Beavers subs and absences/school holidays

[BusyLizzie61]

Hi all,

Can I ask how much your children's subs are for Beavers? Does £4/1 hour sound about average?

Also, does anyone know if they're still due if the child is absent due to illness etc and during school holidays?

Thank you.

Run by volunteers who go above and beyond. It's a massive bargain and we're so grateful for the opportunities our children are provided with.

How many operations are your dc having a year? If it's multiple and lots of absence expected I'm sure they would arrange exceptional circumstances payment though.

£180/year, paid as £15/month throughout the year. There is the option of a £180 lump sum annually, but I’ve only known one person ever take that option.

I’m a Cub leader, Subs could have been voluntarily suspended during lockdown, but are due when we are running, our on-costs are higher than you might think. As pp - we will also do all we can to support families who have trouble paying. Also as pp - yes leaders do put in a lot of effort and time, usually around a full time job themselves.!

No refunds for illness , £12/month x 12 months by DD for Scouts, £15/month for Explorers. That’s for sea scouts and it’s amazing value for money. Waiting list for Beavers is really long and the child really needs to be on the list by age 3 to get a place at age 6. They’d easily run more sections but don’t have enough volunteers.

An excellent breakdown BrieandChilli and of course many groups pay up to double that for their rent, and have to divide the cost of that rent between fewer than 20 people (say there are only 15 in the Troop / Colony / Pack / Unit).
Some groups are also trying to subsidise the costs to young people where the family are struggling, and then that money has to come from somewhere too.

On the other hand, I also know of some Scout Groups that own their own huts and make a considerable income from hiring it out - I can think of one that has a Nursery in there 5 days a week, 6 hours a day, and another rather posh one that actually hires theirs out for functions such as weddings and other parties every week (I realise most Scout huts aren't like this ) , but it just shows how each Group's circumstances can differ.

We charge £120 per year and parents have option to pay in monthly/termly instalments. If paying monthly still have to pay over August as the total cost is £120. We have a hut so have premises and maintenance costs. We also have to pay over £50 per young person up to Scout HQ, so that doesn't leave much to play with. We have to rely on donations and fundraising

If we have sufficient funds we might offer reduced subs if a child is off for a long period of time due to illness, but don't offer refunds for the odd missed session. We have to cover our running costs.

We charge £45 a term. We own our hall but it costs a fortune to run, insure, clean etc etc. We had a nursery in but they’ve gone under due to COVID and as a Committee we’re running round desperate to replace that income before we have to strip back what we do with the Scouts to the bone.

As an aside…what do groups do about parents who don’t pay and don’t say ‘help, we can’t afford it’?! I’m still chasing about 25% of subs for this term!

In our town, Beavers / Cubs / Scouts (and Brownies are the same): £35 per term, due at the beginning of each term. Typically 10 sessions, roughly following the school term times. No rebate for missed sessions due to illness or holidays. Occasionally asked to pay a bit extra (up to £10) for a special session like Bowling, Clip and Climb or Canoeing etc. (never more than once a term).

@DelurkingAJ worst part of the role is chasing subs. If we had a camp coming up we would tell persistent offenders (not parents suffering hardship) that if their subs weren’t up to date then their child couldn’t attend camp.

BrieandChilli has given an excellent breakdown. Of the £15/month, my budget is 75p a week per Cub roughly. Camps and trips out bowling, lazertag etc are charged at cost.

£18 a month, direct debit all year round. It's excellent value. It's not for profit and is run by volunteers so if you feel before joining that they might be ripping you off I'd say don't join as the leaders really don't need the hassle. Scouting leaders put a lot of effort in and are often treated badly by parents who don't appreciate it. (Not a scout leader btw, just a parent of kids in Scouting).