Important details – for parents and guardians

We collect termly subscriptions for Scouts, paid at the start of each Autumn, Spring, and Summer term.

Subscriptions range from £18 to £24 per term, or £3 per weekly session (paid in blocks of 6-8 weeks).

Payments are due at the beginning of each term and are non-refundable once your child has been invested.

Subscriptions cover the cost of running the Scout section.

Operational expenses for 1st Southwark Scout Group (badges, scarves, activities, equipment upkeep, and cleaning supplies).

• Support from the Southwark District Scouts and Greater South London County Scout Association (events, campsite maintenance).
• The Scout Association’s annual membership fee, which includes insurance for approved activities.

In addition, there may be extra costs for camps, events, and trips, which will always be communicated in advance and kept to a minimum.

We offer a bursary fund for parents and guardians in need.

To apply, please speak to your Section Leader in confidence and fill out the Bursary Application Form if you require assistance with subs, uniform, or event costs.

Scouts are expected to wear their uniform to weekly meetings and events unless otherwise specified. For 1st Southwark, we require only the sweatshirt for Beavers and Cubs, and a shirt for Scouts.

The scarf and woggle are included in the subscription and awarded during investiture.

Uniforms can be purchased online through the Scout Shop (https://shop.scouts.org.uk) or Amazon.

As a charity the payment of subscriptions qualify for ‘Gift Aid’, allowing the Group to claim a percentage of the fee you pay from HMRC.

If you are a UK tax payer, please confirm declaration via the Online Scout Management System to ensure that we are able to claim this extra amount.

If you would like further information, please contact our Treasurer.

Scouting is an inclusive, values based movement and membership is open to all those who share our fundamental values.

Scouts UK’s Equal Opportunities Policy outlines what we do to ensure the movement is open and accessible; and that people are treated equally and with respect. This policy is reflective of the ethos of Scouting, expressed by our fundamental values (integrity, care, co-operation, respect and belief) and our commitment to delivering Scouting for all.

By removing any real or perceived barriers to participation, we can ensure that even more young people can enjoy the adventure of Scouting and that Scouting will be as diverse as our community is.

We use a system called Online Scout Manager (OSM) to help to manage the Scout group. This system makes it really easy for you to view upcoming events, weekly meeting activities and badges awarded. You can also use OSM to pay for subs, events and camps online by secure Direct Debit.

When your first payment is due you will receive an email with a secure link. The easiest way to make your payments is by setting up a Direct Debit subscription which ensures all payments due are automatically made on time. You will receive an email 3 days before each payment is taken from your bank account and the Direct Debit can be cancelled at any time.

All Direct Debit payments are covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee which means you are entitled to a full and immediate refund if there are any errors in a payment. The Direct Debit payments are handled by a company called GoCardless, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Your bank account details are held only by GoCardless and are never shared with Online Scout Manager or our Scout Group. Setting up an account with GoCardless is very easy and should take no more than one minute.

When your first payment to our group is due you will receive an email with a secure link to invite you to set up an account. You will typically see two payment schedules in OSM: one schedule for regular “Subscription” payments and a second schedule for occasional “Camp and Event” payments. You will need to set up a Direct Debit subscription for each schedule but you only need to register with GoCardless once.

If you would like further information on the payments in OSM, please contact our Treasurer.

Please keep these up to date in OSM (Online Scout Manager) in the event of an accident or emergency it’s vital that we have accurate details.

Please refer to our data privacy notice for how we use this data.

We use photos of our group on social media /website. Please indicate your personal preference using (OSM) to manage your consents. This allows the use of photos and videos from activities within Scouting for Scouting purposes. These include (but are not inclusive of) the group, district or county websites, local newspapers, the newsletter, and the local press.

It is our policy to:

As far as reasonably possible, ensure children who do not have a signed permission form are excluded from promoted media. Ensure parents are aware of this policy via a consent request upon joining. Only use photos/videos of suitably dressed subjects and in appropriate situations.

Follow the Scout Association’s “Young People First” policy.

Try to avoid using individual names *

*please note the press will often use full names when they can, however we always encourage the use of generic terms such a “A Scout…”

It is not a legal requirement to obtain parental permission (as the copyright of the image belongs to the photographer and not the subject) however we ask parents to sign the form as a matter of good practice and manners.

The local press (and sometimes the national press) are often invited to Scouting events and may wish to photograph or film members doing Scouting activities.

We are unable to control members of the public or the press taking photos when Scouts are appearing in a public place (such as parades). In these situations they require no invitation or permission. Photographs taken by Press photographers without invitation or permission when it is required, are subject to the normal Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice.

We are also unable to control photographs taken by other parents whilst at Scouting events. We ask that all parents are sensible when sharing media (particularly via social networking) and follow the guidelines set out in this policy.

Please contact us if you are unsure as to any aspect of this policy.

To ensure everyone’s safety and enjoyment, we have a behaviour policy for Scouts and volunteer leaders. All sections promote Scout Values, the Promise and Law, and work with young people to develop their own “Code of Conduct,” which everyone agrees to follow.

Here’s how we address unwanted behaviour:

Step 1 – Verbal Warning
If a young person’s behaviour falls below the expected standard, they will receive a verbal warning from a leader. The leader will explain what is wrong and what will happen if the behaviour continues.

Step 2 – Yellow Card
If unacceptable behaviour continues after a warning, a Yellow Card will be issued. The Section Leader will record the incident, and the young person’s parents/guardians will be contacted. The young person may be removed from the activity and sit out for 10 minutes before rejoining.
Serious behaviour can result in an immediate Yellow Card.

Examples of behaviour resulting in a Yellow Card include:

• Damaging property through carelessness
• Arguing with or challenging leaders or visitors
• Threatening or rude behaviour
• Continuing disruptive behaviour after being told to stop
• Refusing to follow instructions
• Unsafe actions

Step 3 – Red Card
If a young person receives 2 Yellow Cards in one evening or 3 in one half term, a Red Card will be issued. Serious behaviour may result in an immediate Red Card.
The Section Leader will record the incident and contact the young person’s parents/guardians. The young person will be excluded from the evening’s activities and will sit out.
A Red Card leads to exclusion from Scout activities for one week.

Examples of behaviour leading to a Red Card include:

• Continued unsafe behaviour
• Cheating during games
• Deliberate time-wasting
• Shoving, pushing, or wrestling
• Lying or misleading others
• Bullying or physical attacks
• Defying safety instructions
• Using bad language continuously
• Deliberately damaging property
• Complaints from visitors or the public

Step 4 – Suspension and Dismissal
A youth member may be formally suspended for serious criminal offences or behaviour that puts others at significant risk, including multiple Red Cards.
Suspension decisions will involve the Group Scout Leader and the District Commissioner.

After the suspension period, the District Commissioner and Group Scout Leader will determine if the young person can return to Scouting. Possible outcomes are:

• Reinstatement
• Reinstatement with conditions
• Dismissal

Dismissal decisions will only be made after thorough discussions with the young person and their parents/guardians.

What is this privacy notice?

This Data Privacy Notice describes the categories of personal data 1st Southwark Scouts Group process and for what purposes.

1st Southwark Scouts Group are committed to collecting and using such data fairly and in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the regulations set by the European Union, and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), the UK law that encompasses the GDPR2.

This Privacy Notice/Policy applies to members, parents/guardians of youth members, volunteers, employees, contractors, suppliers, supporters, donors and members of the public who will make contact with 1st Southwark Scouts Group

Who we are

1st Southwark Scouts Group are an excepted charity by the Charity Commission for England & Wales.

The Data Controller for 1st Southwark Scouts Group is the Executive Committee who are appointed at an Annual General Meeting and are Charity Trustees. The Chair of the Charity Trustees is Matlida Taylor-Young who can be contacted here

From this point on 1st Southwark Scouts Group will be referred to as “we”.

Being a small charity, we are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer.

The data we may process

The majority of the personal information we hold, is provided to us directly by you or by the parents or legal guardians of youth members verbally or in paper form, digital form or via our online membership system Compass. In the case of adult members and volunteers, data may also be provided by third parties, such as the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Where a member is under the age of 18, this information will only be obtained from a parent or guardian and cannot be provided by the young person.

We may collect the following personal information:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, address, telephone numbers and personal email address – so that we can contact you.
• Date of birth – so that we can ensure young people are allocated to the appropriate Section for their age and that adults are old enough to take on an appointment with Scouting.
• Gender – so that we can address individuals correctly and accommodate for any specific needs.
• Emergency contact information – so that we are able to contact someone in the event of an emergency.
• Government identification numbers e.g. national insurance, driving licence, passport – to be able to process volunteer criminal record checks.
• Tax status information – so that we are able to collect gift aid from HMRC where donations are made.
• training records – so that members can track their progression through the Scout programme or adult training scheme.
• Race or ethnic origin – so that we can make suitable arrangements based on members cultural needs.
• Health records – so that we can make suitable arrangements based on members medical needs.
• Criminal records checks – to ensure Scouting is a safe space for young people and adults.

The lawful basis we process your data by

We comply with our obligations under the GDPR and DPA 2018 by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

In most cases the lawful basis for processing will be through the performance of a contract for personal data of our adult volunteers and legitimate interest for personal data of our youth members. Sensitive (special category) data for both adult volunteers and our youth members will mostly align to the lawful basis of legitimate activities of an association. Explicit consent is requested from parents/guardians to take photographs of our members. On occasion we may use legitimate interest to process photographs where it is not practical to gather and maintain consent such as large-scale events. On such occasions we will make it clear that this activity will take place and give individuals the opportunity to exercise their data subject rights.

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide information about Scout meetings, activities, training courses and events to our members and other volunteers in 1st Southwark Scouts Group
• to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical area as specified in our constitution
• to administer membership records
• to fundraise and promote the interests of Scouting
• to manage our volunteers
• to maintain our own accounts and records (including the processing of gift aid applications)
• to inform you of news, events, activities and services being run or attended by 1st Southwark Scouts Group
• to ensure and evidence your suitability if volunteering for a role in Scouting
• to contact your next of kin in the event of an emergency
• to ensure you have and maintain the correct qualifications and skills.

We use personal sensitive (special) data for the following purposes:

• for the protection of a person’s health and safety whilst in the care of 1st Southwark Scouts Group
• to respect a person’s religious beliefs with regards to activities, food and holidays
• for equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.

Our retention periods

We will keep certain types of information for different periods of time in line with our retention policy.

The Scout Association’s Data Protection Policy can be found here and the Data Privacy Notice here.

Sharing your information

Young people and other data subjects

We will normally only share personal information with adult volunteers holding an appointment in the 1st Southwark Scouts Group

We will share the personal data of youth members and their parents/guardians with The Scout Association Headquarters for the purpose of managing safeguarding cases. The privacy and security notice for The Scout Association can be found here: https://www.scouts.org.uk/DPPolicy. The sharing of this data will be via the Online Scout Manager platform which is used by 1st Southwark Scouts Group to manage youth membership. The privacy and security notice for OSM can be found here.

Adult volunteers

We will normally only share personal information with adult volunteers holding appropriate appointments within the line management structure of The Scout Association for the 1st Southwark Scouts Group as well as with The Scout Association Headquarters as data controllers in common.

All data subjects

We will however share your personal information with others outside of 1st Southwark Scouts Group where we need meet a legal obligation. This may include The Scout Association and its insurance subsidiary (Unity Insurance Services), local authority services and law enforcement. We will only share your personal information to the extent needed for those purposes.

We will only share your data with third parties outside of the organisation where there is a legitimate reason to do so.

We will never sell your personal information to any third party.

Sometimes we may nominate a member for national awards, (such as Scouting awards or Duke of Edinburgh awards) such nominations would require us to provide contact details to that organisation.

Where personal data is shared with third parties we will seek assurances that your personal data will be kept confidential and that the third party fully complies with the GDPR and DPA 2018.

How we store your personal data

We generally store personal information in the following ways:

Compass – is the online membership system of The Scout Association, this system is used for the collection and storage of adult volunteer personal data.

Online Scout Manager – is the online membership system of Online Youth Manager, this system is used for the collection and storage of youth member personal data.

In addition adult volunteers will hold some personal data on local spreadsheets/databases.

Printed records and data held while attending events – paper is sometimes used to capture and retain some data for example:

• Gift Aid administration
• Event registration
• Health and contact records forms (for events)
• Events coordination with event organisers

Paper records for events are used rather than relying on secure digital systems, as often the events are held where internet and digital access will not be available. We will minimise the use of paper to only what is required for the event.

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

How we provide this privacy notice

A link to this website page is provided to those whose data is being processed by us. A printed version is also available on request.

Your rights

As a Data Subject, you have the right to object to how we process your personal information. You also have the right to access, correct, sometimes delete and restrict the personal information we use. In addition, you have a right to complain to us and to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR and DPA 2018, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

• The right to be informed – you have a right to know how your data will be used by us.
• The right to access your personal data – you can ask us to share with you the data we have about you. This is a Data Subject Access Request.
• The right to rectification – this just means you can update your data if it’s inaccurate or if something is missing. Adult members will be able to edit and update some information directly on The Scout Association’s Compass membership system.
• The right to erasure – this means that you have the right to request that we delete any personal data we have about you. There are some exceptions, for example, some information will be held by The Scout Association for legal reasons.
• The right to restrict processing – if you think that we are not processing your data in line with this privacy notice then you have the right to restrict any further use of that data until the issue is resolved.
• The right to data portability – this means that if you ask us we will have to share your data with you in a way that can be read digitally – such as a pdf. This makes it easier to share information with others.
• The right to object – you can object to the ways your data is being used.
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – this protects you in cases where decision are being made about you based entirely on automated processes rather than a human input, it’s highly unlikely that this will be used by us.

Website Cookies / Forms related cookies

When you submit data through a form such as those found on our contact pages or comment forms, cookies may be set to remember you your user details for future correspondence.

Third Party Cookies

In some special cases we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. The following section details which third party cookies you might encounter through this site.

This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solution on the web for helping us to understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so we can continue to produce engaging content.

For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Privacy information page.

Who to contact

If you have any queries relating to this Privacy Notice or our use of your personal data, please contact Frances White here

Version number and date of the last review

1 – July 2021

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