Beaver/Cub subs

[SunnySomer]

Just as a matter of interest, how much do you pay?
We pay £105 annually, but keep being asked for extra money (eg £10 this week) for stuff which is starting to massively wind me up. Not sure how to query it, because I appreciate the leader gives a lot of time voluntarily, BUT also organises massively expensive activities, most of which are run by external people (hence the cost).
Or shall I just let it go, seeing as DS should be leaving at Easter?

There do seem to be lots of extras (Scouts in our case) but the subs are so cheap, when compared to other activities and equipment, that I don't mind a bit. It's approx, just over £2.00 a week.

£25 a term and that's it apart from camp and the annual panto trip, both of which are optional.

I'd be getting cross if they are constantly bringing in external people to do activities; but i wouldn't bother saying anything if your DS is leaving soon.

£22 a term here and not very often other expenses really

So we pay approx £100 annually, same as you, Sunnysomer.

The biggest cost is for the camps, hikes and other outings is minimal cost,

£45 a year for DS' Cubs, plus camp which is usually about £30 but they are a church unit so don't pay rent for the hall and camp is at a site owned by the district so massively cheaper than most units can do.

I run a Rainbow unit and try to keep to a rule that we don't ask for more than £15 a term extra on top of subs (which are £75 a year), we plan our meetings round what the leaders have the skills to run and what we can afford, or what help parents have offered, I know that's what DS' cubs do as well (my sisters one of his leaders).

It does seem very strange to get external companies in often and it would wind me up too but then maybe the leaders don't have any ideas, the skills or the support to do anything else, it really depends on the volunteers and the support from parents and district (we do lots of sharing ideas which is a massive help) In all honesty I don't think complaining will help and you might just be better gritting your teeth til Easter.

I pay £15 a month for DS's cubs/scouts, plus extra for camp. I'm a Brownie leader and we charge around £100 a year plus extras for various outings.

Hmmm. Yes. I think you're right. Will suck it up. Our beavers don't ever go on hikes or camps :-( maybe that's partly why I get fed up. We live in a stunningly beautiful place with hills and moors and space that never gets used. It would be free to use it.

I tend to avoid complaining because my response if I were the leader would be "if you can do it better then do it yourself" and personally I don't have the mental strength to cope with 24 wired little boys zipping round!

Thank you all!

I'm a Cubs leader. Our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts pay £8 per month all year round, mostly by direct debit. Most of that money goes to the national Scouts organisation (for insurance, etc.) and to help maintain our Scout Hut. We do run a very varied programme though, and include the odd 'expensive' session, but try to exploit the good will and talents of parents and other people in the community we know to share their skills as much as we can.

Sunny - a camp of any kind is never going to be 'free' no matter where it takes place. You still need to pay for food, transport, maintaining equipment etc, not to mention being lucky enough to find leaders who have 'green field' camping permits.

My guides pay £60 per year, but I lose a third of that to insurance. So I have about £40 per year per person to cover rent, badges and activities. I have to ask them to pay for some activities as there just isn't enough. I try to keep to a max of 2 per term. If I raised subs, some might not be able to attend at all or they can choose to miss the extras (in cases where we are made aware of financial difficulties we do what we can, but we are limited unless it comes directly from my pocket).

£30 per term, plus extras for camp, bi-annual panto trip & not much else.

I do know that the group has to pay capitation to the Scout organisation which us about £30 per child per annum, so they don't get all the subs.

I pay £10 a month for beavers. Extra for camp..I don't think they have ever asked for extra other than that.

My dd1's Explorers cost £2pw.
dd2's Scouts cost £10 a month but we dont pay in August so that'similar to you.
They have very discounted rent from the church they meet in though.

Camps are extra of course.

All the time all 3 of mine have been in Scouts (Beavers, cubs, scouts, explorers) its always been by far and away the cheapest , and best value activity any of them have ever done.

£25 for first sibling and £20 for subsequent children per full term. Camps are extra, but aren't that exorbitant.

Cubs, guides, scouts etc are all run by volunteers often the rent and upkeep as well as the annual census eat up the subs so the cost of the additional activities has to come from somewhere.

As a Guide leader I charge £35 per term; the only extra is summer camp (our termly sleepover comes out of subs) and if we join in something organised externally to our unit - maybe a one-off County event - that just can't be covered by subs. Those tend to be limited to once a year. I found that I had enough to do with my volunteer time without keeping track of who had paid for which various small extras, so we just made a decision to put subs up and be done with it. We also offer parents the opportunity to pay £8.75/month by standing order, so that it can be set up and forgotten about. When my DD becomes old enough to join next year I am definitely doing that - it is so easy to budget for that way.

As a parent, I've become more and more wound up by my DS's Beaver unit, who charge much less for subs but then ask for extras incredibly often. I would so much prefer to pay the whole amount in one go, with everything that happens on a normal meeting night included, instead of a couple of pounds extra when the drumming group come in, extra when the animal people come in, extra for the cinema visit, extra for a sleepover, extra for a candle to go in their Christmas advent candle decoration - and that is just this term! Every other meeting this term has had an extra fee attached.

My Rainbows pay £60/year, and I lose half of that to cover census (which covers insurance etc). I don't ask for any extras within meeting time, only extra trips, eg the panto next month. If I can't cover it from subs, we don't do it - eg we've not had the visit from the ceramics lady this term that I was hoping for, as she charges £60/hour as a special fee and I just couldn't justify it!

We are going to Pizza Hut next half term though, to make pizzas - it's free :o

Ask to see the accounts? Then you will see where money goes.

I run a brownie unit, we charge £9 per month and that includes the £30 per year payment to HQ insurance called Census.
We tend to fund weekly meetings from subs don't ask for extra.
Trips or holidays are extra as funded entirely by only children going.

And yes if you can do better , volunteer.

We live in a stunningly beautiful place with hills and moors and space that never gets used. It would be free to use it.

You are aware of the training that leaders have to do to take children walking aren't you? And how much that training costs? (which is often straight out of leaders pockets). And what is regarded as safe for Beavers.

Just because its beautiful and free for the general public doesn't make it something accessible for groups like Beavers.

My son is in cubs and it’s £30 a term. I’m a single mum on benefits. Is there any way I can financial help with this? It just seems expensive to me. I bought his uniform separately from a shop.

Perhaps best to start a fresh thread than to ressurrect one from 2014.

Ask the Group Scout Leader. Some areas have extra funds & grants they can draw on. You may be able to arramge to pay by installments.

Uniform 2nd hand off ebay.

It's way cheaper than most after school activities because of the volunteer leaders. My Brownies are £40 per term. Single biggest cost is our hall hire.

Although this thread was started in 2014.........
to answer your question 4Dulaigcourt, I doubt there is much to be done in most groups, as any subsidy for you starts making it more expensive for other children.
However, £2.50 a week, - even if it were "just babysitting" (and Scouting is a massive amount more than that) is incredibly cheap for an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half's care. (That's if there are 12 weeks in the term - less of course in longer terms).

As you'll see from this 5 yr old thread, quite a lot of groups have been paying more than that for a long time.

I doubt there is much to be done in most groups, as any subsidy for you starts making it more expensive for other children

It’s always worth approaching your scout group to see they can offer financial assistance. Our scout group does fundraising, which provides funds for various things, including the ability to reduce fees for subs and activities for those that struggle with the costs.

Scouting is an inclusive organisation with charity status, and seeks to offer the scouting experience to as many children as possible, and cost shouldn’t be a barrier to this.