising for our unit so we could go on expensive trips etc and costs for these kids were taken out of that. We were in a well off area , so people were always very generous with their donations. I always thought this was normal that guides and scouts always tried not to exclude people.

kowari · 07/07/2021 07:18

@Iggly I was in this position, I could pay it with careful budgeting. I would have had to ask for help if the cost had been raised to cover others who were in the same or a better financial position than me as there was nothing spare at all.

Moonflower12 · 07/07/2021 07:22

@kowari
It's not the other parents who 'mop up' the parents who can't pay. It is money from voluntary donations and grants.

ineedaholidaynow · 07/07/2021 07:24

Some scout groups may also be struggling too though at the moment. Some won’t have claimed subs from parents in the last year, ours didn’t although some parents did keep paying as a donation to the group. But the group still had to pay the capitation fee to Scout HQ, which in our case was about £50 per young person, which is a lot to pay if you have had no income in the year. Our District has set up a hardship fund for groups to help them pay bills etc, so there may not be so much money around to help parents.

However, it shouldn’t be a straight no and at least it should be looked into if there is a possibility of helping families or signposting them to charities that may help.

Fundraising has also been difficult in the last year but I do second looking at the supermarket schemes, we have done well by them over the years

Backhills · 07/07/2021 07:24

Having been involved in collecting "voluntary" payments in school, I do think there's an issue where those most in need won't ask for help and sometimes, people who could pay claim poverty. It is hard to make sure help gets to the right people.

OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 07/07/2021 07:59

Our district has a fund. Also depending on how our group is financially we could support ourselves. Ditto activities and camps because we don't want anyone to miss out. We collect outgrown uniform, walking boots and waterproofs etc too.

Sadly I think we have lost some to financial hardship over covid who didn't accept help or just didn't admit they needed it.

JustLyra · 07/07/2021 08:17

GSL doesn’t sound very helpful!

It depends what funding you already get, but Children in need and the lottery are good for bigger amounts.

For smaller ones Greggs, Tesco bags, the Rowntree foundation and in particular the Arnold Clark fund are good for small one-off grants.

There are also a few funds set up to specifically help loc groups recover from the impact of covid.

Not scouts but with the group I run when it’s just one we absorb the cost, but when it’s more than one we go for more funding so no-one misses out.

deepbreath · 07/07/2021 08:28

I'm committee chair of a different uniformed youth organisation (Air Cadets). We cover subs and other costs for camps for cadets who cannot afford them if we are made aware of it - obviously, some families don't tell us and the child just stops attending. I strongly believe that no child should have to miss out due to lack of funds, and let our families know that they can turn to us if they need to.

DelurkingAJ · 07/07/2021 08:36

We’re in a wealthy area and absolutely cover subs if people are struggling. Historically we’ve approached the local Lions to cover camp costs for those who couldn’t afford it. I just wish parents would explain rather than just not paying (I think I spend about 25% of my time as Treasurer chasing unpaid subs!).

Akire · 07/07/2021 08:39

Ex guider We never had specific funds so we covered costs out of unit funds or I would put in myself. We didn’t have much money and fund raising was tough with high rents. There was never a general fund we were aware off. Grants from district only for specific hints like special once in life time trips and child would been expect fundraise for some of it. We only charged £1.50 a week but if you have 2 kids that’s £12 a month.

Iggly · 07/07/2021 08:51

[quote kowari]**@Iggly I was in this position, I could pay it with careful budgeting. I would have had to ask for help if the cost had been raised to cover others who were in the same or a better financial position than me as there was nothing spare at all.[/quote]
That’s not how it works though. The subs from parents didn’t cover the whole cost of running the groups for a start!

I know, having been the chair of our local committee. We did fundraising and applied for grants plus asked for additional contributions for specific big trips.

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