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2022-03-31-accounts

Annual report and accounts 2021-22 Scouts

Annual report and financial statements 2021-22

Contents
Welcome from our Chair 3
Resurging, innovating, and bringing people together 4
Better volunteering for a stronger movement 6
Our purpose and method 8
Vision and strategic objectives 8
Skills for Life
Our plan to prepare better futures 2018-2025 9
Growth 11
Inclusivity 13
Youth Shaped 16
Community Impact 19
Three pillars of work 22
Programme 23
People 26
Perception 27
Theory of Change 29
The impact of Scouts on young people 30
Our finances 31
Trustees’ responsibilities 36
Independent Auditor’s Report to the
Trustees of The Scout Association 37
Financial Statements 40
Our members 66
How we operate 67
Our advisers 73
Our thanks 74

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Welcome from our Chair

This was the year that Scouts bounced back.

After the challenges of the pandemic, I’ve been inspired by our young people doing what they do best – learning skills for life face-to-face, and especially outdoors.

I was so impressed by the way our volunteers adapted to deliver Scouts online during the pandemic. But nothing truly beats meeting in person. It’s how friendships are forged, and memories are made. There’s no wood smoke to smell, or birdsong to hear, on a Zoom call.

Our rapid growth this year is a testament to how quickly and safely our volunteer teams reopened their doors and welcomed young people again. We’re now back to 87% of our 2019 numbers, with nearly 60,000 young people joining in the past year.

But there’s much more to do as we look forward to next year. We still have 90,000 young people on waiting lists, meaning many young people are still missing out on the opportunities we offer.

Attracting new volunteers and youth members

With so many young people on waiting lists, we must focus relentlessly on attracting new volunteers, while supporting our current team. Growth can only be achieved with the right volunteer teams in place. Our #GoodForYou campaign highlights employability and wellbeing benefits of volunteering, and we’ll keep supporting recruitment locally and nationally into next year.

We’ve continued our commitment to make our movement more inclusive, and bring Scouts to underrepresented communities. The launch of Squirrels for 4-6-year-olds was such a brilliant example of this, as we prioritised opening in the areas and communities most deeply affected by the pandemic.

Young people taking the lead

It was fantastic to see so many Scouts taking leading roles in high profile events. A shining example of this was at the UN Climate Change Conference UK (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021. An international team of Scouts led the youth day with Chief Scout, Bear Grylls. Together, they represented young people from 55 different countries who’d committed 100 million hours of action to stop climate change as part of our #PromiseToThePlanet initiative.

Equally impressive was Cub Scout, Emily, who I watched with awe as she took part in a conversation with a 98year-old WWII veteran, Colonel David Blum, to mark Remembrance 2021 and the centenary of the Royal British Legion, with such self-possession. Hosted by our Joint President, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, it was such a moving moment, and a chance to reflect on the sacrifices made by so many.

One thing that I noticed immediately when I joined as Chair is that Scouts is a family. We look after each other – and welcome new members (myself included) so well. I’d like to thank the Board, the staff team, the volunteer team and the whole movement for supporting me so wonderfully in my first year.

Scouts plays a vital role in giving young people skills for life, and the chance to shine. It brings communities closer, and make society stronger, too. We’ve so much to be proud of.

There are exciting times ahead, and I know Scouts will make the very best of them.

Jennie Price CBE Chair

I have a strong personal commitment to our work on race equity. I think we’ve made a good start this year with our new Project Board, chaired by Yousif Eltom, leading the way to make Scouts welcoming to everyone.

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Resurging, innovating, and bringing people together

This year will be one to remember (and this time, for all the right reasons).

Not only did we see our biggest single year of youth membership growth since WWII, we launched Squirrels, our first new age range in 35 years. These are two fantastic signs Scouts is resurging after the setbacks of the pandemic.

And how did we achieve all this? Through the incredible efforts of a volunteer and staff team committed to a single shared goal: to help more young people gain skills for life. That’s our ‘north star,’ and we succeed when we never lose sight of it.

The pandemic hit us hard, with a 23% drop in our youth membership. The fact we’ve managed to grow by 16% in a single year tells you how much Scouts was missed and how much it’s needed, especially in areas that’ve been left behind.

A great leap forward

The brightest news was the historic launch of Squirrels for 4-6-year-olds in September 2021. This was the culmination of two years piloting of early years Scouting, building on pioneering work in Northern Ireland. Already we have 8,000 Squirrels across 620 Dreys, doubling our targets.

Even more importantly, we prioritised opening these Dreys in areas of deprivation, supporting young people and families hardest hit by the pandemic. Some of our youngest members have spent almost half their lives in lockdown.

We know the opportunities to play, learn, make friends in the outdoors gives them a huge start in life. Our mantra remains: ‘Change the start of the story and you change the whole story.’

28% of our Squirrel Dreys have opened in lower-income areas. 34% are in Scout groups that already have 10% or more young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. This is just part of our commitment to being a more inclusive movement.

Bringing people together

We offer young people skills, friendship and a powerful sense of belonging. And the way we bring people together contributes even more to closer communities and a stronger society.

We’re proud to be a leading member of the Together Coalition, which promotes stronger connections across our communities. As part of this, we championed the national #ThankYouDay, celebrating the people (especially our volunteers) who make our communities better places to live.

We can only achieve our aims with the right funding in place, in the communities that need it. This year, we were proud to help Scout Groups access £1.76million from the DCMS Youth Investment Fund to create, expand and improve facilities and services. Supporting our members with their applications helped 72% of those who applied secure much-needed funds.

We offered a Recovery Fund for the second year in a row to help keep sections running, with a special focus on groups and units set up since the 2020 Census. Part of these funds came from the movement’s phenomenal fundraising efforts in 2020, and part from a generous donation from the Pears Foundation. In total, we were able to award just under £641,500 to local Scouts, supporting more than 7,500 young people.

The task ahead is to return to prepandemic membership levels, and welcome in the 90,000 young people on our waiting lists. The key to this, as ever, is to attract more adult volunteers. These efforts have already begun with our #GoodForYou campaign, but even more important is improving our volunteering experience. Making volunteering easier and more enjoyable for everyone, and giving a warmer welcome, will have a transformative impact.

Digital first, with people at the heart of what we do

The pandemic accelerated everyone’s use of digital ways of working, and we’re reaping the benefits of that now. We’re putting volunteers and young people at the heart of our digital services, making sure they’re enjoyable, engaging, and efficient. To cite just one example, volunteers download 40,000 activities from our planning tool each week,

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supporting even more young people achieve their top awards.

As Scouts, we’re as proud as ever to help other people. Through our ‘A Million Hands’ project, thousands of young people this year made an impact on the issues that matter most to them. Our young people chose the issues they’d like to focus on, from protecting our planet, through to tackling homelessness and improving mental health. We’re making a national difference to lives across the country.

I’d like to thank our volunteer and staff teams for all their outstanding work. You do brilliant things every day, inspiring better futures, leaving such a bright legacy for generations to come.

Let’s keep up that momentum and make next year even better.

Matt Hyde OBE Chief Executive.

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Better volunteering for a stronger movement

Our movement is powered by the kindness and commitment of our volunteers. The last year has shown that to be truer now than ever. In my first year as UK Chief Commissioner, after a lifetime in Scouts, it’s been a privilege to listen to, champion and support the team in our work helping more young people gain skills for life.

As our youth membership resurges, we’ve seen yet more outstanding generosity from our volunteers. Not only have we welcomed back young people face-to-face after lockdowns, we’ve launched Squirrels, welcoming 4-6-year-olds for the first time.

This would be an astonishing achievement in any year, but especially meaningful in a pandemic, when young people have needed us most. These new Squirrels are the future of a bigger, brighter and even more diverse movement, and society’s future young leaders in the making.

Why safety always comes first

As we move towards adventurous, inperson activities again, it’s vital that training is up to date. Safety will always remain our priority, ensuring our Young People First code of conduct is always followed, and that risk assessments are always carried out.

To represent our commitment to safety, we’ve expanded our HQ Safety team by adding new roles. We’ve supported Groups on their journey back to meeting face-to-face, helping them through each readiness level, right up to the present day. While the UK was living under restrictions, we made sure volunteers could finish their first aid training, by introducing new methods for completing modules.

Safety and safeguarding training compliance has also been a point of focus. We’ve provided line managers with new guidance and tools to manage volunteers with overdue training locally. To highlight the importance of risk assessments, we’ve created new resources, templates, and support for volunteers.

Our national safeguarding team have been busy, too. They’ve engaged with volunteers and other Scouts colleagues to progress key projects. These include Squirrels and wider Early Years

projects, implementing and launching online Disclosure Scotland checks and advising on casework, delivering training for Commissioners and pilot Group Scout Leaders’ training, and the development of the Safe Scouting Learning Review Group. There’s also been proactive actions taken around disclosure compliance, and updating Compass records.

International friendship

As vaccinations have enabled travel and large gatherings to happen more safely, it has been exciting to see international Scouting revive too. International volunteers from countries like Venezuela, Mauritius and Denmark are supporting at Scout Adventures. And we’re now seeing hundreds of youth members preparing and fundraising to represent the UK at World Scout Jamboree in South Korea in 2023.

We never forget that we’re part of a worldwide family of 55 million Scouts. Our global movement encourages peace, tolerance and respect for all. We continue to stand in solidarity with those affected by the war in Ukraine, as well all those suffering through conflict or natural disaster in other parts of the world. We’re proud of the compassionate way our Scouts have responded, fundraising, packing emergency medical kits, delivering aid, and supporting refugees by extending the hand of friendship.

Improving the way we volunteer

When what they give makes such a difference to young lives, we owe it to our volunteers to make the experience as easy, fun and rewarding as possible. We’ve identified three areas to focus on: a warmer welcome for all, more engaging learning and making volunteering more enjoyable every day.

We’re improving digital systems that support volunteers, transforming how people join and train to become volunteers in Scouts to make it smoother and more flexible. This is about giving us the space to do what we as volunteers do best and enjoy most. This will continue to be a priority through the years ahead, with 2023 marking the first big step in the journey.

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We’ve also looked closely at how we can make our organisation more welcoming and inclusive. This year, we launched a wide reaching Race Equity Review, engaging with over a 1,000 volunteers to create a powerful new vision for how Scouts will support race equity.

It’s not enough simply to say we welcome everyone. We need to question the way we do things, listen to different voices, and have the courage to make changes where they’re needed. This is the only way we’ll bring about race equity in Scouts. None of this is easy, but we need to act with humility, and support each other on a positive journey of change. We’re doing this as a movement – to move with the times, and create a better experience for everyone.

By making these changes, we’ll not only motivate our current volunteers, but we’ll help attract new ones, too.

Looking ahead

As young people return to Scouts, and waiting lists grow, it’s vital we continue to welcome new volunteers. 3,000 adult volunteers join us since April 2021, following our national #GoodforYou campaign. Based on feedback that first time volunteers are more willing to come with someone they know, our #GoodForTwo offers activities that work well for volunteers introducing a friend, starting them on their own volunteering journey.

However, we never forget that the most powerful recruitment happens locally. We need to have the right conversations, make new connections, and especially reach out to communities underrepresented in Scouts. Let’s continue to share our own stories of how Scouts has helped us shine bright, given us new friends, and made us who we are today.

If we can share that spark, we can inspire a new generation of young people – and volunteers – with skills for life.

Carl Hankinson

UK Chief Commissioner

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Our purpose and method

Vision and strategic objectives

Scouts actively engages and supports young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society.

In partnership with adults, young people take part in fun indoor and outdoor activities. They learn by doing, by sharing in spiritual reflection and by taking responsibility. They make choices, undertake new and challenging activities, and they live their Scout Promise.

Scouts’ Trustees have a duty to report on our public benefit in this Annual Report. We’ve assessed our aims, activities and charitable objectives, which are to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full potential as individuals, as responsible citizens, and as members of their local, national and international communities. We believe that we’ve met the Charity Commission’s public benefit criteria for both the advancement of education, and the advancement of citizenship and community development. Scouts follows two key principles set by the Commission with regard to public benefit:

Our vision for the future

By 2025, we'll have prepared more young people with skills for life, supported by amazing leaders who are delivering an inspiring programme.

1. Identifiable benefit

The way we help young people in their personal development and empower them to make a positive contribution to society. This benefit is directly linked to the purpose of Scouts.

2. Public benefit

Scouts is a national movement, open to young people aged 4–25 and adults who are willing to make the Scout Promise. People in areas of deprivation are able to benefit from our programme, and accessing our benefits isn’t constrained by a member’s ability to pay their subscription. Locally, there are arrangements to waive subscriptions and other costs for those who face financial hardship. Nationally, there are funds available for uniform and the cost of activities so that young people aren’t excluded from Scouts on purely financial grounds.

The benefits of Scouts are further demonstrated throughout this report.

We'll be growing, more inclusive, shaped by young people, and making a bigger impact in our communities.

We’re progressing our Skills for Life strategy that we began in 2018. Due to COVID-19, we’ve extended our strategy from 2023 to 2025, and we’ve reset our Key Performance Indicators.

View our strategy at

scouts.org.uk/ourplan

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Skills for Life Our plan to prepare better futures 2018-2025

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'Louis became a Beaver as soon as he was old enough, and he's thrived from the start. It's a place where he feels comfortable, and has the same opportunities as his peers. He gains important time away from us where he can be independent, and still feel safe and secure. We've been amazed at his confidence and the way he joins in with everything., Sarah, Louis, Mum, Beaver Scout 1st Byers Green

Growth

We grow when we offer a great programme for young people, create new spaces for young people to join, and recruit new volunteers to support them.

We’ve bounced back from losing around 1 in 4 youth members during the pandemic, and the last 12 months represent our fastest growth since World War II.

Our growth goals by 2025:

Progress on growth

This year, youth membership is up 16% to 412,986. This means 59,769 more young people are now gaining Skills for Life, who weren't last year. While growth has been strong in all sections up to aged 18, we’ve seen the strongest growth in Beavers, our section for 6- to 8-year-olds.

Our waiting lists have grown to over 90,000 young people who’re hoping to join us. To create more spaces for these young people to join our movement, we need even more adult volunteers to support us to open new sections. Our current waiting list number is the equivalent of over 5,000 sections.

We opened 389 new sections this year, but while we recover from the pandemic, we had to close 620.

We’ve seen an increase of nearly 4,000 front line volunteers, Section Leaders, Assistant Leaders, and Section Assistant roles. Since there’s been a reduction in manager, governance and supporter roles, our overall volunteer numbers are down 2%. We think this is due to the changes we’ve made in recording numbers, as well as our continued efforts to ensure data accuracy and compliance.

To help us grow, we’re rolling out a suite of resources. They aim to help with recruitment and retention of new volunteers and young people, and support with the opening of new sections. We’ll also continue to identify funding for supporting local growth over the coming year.

What’s next

Thanks to volunteers’ efforts across the country, supported by our staff teams, we believe we’ll return to pre-pandemic membership numbers during 2024. To achieve this, we’ll need a concerted effort and resources. We think it’s vital for meeting our longer-term growth ambitions, and for delivering our other strategic priorities, such as our new section, Squirrels.

Our main strategic challenge is having enough volunteers to support as many young people as possible. There’s a key interdependency between our ability to improve the experience our volunteers have with us, and our growth ambitions. These changes are to make volunteering easier and more fun, meaning we can better attract new volunteers, and keep our current ones onboard.

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'He's absolutely loving it and I'm really impressed. The leaders are really supportive and welcoming, and it's been really good for Toby. His confidence has grown so quickly. I can't praise Squirrels enough. He's learning new skills and is so proud to be a Scout and wear his uniform., Jenna, Toby's Mum, Squirrel 2nd Howden Squirrel group

Inclusivity

Beginning with the first Scouts camp on Brownsea Island in 1907, our movement’s brought together young people from different backgrounds to share fun and adventurous experiences.

Over the years, we’ve made great changes to become more inclusive. We’ve welcomed girls to each section, and made sure our LGBTQ+ young people and volunteers can be themselves, and are celebrated for who they are.

We know there’s still more to do. We won’t stop until every young person in the UK sees a place for themselves in Scouts, and has the opportunity to join and thrive in our movement.

Our Inclusivity goals By 2025:

from the first phase of the Government’s Youth Investment Fund, and hundreds of thousands from Amazon.

All of this has meant that we’ve created an additional net 222 sections in the bottom 30% of the Index of Multiple Deprivation since 2018, with 278 left to achieve our target of 500 by 2025.

Squirrels

In September 2021, we launched Squirrels, our new section for 4- and 5- year-olds. At this age, non-formal education can make a real difference, so we’re committed to providing Squirrels for young people who wouldn’t usually access Scouts.

Progress has been fantastic so far. In the first six months, our amazing volunteers opened 140 Squirrel Dreys in areas of deprivation, and this number is still climbing.

We’ve started Squirrel Dreys in some of our most ethnically diverse Scout groups, with 34% of them having 10% or more young people from Black, Asian and minority backgrounds.

Race Equity

Progress on inclusivity

Creating and Protecting Scouting in lower income neighbourhoods

Our Regional Services Team has worked hard, alongside volunteers, to protect local Scouting impacted by the pandemic. They’ve created new provision, where possible, all in lower income neighbourhoods. Thanks to the Pears Foundation, Department for Culture, Media and Sport and individual donors, we raised and distributed £641,000 to local Scout Groups through our Recovery Fund. We also supported Groups to access £1.76m

We’re aware that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are underrepresented in Scouts, so we’ve been working hard to understand what’s causing this, and what needs to change.

In 2020, we commissioned an external review into race equity at Scouts. The review looked at the experiences of staff and volunteers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. It was completed in 2021, and the review has provided us with a detailed set of learnings to work from.

To keep the momentum up, and make sure we deliver on our promises, we’ve set up a Race Equity project. To oversee its work, we’ve created a project board, sponsored by Yousif Eltom, our volunteer UK Race Equity Advisor.

We asked the movement about our vision for the project, and what our priorities should be, and we had a fantastic 1,300 responses. We’re now using these responses to set our strategy for embedding race equity across our movement.

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Celebrating difference within Scouts

In October 2021, we marked Black History Month. We shared information for everybody to learn about Black history, and provided wider opportunities to learn and talk about race. As part of this, we shared stories of Black Explorers in history on social media. We also provided links on our websites for leaders, so they could run activities with their sections and celebrate Black History Month.

Some of our amazing young people hosted two exciting webinars with inspiring role models.

Emma Aggrey, an Explorer Scout, spoke to Rhiane Fatinikun (founder of Black Girl Hike), Hayley Bennett (co-founder of Community Nutmegs supporting women and non-binary people of colour), and Saray Khumalo (mountaineer and Scout Ambassador). They talked about the importance of seeing Black women in the outdoors, and the role organisations like ours play in getting young people outdoors to have new experiences.

What’s next

Our Race Equity project will continue at full throttle. We’ll soon be publishing our plans for the project, along with regular progress updates.

We’ll bring together all the fantastic inclusivity work that’s happening across the movement, under the umbrella of a new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Programme of Work. This’ll make sure we’re thinking strategically, and maximising our opportunities to make Scouts even more inclusive.

Finally, we’ll carry on working towards attracting more young Muslims into Scouts and overhauling our volunteer journey. This includes developing bespoke learning for all our amazing volunteers, so everyone knows how they can contribute and help make Scouts as inclusive as possible.

Anes Ali, a Young Leader, had great Zoom chemistry with Dwayne Fields, explorer and Scouts Ambassador. They talked about the impact Scouts has on their lives. Dwayne described Scouts as ‘a safety net where young people can try things, be themselves, be confident, be daring, and become the person they should be.’

More inclusive recruitment

Thanks to the Pears Foundation and Aziz Foundation, we’ve continued developing our strategy to attract more young Muslims to Scouts. We’re learning from, and building on, the incredible success of the Muslim Scout Fellowship.

We’re also thanking the Pears Foundation for our volunteer-focused partnership with Girlguiding. This partnership is for creating a digital platform to welcome potential volunteers from diverse backgrounds. We hope this platform will make our volunteer recruitment and learning more inclusive.

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'Josh needs very little adjustment. He needs a little bit of support, mentoring and coaching with some of the finer skills, but other than that, he's able to just get on with it. The support's available, but it's very rarely called upon. There are very few problems that Josh and his patrol can't overcome between them. He's amazingly confident, and his ability to talk and make new friends has blossomed in the time he's been with us.. Piers Hallihan, Scout Leader 1st Cowbridge Scouts

Youth Shaped

Youth Commissioners across the country designed a new Scouts badge for the YouShape Award. The award is designed to help young people to Plan, Represent and Lead Scouting, and lets them decide what they want to change or shape in their Scouts experience. The award then encourages young people to make their changes happen, through requirements related to Planning, Representing and Leading. Young people decide themselves when they’ve met the requirements of the Award. To date, Scout Stores have sold 80,000 YouShape Awards.

Every young person should shape their Scouts experience, and develop the skills they need to be great leaders. Creating opportunities for young people to use their voices is an important part of this. If young people shape Scouts, they’ll improve our movement, and become more likely to achieve their top awards.

Our Youth Shaped goals

By 2025:

As well as shaping the programme, another Youth Shaped objective is to increase the number of young people in leadership positions. We now have 580 inspiring local Youth Commissioners, growing from 400 in 2018.

Our focus is still on supporting young people to take up leadership positions and achieve their top awards. As part of our focus on this, we now have youth representation on every national programme of work.

Progress on Youth Shaped

In 2020/21, we asked young people and section leaders how much they thought young people were shaping their Scouts experience.

We’ve got an active Community of Practice group that brings young people together to coordinate and inspire change.

The results were a mixed bag, which isn’t a surprise, considering the impact COVID-19 had on Scouts.

We’ve added new resources to support adult volunteers in delivering our youth shaped goals. This includes resources for young people turning 18, new programme resources, case studies to support the YouShape Award, and updates to existing resources on our new website.

73% of young people thought they came together at least once a term to decide what activities to take part in. This has stayed roughly the same since 2018. However, 87% of section leaders thought the same, which is up from 60% in 2018.

The National Role Pool is a group of young adults from across the UK who’d like to get involved in Scouts nationally, and it now has 40 members. They’re taking on various roles, from youth trustees on the UK Board, to members of subcommittees and project boards.

Only 54% of young people thought they used their skills to help run activities for other young people. This is down from 95% in 2018. 49% of section leaders thought the same thing, which is the same percentage as 2018.

Only 38% of young people thought their opinions influenced local decisions in Scouts, which is down from 50% in 2018. 40% of section leaders thought the same thing, decreasing from 53% in 2018.

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What’s next

Youth Commissioners will work with our Early Years team to understand the effectiveness of Youth Shaped Scouting in our new Squirrels section, and how we can support Dreys to go even further.

Local Youth Commissioners will focus on embedding the YouShape Award in programmes across the UK. This’ll work towards our goal for 250,000 young people to be shaping Scouts by 2025.

We want the recovery of our membership numbers to include a boost in Young Leaders. This has fallen behind the growth of other sections.

This year, we’ve appointed our third UK Youth Commissioner since we created the role in 2014. Ayesha Karim takes over from Ollie Wood in September2022. We’d like to thank Ollie for his dedication and hard work since he took the role in 2018. He’s achieved brilliant things, and we know Ayesha will do the same.

Influencing at the highest levels of the movement, Ayesha will work towards our goal to have 50% of all young people shaping their Scouts experience by 2025. She’ll also shape the future of Youth Shaped Scouting in our next strategic plan.

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'1 had a barbecue with Levi Roots and with a Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. It's been quite a year, and not one I'll forget in a hurry. I'm so proud to be a Scout and I'd like to say a very big thank you to my leaders and my family. My message to all Scouts is keep smiling and keep helping others and maybe you'll find yourself in 10 Downing Street one day., Sarijane, Scout 23rd Camberwell Scouts

Community Impact

‘Helping to leave the world a little better than we found it’ has been in our DNA since 1907. Through social action, Scouts make a difference – not just to young people taking part, but to the entire community they’re helping. A vital part of any great Scout programme is the running of high-quality community impact projects, and these projects take planning and time.

‘A Million Hands’ is our campaign to mobilise members, in support of a selection of themes chosen by our young people. The campaign provides ‘off the shelf’ resources for leaders, Young Leaders (aged 14-17) and young people themselves, making the delivery of the Community Impact Staged Activity Badges easier. Taking part in community impact projects is essential for young people hoping to achieve our top awards.

The themes and partners for 2019–2025, as selected by young people, are:

As well as ‘A Million Hands’, we’ve responded to time limited opportunities, to empower young people to act on issues that matter to them.

Our Community Impact goals

By 2025:

Progress on Community Impact

Despite COVID-19 restrictions stopping Scouts meeting face-to-face for part of the year, our young people still stood up and took practical action to help others. 30% of Scouts took part in a community impact activity at least once a term.

– We had over 10,000,000 impressions on social media for our ‘3 for Three’ mental health awareness campaign, encouraging 4,575 young people to become Wellbeing Champions.

– We united with the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and our global membership to take part in ‘Promise to the Planet.’ This campaign encourages young people to help combat climate change. Our young people, staff and volunteers joined together with their counterparts from over 25 countries, and with expert partners in WWF, the Cabinet Office and the United Nations. They developed an

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international environmental social action campaign, helping our members to take practical action, and use their voices to protect our shared home. From planet-friendly diets and changing transport habits, to afforestation and eliminating single-use plastic, our young people showed the world they’re playing their part, and that world leaders must play theirs, too.

– As part of Promise to the Planet, young people went to the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow with our Chief Scout, Bear Grylls. This was a historical moment in time, as countries agreed on many initiatives for reducing the impact of climate change. Scouts spoke at over 10 high profile events, in front of negotiators, politicians, sector leaders and change-makers. COP-26 helped profile Scouts as a serious player in the space of environmental action and sustainability.

In 2022 and beyond, we’ll be supercharging our A Million Hands project, by working with our partners to offer physical, virtual and hybrid opportunities for young people. We’ll be communicating more often, in new and exciting ways. We’ll be following on from our Promise to the Planet campaign with an organisation environment and sustainability policy. We’ll provide additional opportunities for young people to take practical, hands-on action, and how use their voice to create change.

This’ll mean, at a minimum, 40% of our members will take part in high-quality community impact activity at least once a term during 2022.

The 10 young people who lead our work in this area (the Community Impact Group), supported by our UK Assistant Commissioner for Programme (Community Impact), continue to play a pivotal role. They’re making sure Scouts are a beacon of hope in dark times, and we’d once again like to thank them for their leadership, passion, and determination in another challenging year.

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'By growing our own food, it couldn't be greener because there is no transport, pollution or packaging needed. I feel close to nature by doing it, and it's really exciting harvesting what we've grown. What we're unable to produce ourselves, we get from local organic farmers., Thomas, Cub Scout and environmentalist 1st Sid Vale Cub Scout Group

Three pillars of work

To reach our goals, more support is needed. Our three pillars of work – programme, people, and perception – are a plan of action to support members and extend our reach, so we impact the lives of more young people across the UK.

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Programme

Our aim: A fun, high-quality – We provided a range of programme, consistently delivered and activities for Remembrance supported by simple digital tools. Day, in partnership with the Royal British Legion.

Progress a year on

Our Activity Finder continues to go from

– As a member of the Generation

Green consortium, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, we launched a suite of activities and day/residential experiences. These inspire over 57,000 young people to become ‘Green Champions,’ by connecting with nature and taking action to preserve it.

strength to strength. There’re now 1,500 activities to find, and 200 were added over the last 12 months. Around 50,000 volunteers use the Activity Finder every month, and give it a Net Promoter Score. A Net Promoter Score measures volunteers’ satisfaction with the Activity Finder, by asking if they’d recommend it to another volunteer. At the moment, the resources scores 34 out of a possible –100 to +100, which is considered ‘favourable’.

The movement has also delivered some fantastic campaigns, kindly supported by partnerships:

We still have a long way to go to make programme delivery as easy as possible for adult volunteers. The Scout Experience Survey found that:

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We’ll:

–

rates whether they’d recommend the resources to other volunteers, and has increased from –44 in 2018. To improve these results, we plan to invest more in the usercentered approach that has slowly increased our popularity since 2018.

What’s next

With our new UK Commissioner for Programme, we’ve prioritised:

We hope this’ll increase the number of young people achieving our Top Awards – the Chief Scout and Queen’s Scout Awards.

In the 20th anniversary of Explorer Scouts (14-18 year olds) and Scout Network (18-24 year olds), we’ll also start reviewing our programme for 14 to 24-year-olds. We’ll consider what the next 20 years will look like for older sections, and make sure our programme is impactful, relevant, and fun.

We’ll continue to partner with charities and businesses to create brilliant programme materials, alongside young people, volunteers and external experts.

Early Years

After a long piloting period, we’ve started a new provision for 4–6 year olds called Squirrels. We started Squirrels to help young people gain skills for life even earlier, at a time when it matters most, and where it’s most needed.

Develop our Activity Finder and Programme Planning Tool, allowing volunteers and young leaders to rate content, access “off the shelf” programmes, and promote activities they (and our partners) love.

Young people’s early years are amazing. Minds are fizzing, and energy and curiosity levels are sky high. It’s the time to fill our youngest members with ‘wow’ and wonder, engage them in nature, help them climb the tree of knowledge and fun – and who knows how far they’ll reach?

– Support over 200 volunteers from HSBC to deliver the Money Skills badge in Beaver Colonies and Cub Packs.

– Review how we talk and act on disability within our programme, making sure it’s in line with wider society.

With Squirrels, we’re reaching young people who’d benefit the most from Scouts. Research suggests that, the earlier a young person accesses nonformal education, the more positive the impact on their prospects. Through our newest section, we believe we’ll reach into new communities, and provide Scouts for a more diverse range of people.

– Deliver a range of sciencebased activities by working with Global Action Plan. This’ll help young people better understand and act on air pollution.

We’re hoping that, by 2023:

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Progress on Early Years

Following 18 months of piloting, the Centre for Research into Early Childhood said, ‘Participation in the Early Years Scout Programme, even over a short period of time, has had a positive and sometimes transformative impact on children’s development.’ We also consulted with over 1,400 young people, adult volunteers and parents/carers, to get their insights on our Early Years programme so far.

After receiving positive feedback, our Trustee Board agreed to create an Early Years provision in Scouts. So far, we’ve:

There’s significant demand for Squirrels, with over 23,000 young people already on local waiting lists. By recruiting more volunteers into Scouts, we can open more Dreys, and start bringing down our waiting lists.

At the moment:

What’s next

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People

Our aim: To have well trained, better supported, and motivated adult volunteers, as well as more young people from diverse backgrounds.

Progress a year on

If we’re delivering great programmes and helping more young people get skills for life, we need to attract more volunteers to join us. It’s important that every volunteer has an amazing experience at Scouts, so they’re inspired to keep volunteering and supporting our young people.

So far, we’ve spoken to over 5,000 people to find out what could make their volunteering experience better. We’ve listened to their ideas, and we’re using them to make volunteering the best it can be.

Funded by Pears Foundation, we’ve partnered with Girlguiding to transform our approach to the crucial early stages of a volunteer’s journey. As part of this, we’re building a new digital tool to help make recruitment easier, and a new volunteer is in control of signing up. We’re working with a County to co-design these tools, and to make sure they’ll work on the ground.

Working with volunteers every step of the way

We’ve been sharing progress and testing ideas on our Testing Hub, to make sure we get things right. So far, over 950 people have given us feedback on our Testing Hub. On the ground, we’ll be trying out more of our new tools and support during 2022.

Our approach

What’s next

To start with, we’ll focus on:

We’ve now agreed our approach for transforming these areas. We’ll prepare for 2023 by:

Digital Transformation

To underpin this, we’ve partnered with suppliers to build great digital tools. These tools will help us make volunteering easier, and reduce the time volunteers spend on admin. We’re creating a new digital membership system that’s easy to use, and it’ll be linked with a new digital learning platform. This platform means all learning will be in one, easy-to-find place.

– We’ll start piloting new tools with volunteers during the summer and autumn of 2022, to make sure they’re meeting everyone’s needs.

– At the start of 2023, we’ll work with a small group of Counties, and support them to make changes in their area. This way, we can learn and make improvements. In the spring, we’ll roll out these changes and new tools to everyone.

– We’ll keep supporting teams where they need it, and asking for feedback, so we can keep improving.

We’ll also work on other areas of improvement. We’ll continue to update learning and look at other tools to make our ongoing volunteer experience better, such as reviews and awards.

Creating a warmer welcome for new volunteers together

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Perception

Our aim: Scouts is understood, more visible, trusted, respected, and widely seen as playing a key role in society today.

Progress a year on

Improving our perception

– We’re making sure the Scouts brand is frequently in the public eye in a positive and relevant way, and we’re consistently emphasising our Skills for Life message. As the pandemic continued into another year, we showed how Scouts learned skills for life in person, when possible. This included the start our new Squirrels programme for 4–6year-olds, our young people playing a leading role with their Promise to the Planet at COP26, and supporting the movement to recruit volunteers with our #GoodForYou campaign.

– We had a highly successful collaboration with Royal British Legion for Remembrance 2021. This led to an emotional meeting between Emily, a 10-year-old Cub Scout, and Colonel David Blum, a 98-year-old WWII veteran and former Cub Scout. Our Joint President, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, hosted

the conversation. The meeting was filmed, and it got nearly 140,000 views on YouTube. This experience positioned Scouts at the heart of our society and national conversations, and explored how we learn from the past and look positively to the future.

Supporting young people

– This year was exceptional for high profile stories and campaigns promoting our Skills for Life strategy. We generated 18,000 media items, giving every adult in the UK the chance to see 79 pieces of positive media coverage.

Progressing our brand

Launching our new Squirrels section in September created one of our biggest ever days for public profile. With more than 830 media pieces, all adults in the UK had the chance to see our Squirrels story four times. Our Ambassadors amplified the launch, helping us connect directly with over 350,000 people on social media. We received supportive messages from our Patron HM The Queen, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation for Early Years, as

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well as the Prime Minister. On the day, #SquirrelScouts was one of the top hashtags used by MPs. The launch also drove more volunteer and youth membership enquiries, and positively impacted Scout Stores sales and spontaneous philanthropic income.

– The success of our Squirrels launch built on its awardwinning brand. The brand is inspired by nature, with skills for life at its heart. The brand is rooted in Scouts heritage, as Brownsea Island (where the first Scouts camp took place in 1907) is a haven for red squirrels. Our Squirrels have cheery red jumpers, and there’s a squirrel in the logo. The Squirrels identity bursts with joyful, youthful energy, working as well on social media as it does in a woodland.

difference in the fight against climate change. At COP26 in November 2021, we secured a total of 425 media pieces – the equivalent of every adult in the UK seeing the story more than six times. COP26 also drove positive digital engagement on social media, and a 25% spike in our website visitors.

Attracting, recruiting and retaining volunteers

Scout Ambassadors and Chief Scout

– Our Chief Scout, and diverse team of Scouts Ambassadors, supported many events and campaigns. They amplified the launch of Squirrels, and our #GoodForYou volunteer recruitment campaign. Dwayne Fields and Saray Khumalo hosted webinars for Black History Month in October. Dwayne inspired 600 World Scout Jamboree volunteers, Steve Backshall recorded a special story for Squirrels, and Megan Hine filmed practical skills videos made especially for Scouts. All their media appearances, videos, interviews, opinion pieces, and social media influences drove our messaging, and thanked and inspired our members.

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Theory of Change

Our Theory of Change shows the positive difference Scouts make in society. We welcome young people and volunteers from all backgrounds, and with us, they learn and share skills, enjoy an engaged and varied programme of activities, honour the Scout values and become active citizens of a connected community. We produce happier, more resilient citizens who work together towards greater social cohesion and an undeniably better world.

A chart of the interactive elements of our Theory of Change is below

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The impact of Scouts on young people

Our Scouts Experience Survey is an annual online survey we’ve used each year since 2018. Previously, we compared Scouts with non-Scouts across our Theory of Change outcomes. In 2020/21, we decided not to use a non-Scout comparison group because the experience of all young people through the previous year was so wideranging, within and outside Scouts.

To compare effectively, we also need to deliver Scouts consistently. The pandemic moved Scouts activities to a mix of online and in-person (when restrictions allowed), or in some cases, Scouts couldn’t be delivered at all. This meant Scouts experiences varied a lot through 2020/21, so we’ve compared the 2021 survey to our 2019 results.

Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, we found positive similarities between 2021 and 2019, suggesting Scouts would still score higher than nonScouts across four of six outcomes:

Adventure – Scouts are just as likely as in 2019 to be more physically active to value the outdoors and have the courage to try new things.

Skills for Life – Scouts were just as likely to enhance their problem-solving skills, be independent, and communicate effectively.

Leadership – Scouts were just as likely to increase their teamwork skills, be responsible, and be trustworthy. By taking initiative, and acting as role models to help others make a positive difference, Scouts were just as likely to show leadership.

Connectedness – Scouts in 2021 were just as likely to have meaningful friendships and relationships, care about other people, and have respect and trust for others, including those from backgrounds different to their own.

Previous survey results have shown that young people in Scouts have a stronger sense of wellbeing than non-Scouts. They’re also good citizens, scoring higher than non-Scouts for playing an active part in their communities.

These are two areas where we saw a key difference in 2021 compared to 2019:

Wellbeing – a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, some Scouts reported feeling less happy, resilient and confident than they felt in 2019. The pandemic’s taken its

toll on the mental wellbeing of many of our young people, as illustrated by our survey findings:

Citizenship – With limited social contact and opportunities for community engagement due to the pandemic, there were fewer opportunities for Scouts to be involved in the local, national, and international community. This is reflected in the 2021 results, which show that while in 2019 Scouts scored better than nonScouts on citizenship, some Scouts now feel less connected to their communities:

Understanding the pandemic’s negative effects on young people is fundamental to supporting our young people as they start, or restart, their Scouts journey.

Now we’re back together in person, we’re working to resolve many of these challenges. The social connection, community engagement, and sense of progression through Scouts, is needed more than ever.

We can, once again, give our young people the chance to make new friends, connect with their local area, and ignite their journey of learning skills for life.

After a challenging couple of years, we’re here to support young people to get back on their feet, make new memories, and rediscover their sense of adventure.

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Our finances

Financial statements

The Association’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities, applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (known as the Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.

Consolidation

These accounts consolidate the results of The Scout Association and its six wholly owned trading subsidiaries:

The remaining subsidiary trading companies covenant their annual distributable profits to their parent charity, The Scout Association.

More information on these companies is included in note 12 to the financial statements.

2021/22 financial overview:

This year has been a year of recovery with the return of face-to-face Scouting, and we’ve managed our finances well. At the forefront of our planning and actions, we’ve looked at how we keep Scouts going, and enable all our members to keep benefitting by acquiring skills for life.

We’ve been able to do that with the dedication of our volunteers, and the drive of our staff. We’ve benefited from the support of our corporate partners as well as various charitable Trusts and Foundations, which is really appreciated in furthering our work. We’re also grateful for the generosity of individual donors particularly in supporting our

new section Squirrels, and our Race Round the World fundraising campaign.

During the year, we sold our investment property Baden-Powell House. This decision was made to strengthen our future cash position as we enter a period of recovery for the movement build our reserves, and continue delivering our strategy.

Now face-to-face Scouts has resumed, we can plan with more optimism. However, to keep financial security, we need to continue to make changes.

With that context, here’s a look back at the last year:

– We raised our membership fee by £7.50 for 2021/22, and ring-fenced £1.50 of that to support groups in financial hardship. The majority of the funds raised by the additional £1.50 were distributed to Scout Groups adversely impacted by the pandemic, due to a decline in member numbers. There is a residual amount of £199k from these funds. There’s a clear threeyear plan to build back and recover the membership numbers.

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Financial results

The Association’s financial result reflects the activities mentioned above. The results for the year are shown in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) on page 40.

There was an operating deficit, before investment and pension valuation changes, of £0.3m for the year compared with the previous year’s surplus of £0.6m. The result is made up of an unrestricted deficit of £0.9m, with an increase of £0.6m in restricted funds.

Listed investment values fell giving a loss of £0.1m, compared with last year’s gain of £11.5m which reflected an uplift in the value of Baden-Powell House to its expected sales value. The sale for £46 million, was finally competed in August 2021.

There continues to be significant movements in the actuarial measurement of the defined benefit pension scheme deficit. This year’s £3.2m gain largely resulted from movement in the value of assets and liabilities in the scheme as also reflecting the movement in interest rates as compared to last year’s £0.4m loss.

Overall, the net movement in funds in the SOFA was £2.9m compared to £11.6m in 2021.

Income

As shown in the graph below, total income for the year was £30.0m compared with £27.1m in 2021. The reasons are expanded on below.

Last year, we noted that the past consistency and robustness of our income streams was now more uncertain. This 10-year graph shows the impact of the loss of income from activity centres, shop trading and conference centres last year, and the recovery we have made in 2021/22, especially in Scout Stores.

Our member subscriptions are key for funding the support provided to members. Particularly with increasing safeguarding costs, the Trustees agreed a £7.50 increase in fees for 2021/22. The fee is paid for youth members only; adult members and members of Network are not required to pay a National Fee. There was a decrease in youth members of just under 7%, and with the fee increase, member subscriptions decreased by £0.9m to £11.3m.

The continued and generous support of our donors is important and greatly appreciated by the Association. Despite the hard, uncertain economic conditions, legacies and donations increased by £1.0m to £3.0m.

We were successful in lobbying for more government support for the youth sector, which led to the creation of the Youth COVID Support. This fund helps services to remain viable since they provide vital support to young people.

Income from charitable activities is received from our activity centres and sales linked to our charitable purposes. These include camping, training,

activities, and accommodation charges at Gilwell Park and the other National Scout Adventure Centres. With the easing of lockdown and increased faceto-face Scouts, this income saw a slight increase when compared to 2020/21. Charitable activities also includes insurance commissions earned by Unity Insurance, which also improved. There was an increase in charitable income of £0.8m to £3.2m.

Our trading operations include the retail sales made by Scout Shops Limited and World Scout Shop Limited, and sponsorship and promotional income.

Shops activity has improved, with sales up from £2.4m to £9.1m.

We’ve continued to establish strong links with corporate sponsors and brought in £0.9m from these beneficial connections, up £0.1m on the previous year.

Investment income increased slightly by £0.1m to £0.6m.

Expenditure

Total expenditure was £30.2m compared with the previous year of £26.5m, an increase of £3.7m. Our spend on charitable activities was £23.3m, which was up on 20/21 by £1.1m. This is shown in the pie chart on page 33 under our activity headings, followed by a description of what we provide and achieve through these activities.

----- Start of picture text -----
60m Total Income 2022 - £30m (2021 - £27m)
50
40
30
20
10
0
2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
----- End of picture text -----

Charitable activities - Periodic Jamborees Charitable activities

Investment income & property sales Trading activities

Grants, donations & legacies Membership subscription

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Youth programme and activities

We know Scouts is needed more than ever, so we adapted our programme over the past year to make as many face-to-face activities as possible. Over 1,200 activities are now available on our website, including a large number of lockdown-suitable activities. We’re making a conscious effort to retain the blend of digital, indoor, and outdoor activities going forwards, as we’re aware these will be helpful for young people post-pandemic, too.

Development of Scouting

Despite losing many adult and youth members during 20/21, we are already seeing a strong return of youth members. The 16% growth in youth members is the greatest we’ve seen since World War Two.

We launched a new section, Squirrels, to extend Scouts to 4 to 6-year-olds. We’ve already created 600 sections, and by 2033, we hope to welcome 130,000 4 to 6-year-olds per annum, supported by 40,000 new adult volunteers.

This, along with our national volunteer recruitment campaign #GoodForYou and commitment to improving volunteer experience, means we remain optimistic about our growth goals and the bright future of Scouts.

Adult support and training

Our adult volunteers have been amazing this year, and we’ve done our best to support them in the way they deserve.

We moved our inclusion support and events online, providing members with guidance, lived experience panels, expert speakers, and new programme ideas.

To make sure the crucial early stages of a volunteer’s journey with us are the best they can be, we also began a partnership with Girlguiding, generously funded by Pears Foundation. This partnership is helping us improve the volunteer welcome journey, making it smoother and easier for all.

In addition, we now have a continuous review process for our web content and our essential training. This makes sure both are clear and useful for our volunteers. As part of this, we’re offering a ‘blended learning’ approach: digital first, but with workshops and ‘on the job’ learning, too.

Support and service to members

This year, we continued focusing on supporting members and communities most affected by COVID-19.

Our four strategic objectives – Growth, Inclusivity, Youth Shaped and Community Impact – are fulfilled by activities in these four areas. Many of the actions and activities delivering strategic objectives are led by volunteers, with proportionately less financial expenditure than activities delivered by our salaried staff. Due to this, the Trustees feel these four headings used to analyse charitable activities provide a more meaningful

and appropriate explanation of our income and expenditure.

Charity funds

The Scout Association’s consolidated funds increased by £2.9m to £88.3m as of 31 March 2022. The value of endowment funds was £2.2m, restricted funds £4.0m, designated funds £25.9m, the pension reserve £(1.4)m, trading funds £0.4m, and general funds were £57.2m.

All funds are described in more detail in note 19 to the financial statements with analysis of the movements in the year.

Reserves policy

The Trustees annually review the reserves policy. They continue planning to hold reserves to protect the Association and delivery of its charitable programmes by allowing time to adjust to changing financial circumstances. Reserves are also held to support the development of Scouts. The policy ensures an equitable balance between spending the maximum amount of income raised as soon as reasonably possible after receipt, while maintaining an appropriate level of reserves for the uninterrupted operation of the charity. It also provides parameters for future budgeting and strategic plans, and contributes towards decision making.

The reserves policy establishes an appropriate target for the level of general ‘free’ reserves. The target is based on a risk assessment of the probability and likely financial impact on

Our spend on charitable activities in 2022 - £23.3m (2021 - £22.2m )

----- Start of picture text -----
18%
40%
£23.3m
21%
20%
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Youth Programme and Activities Development of Scouting Adult Support and Training

Support and Services to the Scouting Movement

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the Association’s activities of unforeseen but possible events. This might be caused for example by a sudden decline in income coupled with an inability to reduce expenditure in the short term or a significant increase in litigation costs. The pandemic highlighted the risks to The Scout Association of short-term reductions in membership and commercial income due to the curtailment of face-to-face Scouts. At the same time it was essential to maintain member services to support such Scouting activities as were permissible and to maintain the nucleus of the movement to support future recovery. Consequently, the Trustees have determined that the appropriate free reserves target for The Scout Association is about one year’s worth of expenditure together with some medium term protection for the likely level of litigation taking into account the available commercial insurance cover. Combined this totals currently about £28m.

The general free reserves for The Scout Association itself shown as of 31 March 2022 are £57.2m (excluding the reserve for the pension fund deficit). However, Trustees recognise there are a number of factors which will likely significantly reduce the free reserves over the next few years. In particular:

– Potential impacts from the next pension fund triennial funding review and changes in pension regulation due in 2022, which may accelerate the funding requirements.

After considering the above allocations, the residual funds will be deployed in delivering the Skills for Life strategy, and further investments will be made for delivering services to the movement. We’ll keep the movement informed as plans for these investments develop over the coming year.

Forward financial forecast and going concern

The Trustees have considered the financial plans for the budget year of 2022/23 and projections for the following two years, looking at the cash and reserve projections. This covers a period of at least 12 months from the signing of these financial statements.

The proactive actions initiated, and the clear plans for resurgence and growth of membership, provide a route to growth and stability of the finances of The Scout Association. The sale of assets has provided us with the resources to maintain a sustainable operating model and invest in growing our services. Our income streams, such as membership income and commercial revenues, are growing. We’ve cut costs and controlled them in line with income, while protecting critical safeguarding and safety functions and frontline support to volunteers.

There’ll be future changes and there are residual risks. Over the short-term, though, we have the capacity to manage such exposures, as well as planning, monitoring, and managing cash flows accordingly.

We set out the charity’s risk

management approach, as well as the key risks faced, on page 68. Despite the volatility of social, economic and market conditions, the pension deficit has reduced over recent years, and a deficit plan agreed with the Pension Scheme Trustees is included in our budget.

Taking all of the above into account, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they believe the going concern basis remains the appropriate approach for preparing the financial statements for preparing the financial statements.

Fixed assets

Capital investment plans were held back during the year, as we took stock of how we invested in infrastructure to support our strategic objectives and members. As we looked at our future use of properties, spend was limited to making sure we maintained safety compliance.

Subsidiary companies

The Association’s trading subsidiaries are reviewed below. Each company is wholly owned and each – other than Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited, which was incorporated in the Bailiwick of Guernsey – is incorporated in England and Wales.

Scout Shops Limited

Scout Store sells Scouts uniform and ancillary products mainly to members of The Scout Association, both directly and through District Scout Stores and other wholesale outlets.

With the return of face-to-face Scouting, Scout Shops had a good year by way of turnover and margins.

Turnover increased to £9.1m (2021: £2.2m) with the impact of the lockdown. 2019 sales were increased by the World Scout Jamboree. Profit before taxation for the year was £3.2m (2021: loss of £0.8m). With this gain, the parent charity agreed to a profit retention of £976,000 at 31 March 2022 to strengthen the balance sheet. The remaining profit of £2.0m after tax has been covenanted to The Scout Association.

World Scout Shop Limited

Turnover of £0.2m remained the same as it was in the previous year, with a small gain of £0.01m (2021: loss of £0.01m).

Scout Insurance Services Limited

Scout Insurance Services trades under the name of Unity Insurance Services. Its main activity is insurance broker, providing services primarily to The Scout Association, the Scout movement, to other charities and not-for-profit organisations, including Girlguiding UK.

In the year to March 2022, turnover was £2.5m (2021: £2.2m) with a profit before tax of £1.0m (2021: £1.1m), which it covenanted to The Scout Association.

Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited

Following the decision to wind up the operations and dissolve Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited, the assets and liabilities of the company were transferred back to The Scout Association in December 2021.

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Prior to liquidation a loss of £0.4m was made.

Scout Services Limited

Scout Services Limited’s principal activities are sponsorship and marketing services for The Scout Association, including the provision of conference facilities.

With the enforced closure of the Gilwell Park and Baden-Powell House conference centres, there was a review of their long-term benefit and profitability. The decision led to the sale of BP House.

Scout Services Limited produced a net gain of £0.2m (2021: loss of £0.8m) from turnover of £1.0m (2021: £1.0m)

Scout Products Limited Scout Products Limited produced a net gain of £3k from turnover of £94k.

The Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme

The most recent full actuarial valuation of The Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme was carried out as of 31 March 2019. The valuation showed a deficit of £6.5m and a funding level of 86%, which is an improvement from the 78% funding level at the March 2016 full valuation. Based on this valuation, the Trustees agreed a deficit recovery plan aimed at clearing the deficit by 2028. The Scheme closed to new members in the year ended 31 March 2001. During the year, process was completed to withdraw all current live members in the scheme, and this will be completed by June 2022.

In the year to March 2022, the Scout Association contributed £0.6m to the Scheme (2021: £0.7m ). The Trustees regularly monitor the Scheme funding deficit to make sure general reserves provide adequate cover against the future liability.

In accordance with Charity Commission guidance (‘Charity Reserves and Defined Benefit Pension Schemes’), the Trustees have reviewed the cash flow impact on the general reserves of the planned funding of the deficit, and these are included in the charity’s budget.

The valuation of the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme at 31 March 2022 for the accounting purposes of Financial

Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102) showed a deficit of £1.4m (2021: £4.9m).

Investment policy and performance

Since 2018, the fixed asset investments representing the targeted reserves have been held in the Cazenove Charity Multi-Asset Fund, which is ethically screened.

Following the decision to increase the reserves target and after the sale of Baden-Powell House in the current year, we carried out a tender exercise to appoint another fund manager, Sarasin, to hold additional funds in an investment portfolio.

The performance objectives are:

– to maintain an optimum level of income tempered by the need for capital growth in order to safeguard future grant-making capacity,

The Association’s current asset investments represent cash holdings held in Royal London Asset Management Funds, on behalf of the Short Term Investment Service provided to the movement. As of 31 March 2022, total deposits by Scout Groups, Districts, Counties and Regions in the Short Term Investment Service were £11.2m (2021: £11.1m). We’ll be reviewing the operation of the Short Term Investment Service during the coming year.

Remuneration policy

The Trustees consider that the Board of Trustees and the Executive Leadership Team (the Chief Executive and the Directors) comprise the key management personnel of the Charity.

All Trustees give their time freely, and no Trustee received remuneration in the year. The Chief Executive (who is also a Trustee and a full member of the Board) is paid for his executive duties only.

Details of Trustees’ expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in note 6c to the financial statements.

The remuneration of the senior staff is reviewed annually by the People and

Culture Committee (a subcommittee of the Board), considering market conditions, cost of living increases and the financial position of the organisation. The salaries of the Executive Leadership Team are benchmarked to make sure they’re commensurate with the size of the roles.

The Executive Leadership Team members are entitled to employer pension contributions, and other benefits that are available to employees generally. In addition, enhanced medical insurance provision is provided.

The Executive Leadership Team sets the salaries for all other employees.

The remuneration benchmark is the mid-point of the range paid for similar roles, although a market rate supplement may also be paid where appropriate.

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Trustees’ responsibilities

Trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report, including ‘How we operate’ on page 67, and the financial statements (in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). They’re also responsible for making sure the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and charity, and of the incoming resources and application of resources of Scouts for the year. In preparing these financial statements, Trustees must:

ongoing integrity of the financial statements contained there.

Our controls include:

Trustees believe that the system of internal controls has been adequate to provide reasonable reassurance against material misstatement or loss.

Jennie Price CBE Chair, The Scouts On behalf of the Board of Trustees

Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that show and explain the charity’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity, and that enable them to make sure that the financial statements comply with any applicable charity laws and, in particular, the Charities Act 2011. Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity, and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Financial statements are published on The Scout Association’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions. The maintenance and integrity of the group’s website is the responsibility of the Trustees. The Trustees’ responsibility also extends to the

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees of The Scout Association

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Scout Association (‘the charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise consolidated statement of financial activities, consolidated and parent charity balance sheets, consolidated and parent charity statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

– have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have

obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

37

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 36, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group and the parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011, and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant

regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at:

www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charity and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the

Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charity’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charity and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were the laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation and health and safety legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify noncompliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income, provisions and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit, and the Audit Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, analytical procedures and sample testing of income, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases in particular the judgements and assumptions in respect of claims provisions, sample testing of movements within provision and inquiry of legal advisors, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission and other regulators, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that

38

we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing noncompliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Crowe U.K. LLP

Statutory Auditor 4th Floor St James House St James Square Cheltenham GL50 3PR Date: 26 July 2022

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

39

Consolidated statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 March 2022

2022 2021
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
Notes £'000
£'000		 £'000 £'000
£'000		 £'000
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies:
Membership subscriptions 11,250
-		 11,250 12,190
-		 12,190
Other voluntaryincome 5.a 1,096
3,705		 4,801 4,373
3,752		 8,125
12,346
3,705		 16,051 16,563
3,752		 20,315
Charitable activities:
Youth programme 290
-		 290 110
(29)		 81
Development of Scouting 308
-		 308 107
(29)		 78
Adult support and training 308
-		 308 107
(28)		 79
Support and services to the
members 2,343
-		 2,343 2,192
-		 2,192
5.b 3,249
-		 3,249 2,516
(86)		 2,430
Other trading activities 5.c 10,060
-		 10,060 3,482
-		 3,482
Investment income 5.d 581
41		 622 469
74		 543
Other income, property sale (34)
65		 31 378
-		 378
Total income 26,202
3,811		 30,013
23,408
3,740		 27,148
Expenditure on:
Raising funds:
Donations and Legacies 248
31		 279 274
-		 274
Tradingactivities 6.a 6,734
-		 6,734 4,075
-		 4,075
6,982
31		 7,013 4,349
-		 4,349
Charitable activities:
Youth programme 3,734
507		 4,241 3,435
643		 4,078
Development of Scouting 4,089
694		 4,783 3,759
817		 4,576
Adult support and training 4,032
692		 4,724 3,825
817		 4,642
Support and services to the
members 8,269
1,245		 9,514 7,353
1,528		 8,881
6.b 20,124
3,138		 23,262 18,372
3,805		 22,177
Total expenditure 27,106
3,169		 30,275 22,721
3,805		 26,526
Net gains/(losses) on
investments (146)
55		 (91) 11,236
219		 11,455
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
(1,050)
697		 (353) 11,923
154		 12,077
Transfers between funds (87)
87		 - (83)
83		 -

Other recognised gains/(losses):
Actuarial gains/(losses) on
defined benefitpension scheme 7 3,202
-		 3,202 (441) - (441)
Net movement in funds 8 2,065
784		 2,849 11,399
237		 11,636
Reconciliation of funds: 19
Fund balances brought forward
at 31 March 2021 80,063
5,376		 85,439 68,664
5,139		 73,803
Fund balances carried forward
at 31 March 2022 82,128
6,160		 88,288 80,063
5,376		 85,439

The notes on pages 43 to 65 form part of these financial statements

40

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2022

As at 31 March 2022
Consolidated The Association
Restated Restated
2022 2021 2022 2021
Notes £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets 9 3,057 2,981 2,834 2,699
Heritage assets 10 3,553 3,553 3,553 3,553
Tangible fixed assets 11 18,100 18,410 17,967 18,246
Investment in subsidiary companies 12 - - 400 500
Investments 13 49,429 60,134 49,429 55,475
74,139 85,078 74,183 80,473
Current assets
Stocks 14 1,154 1,917 99 120
Debtors 15 6,073 6,571 8,441 11,021
Current asset investments 16 10,865 11,154 10,865 11,154
Cash & cash equivalents 22,110 9,897 17,380 5,643
40,202 29,539 36,783 27,938
Current liabilities
Creditors - amounts falling due within 17 (20,306) (17,830) (17,365) (16,122)
oneyear
Net current assets 19,896 11,709 19,418 11,816

Total assets less current liabilities
 94,035 96,787 93,601 92,289
Creditors - amounts falling due after
more than one year 17 - (2,400) - -
Provisions for liabilities 18 (4,318) (4,026) (4,318) (4,026)
Net assets excluding pension liability
 89,717 90,361 89,283 88,263

Pension liability		 7 (1,429) (4,922) (1,429) (4,922)
Net assets 88,288 85,439 87,854 83,341

The Association's funds
Endowment funds 19 2,194 2,131 2,194 2,131
Restricted funds 19 3,966 3,245 3,966 3,245
Total restricted funds 6,160 5,376 6,160 5,376
General fund 19 57,353 57,162 57,353 57,162
Pension reserve 7,19 (1,429) (4,922) (1,429) (4,922)
Designated funds 19 25,770 25,725 25,770 25,725
Non charitable tradingfunds 12,19 434 2,098 - -
Total unrestricted funds 82,128 80,063 81,694 77,965
Total funds 88,288 85,439 87,854 83,341

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 21st July 2022 and authorised for release and signed on its behalf by:

Jennie Price Mike Ashley Chair Treasurer

The notes on pages 43 to 65 form part of these financial statements

41

Statements of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2022

For the year ended 31 March 2022
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
a. Cash flows
Net cash (used)/provided by operating
activities(see b. below) 6,100 (479) 5,494 2,159
Cash flows from investing activities:
Investment income 618 497 625 852
Proceeds from liquidation of subsidiary - - 2,492 -
Other deposit interest 4 46 - -
Proceeds from the sale of property 46,064 416 46,064 416
Purchase of fixed assets (2,232) (709) (1,938) (645)
Proceeds of the sale of investments 4,659 2,304 - 1,000
Purchase of investments (40,000) - (40,000) -
Net cashprovided by investing activities 9,113 2,554 7,243 1,623
Cash flows from financing activities:
Loans (repaid)/drawn (3,000) 3,000 (1,000) 1,000
Net cashprovided by financing activities (3,000) 3,000 (1,000) 1,000
Change in cash and cash equivalents in
the year 12,213 5,075 11,737 4,782
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 9,897 4,822 5,643 861
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 22,110 9,897 17,380 5,643
b. Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to cash flow from operating activities
Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting
period from the Statement of Financial Activities (353) 12,077 1,314 13,085
Adjustments for:
(Gains)/losses on investments 91 (11,455) 91 (11,449)
Investment income (618) (497) (625) (852)
Proceeds from liquidation of subsidiary - - (2,492) -
Other deposit interest (4) (46) - -
Funding of pension liabilities (617) (722) (617) (722)
FRS 102 Pension cost 326 371 326 371
(Profit) on sale of fixed assets (31) (378) (5) (378)
Depreciation charges 2,397 2,534 2,014 2,335
(Increase)/decrease in stocks 763 (190) 21 159
(Increase)/decrease in debtors 535 (13) 2,589 574
(Increase)/decrease in current investments 243 361 243 361
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 3,076 (1,295) 2,243 (99)
Decrease in investment in subs - - 100 -
Increase/(decrease) in provisions for liabilities 292 (1,226) 292 (1,226)
Net cash (used)/provided from operating
activities 6,100 (479) 5,494 2,159
c. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand 22,110 9,897 17,380 5,643
Total cash and cash equivalents 22,110 9,897 17,380 5,643

The notes on pages 43 to 65 form part of these financial statements

42

Notes to the financial statements

1. Constitution

The Scout Association is incorporated by Royal Charter and is a registered charity whose purpose is to promote the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials, as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.

2. Scope of the financial statements

These financial statements cover the activities directly controlled by The Scout Association. The activities of the Scout Councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales together with Scout Counties, Areas, Regions, Districts and Groups are not reflected in these financial statements. Those bodies are separate autonomous charities that are affiliated to The Scout Association..

3. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

a. Basis of preparation of consolidated financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities, applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102, known as the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

The Scout Association meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note..

each of the subsidiary companies is 31 March.

The Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss accounts of the subsidiaries have been consolidated on a line by line basis as required by the Statement of Recommended Practice.

On acquisition of a business, all of the assets and liabilities that exist at the date of acquisition are recorded at their fair values reflecting their condition at that time. All changes to those assets and liabilities and the resulting surpluses that that arise after acquisition are charged to the postacquisition Statement of Financial Activities.

The financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis with the exception of investments, which are stated at fair value..

b. Going concern

Having reviewed financial plans and cash flow forecasts, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they believe that the going concern basis remains the appropriate basis on which to prepare the financial statements.

c. Recognition of income

National membership subscriptions Membership subscriptions are payable in advance for a year to 31 March and are recognised in the year of membership benefit.

Legacies

Legacies are accounted for when the Association becomes entitled to them, where receipt is probable and where their value can be established with reasonable certainty. Where legacies include non-cash items these are included in income at the lower of probate value and market value at the date of receipt.

Insurance Income

Insurance broking commission is recognised at the date of inception of the policy. The amount recognised is the total brokerage due to the company less an overall provision for unearned commission. Profit related commission is recognised when it can be reliably calculated and forecast to be received.

Commercial activities

Income from conference centres, sponsorship, National Scout Adventure Centres, and other income is accounted for when the Association is entitled to the income, the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy and the probability of receipt of the income is more likely than not.

Investment income

Dividends are accounted for on a receipts basis. Interest is accounted for on an accruals basis and includes all amounts earned up to the balance sheet date. Associated tax recoveries are included for all amounts shown as income.

Gifts in kind

Properties, investments, heritage assets, other fixed assets and any other assets or services donated to the charity are included as donated income at their estimated market value at the time of receipt.

d. Allocation of income and costs

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is allocated as described below.

Activities for generating funds and fundraising trading: costs of goods sold and other costs.

Income and expenditure from Scout Store Limited, World Scout Shop Limited, Scout Services Limited.

The financial statements consolidate the financial statements of The Scout Association and its subsidiary companies. The financial year end of

43

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Charitable activities

This comprises income from the provision of services supporting the objects of the Association through operations including the Information Centre, insurance services, and Scouting magazine as well as the National Activity Centres. 20% of accommodation and training fees receivable at the Gilwell Conference Centre are also included under this heading, with the remaining income included in activities for generating funds.

Charitable activities have been analysed under the following headings:

The Association’s activities are largely financed by national membership subscriptions and by the surpluses

generated by its trading subsidiaries rather than income from charitable activities. The activities have been classified as described in note 6.

Where possible the income and costs relating to a department or cost centre are allocated in full to one of the above categories, but in practice many departments have an involvement in more than one activity. The other major allocations are set out below.

Youth
programme		 Development
of Scouting		 Adult support
and training		 Support and
services to
members
World and European membership fees 100%
Members records and awards 40% 60%
Membership services 20% 20% 20% 40%
Safeguarding children 100%
Public relations 100%
Insurance 100%
Short Term Investment Service 100%
Regional Development Service 33% 33% 34%
Other National Activity Centres 34% 33% 33%

Support costs

These are costs incurred directly in support of the objects of the Charity. The costs are attributed to the activities that they support. Where a department supports all the Charity’s activities the costs have been apportioned pro-rata to the staff resources directly engaged in that activity. The percentages that apply are:

Trading – 6%

Youth programme – 20%

Development of Scouting – 29%

Adult support and training – 26%

Support and services to members – 19%

Grants payable

Grants payable are included in the Statement of Financial Activities as expenditure in the period in which the award is made. Grants which have been approved by the Trustees and agreed

with other organisations but which are unpaid at the year end are accrued. Grants where the beneficiary has not been informed or has to meet certain conditions before the grant is released are not accrued.

Governance costs

These are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the Charity which relate to compliance with legal and statutory requirements of the Charity as opposed to those costs associated with fundraising. They include audit fees and the costs of Trustees’ meetings..

e. Intangible fixed assets

IT software is capitalised and written off over the term of the related contract, between 2 and 5 years. Systems Development is capitalised and once the project have completed they are written off over 5 years.

Goodwill arising on acquisition of an undertaking is the difference between

the fair value of the consideration paid and the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired. It is capitalised and amortised through the Statement of Financial Activities over the Trustees’ estimate of its useful economic life which can range from 5 to 10 years. Impairment tests on the carrying value are undertaken at the end of the first full year after acquisition and in any other subsequent period if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. The cost of acquiring a brand licence is written off over the term of the related contract.

f. Heritage fixed assets

The Association maintains a heritage collection of around 250,000 items. Through an active and innovative programme of collecting, interpreting and engagement, the Heritage Collection helps create connections between members of The Scout Association, both past and present, and the wider community. The Heritage

44

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Collection is managed by the Headquarters’ Heritage Service. To ensure its ongoing representation of Scouting’s story the Heritage Service continues to collect both historical and contemporary material. New acquisitions are normally made by donation with occasional low cost purchases. New material is acquired in accordance with The Scout Association’s Collecting Policy.

Heritage assets are carried at fair value. The Association has made reference to the latest available external valuations in forming their assessment of period end fair value. Gains and losses on revaluation are recognised through ‘Other recognised gains’ in the Statement of Financial Activities.

The Association will occasionally approve the disposal of elements of the Collection, this process is carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics and industry best practice as dictated by the Arts Council England Accreditation Standard. Disposal will be judged against the Association’s Collecting Policy. Disposal will be carried out in line with the Disposal Policy and follow the Disposal Procedure. Disposal of accessioned material only takes place with the approval of the Trustees or their designated representative. Disposal of non-accessioned items takes place with the approval of the Director of Commercial Services.

Expenditure that is in the Trustees’ view required to conserve or prevent further deterioration of individual items is recognised as expenditure when it is incurred. The Heritage Service actively seeks external funding to support the delivery of this work.

g. Other fixed assets

Other fixed assets are stated at cost. Where land and buildings are acquired together it is assumed that the buildings represent 50% of the initial cost. Investment in systems development in support of the charity's strategy is capitalised as a tangible fixed asset. Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of assets by equal annual amounts over their expected useful

are not capitalised. No depreciation is provided on freehold land .

Depreciation rates used are:

Freehold property – 50 years, with 10 years for replacement elements

Leasehold property – the shorter of the lease period or 50 years

Furniture fittings and equipment – 4 to 5 years

Motor vehicles – 5 to 10 years

Gains or losses on the disposal of fixed assets are reflected in net income/expenditure for the year shown in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Impairment reviews on fixed assets are carried out each year and any asset with a carrying value materially higher than its recoverable or useful value is written down accordingly.

Fixed assets held for investment purposes are stated at market value on the balance sheet date.

Any gains or losses on the disposal or revaluation of investment assets are as shown net gains/(losses) on investments in the Statement of Financial Activities.

h. Investments

The Scout Association holds

investments both in order to generate income for the support of charitable objectives and to provide assets to meet the need of reserves, identified in the reserves policy. Investments are stated at current market value on the balance sheet date unless there’s evidence of a different fair value.

Gains or losses arising during the year are disclosed in the statement of financial activities and in the notes to the financial statements.

i. Current asset investments

The funds deposited by Scout Groups in the Short Term Investment Service are held on short-term deposit with an external investment manager. These short-term deposits are not held by the Scout Association for investments

purposes and are included in the balance sheet at fair value as current asset investments. Movements in these funds are shown in the notes to the financial statements.

j. Stocks

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and estimated net realisable value. Cost is calculated using the current purchase price method and consists of the original cost of goods without any addition for overheads.

k. Provisions

A provision is recognised in the balance sheet when the Association has an obligation as a result of a past event and it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits that can be reliably measured will be required to settle that obligation.

l. VAT

The Association is partially exempt for VAT purposes and is not able to reclaim all the VAT it pays. It is not practicable to allocate irrecoverable VAT to the expenses and assets concerned, and irrecoverable VAT is written off.

m. Leases

Significant assets held under finance leases and the related lease obligations are included at the fair value of the leased assets at the inception of the lease. Depreciation on leased assets is calculated to write off this amount on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the lease term and the useful life of the asset.

Rentals payable are apportioned between the finance charge and a reduction of the outstanding obligations.

All other leases have been treated as operating leases and the rentals written off as they are paid because of the insignificant amounts involved.

n. Pension costs

Contributions payable to The Scout Association Pension Scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities so as to spread the cost of pensions over the working lives of employees in the scheme. The pension

lives. Assets costing less than £1,000

45

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

charge is calculated on the basis of actuarial advice.

The pension scheme liabilities are measured using a projected unit method and discounted at an AA sterling corporate bond rate. The pension scheme deficit is recognised in full on the balance sheet.

The current service cost and net return on the scheme’s assets and liabilities for the year is allocated across the resources expended categories in the Statement of Financial Activities. The actuarial gain on the scheme for the year is included in the gains/(losses) section of the Statement of Financial Activities.

Contributions towards personal pension policies, which are defined contribution schemes, are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they are incurred.

o. Financial assets

Financial assets, other than investments and derivatives, are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs) and subsequently held at cost, less any impairment.

p. Financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are classified according to the substance of the financial instrument’s contractual obligations, rather than the financial instrument’s legal form. Financial liabilities, excluding derivatives, are

initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs) and subsequently held at amortised cost.

q. Forward currency contracts

The Scout Association enters into forward contracts for the purchase of currency in order to manage its exchange rate exposure relating to the World Scout Jamboree and other overseas events. Hedge contracts are measured at fair value at each reporting date.

Where there is a change in exposure at the balance sheet date, through movement in the forward exchange rate from the contract rate, that change is included in expenditure in the statement of financial activities.

r. Judgements in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees have made the following judgements:

The determination of whether fixed asset properties owned by the Scout Association are held for operational use, and so are classed as tangible fixed assets, or whether they are classed as investment properties.

The determination of whether or not there are indications of impairment of the Scout Association’s tangible and intangible assets, including goodwill, taking into consideration the economic

viability and expected future financial performance of the asset.

The determination of appropriate provision for claims, supported by legal advice.

The determination of appropriate financial and demographic assumptions in valuing the defined benefit pension liability in line with FRS 102 requirements, supported by actuarial advice..

4. Nature of funds

All funds are identified as identified as falling into one of three categories.

Endowment funds

Endowment funds are those received to be held as capital on a total returns basis with only the income available to be spent. Subsequent gains or losses on the disposal of the underlying assets of the fund become part of the capital.

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are those received which have been earmarked for a special purpose by the donor or the terms of an appeal.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are those received, which are not subject to any special restriction. They are divided between general funds and designated funds. Designated funds comprise amounts set aside by the Trustees to be used for particular purposes.

46

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

5. Income and endowments

a. Other voluntary income

2022 2021
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Legacies 311 1,079 1,390 119 235 354
Grants - 1,768 1,768 3,926 2,152 6,078
Other donations 785 858 1,643 328 1,365 1,693
Total 1,096 3,705 4,801 4,373 3,752 8,125

During 2022 the Association received one-off government grants to support the operation of the charity. Furlough grants of £6,514 (2021: £1,721,000) were received under the Covid-19 job retention scheme and grants of £66,971 (2021: £nil) were received under the Kickstarter scheme.

b. Charitable activities

The income in this category is derived primarily from the Association's insurance broking subsidiary and its National Activity Centres. Many of the activities are not conducted with the principal intention of generating net income. Instead the Association's charitable activities are financed largely by fundraising activities and by membership subscriptions.

2022 2021
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
National events 70 - 70 - - -
Insurance broking 2,259 - 2,259 2,134 - 2,134
Advertising carried by_Scouting_
magazine - - - 3 - 3
National Centres 600 - 600 - (86) (86)
Other income 320 - 320 379 - 379
Total 3,249 - 3,249 2,516 (86) 2,430
c. Other trading activities
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Retail sales 9,086 - 9,086 2,442 - 2,442
Hostel and conference income 39 - 39 215 - 215
Sponsorship,promotions and royalties 935 - 935 825 - 825
Total 10,060 - 10,060 3,482 - 3,482
d. Investment income
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Listed investments 454 22 476 380 23 403
Short Term Investment Service - 19 19 - 51 51
Other deposit interest 4 - 4 46 - 46
Rental income 123 - 123 43 - 43
Total 581 41 622 469 74 543

47

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

6. Expenditure

a. Trading activities

6. Expenditure
a. Trading activities
2022 2021
Restricted Restricted
and and
Unrestricted Endowment Total Unrestricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Retail operating costs 6,133 - 6,133 3,227 - 3,227
Hostel and conference expenditure 280 - 280 589 - 589
Sponsorship, promotions and
royalties 321 - 321 259 - 259
Total 6,734 - 6,734 4,075 - 4,075

Hostel, conference and commercial trading expenditure includes support costs of £540,000 (2021: £509,000). The basis for the allocation of support costs is explained in note 6.c.

b. Costs of charitable activities

b. Costs of charitable activities
2022
Direct Grant funding Support costs Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Youth programme 2,159 247 1,835 4,241
Development of Scouting 1,875 247 2,661 4,783
Adult support and training 2,091 247 2,386 4,724
Support and services to members 7,523 247 1,744 9,514
Total 13,648 988 8,626 23,262
2021
Direct Grant funding Support costs Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Youth programme 1,974 406 1,698 4,078
Development of Scouting 1,707 407 2,462 4,576
Adult support and training 2,029 406 2,207 4,642
Support and services to members 6,861 407 1,613 8,881
Total 12,571 1,626 7,980 22,177

Charitable activities have been analysed into four categories as explained in note 3.d. Costs are allocated using the principles explained in that note.

Youth programme includes the various educational activities in which members participate. Development activities are those which are focused on growing our movement. Adult support and training includes those activities which assist leaders and other adults involved in Scouts. Support and services to the movement includes those activities that help ensure the safety and safeguarding of members, which underpin the activities of Scout Groups.

48

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Analysis of grants to local Scouting
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Pears Community Match Fund - 900
Race Round the World 193 534
Development 184 43
International Fund 2 -
Benevolent Fund 10 10
Admiralty Fund and Trinity House Fund (Sea Scouts) 63 85
Grants from legacies to local Groups 176 43
King George VI Leadership Fund 3 10
Hardship Fund 351 -
Other 6 1
Total 988 1,626

Grants from restricted and designated funds administered by the Association are paid, in accordance with the terms governing those funds, to a large number of Scout Groups, Districts, Areas and Counties.

Support costs allocation
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Fixed asset depreciation 2,397 2,534
Irrecoverable VAT 643 422
Office accommodation and services 904 638
Central management 690 712
Human resources, legal and company secretarial 1,129 864
Finance and accounting 724 793
Information technology and business solutions 2,143 1,815
Movement in pension scheme deficit recognised in resources expended 326 371
Governance 221 340
Total 9,177 8,489
Allocated to:
Costs of charitable activities 8,626 7,980
Expenditure on tradingactivities 551 509
Total 9,177 8,489

Support costs comprise that expenditure which facilitates fundraising and charitable activity but which is not directly incurred in the conduct of those activities. The support costs itemised above have been apportioned to fundraising and charitable activities pro rata to the employment costs of staff directly engaged on the relevant activities. The percentage allocations are disclosed in note 3.c.

c. Expenditure includes:

c. Expenditure includes:
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Auditor’s remuneration
Audit fees 64 77
Taxation compliance and grant income certificates 22 22
Trustees’ expenses 4 0

During the year 15 Trustees (2021: 2 Trustees) were reimbursed £4,281 (2021: £300) for expenses, such as travel and subsistence, incurred in their attending meetings and in the carrying out of their duties. The Association provided accommodation for the Chief Scout and for others while they were on Scout business.

49

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

7. Staff costs

7. Staff costs
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Wages and salaries 11,400 11,179
Social security costs 1,209 1,103
Defined contribution pension costs 815 745
Otherpension costs 63
76
13,487 13,103
In addition, termination costs in the year 82 601
Termination costs are accrued when agreed
Headcount Full time equivalent
2022 2021 2022 2021
Activity
The Scout Association 259 290 246 270
Scout Shops Limited/World Scout Shop Limited 41 43 41 41
Unity (Scout Insurance Services Limited) 26 21 26 21
Total 326 354 313 332
Movement in The Scout Association full time equivalent
for 2021/2022:
Programme of Works 5
NCS funded (3)
Unrestricted (26)
Total decrease (24)

The increase in staff numbers relates to 5 fixed term contract staff for Programme of Works and a reduction of 3 NCS funded positions.

Staff numbers for our general funds are down by 26 reflecting the impact of the pandemic, and have since increased as activities across the movement recover.

The number of employees whose total emoluments for the year exceeded £60,000 were as follows:

2022 2021
£60,001 to £70,000 7 4
£70,001 to £80,000 3 4
£80,001 to £90,000 4 3
£90,001 to £100,000 2 3
£100,001 to £110,000 1 -
£110,001 to £120,000 - 2
£120,001 to £130,000 3 1
£130,001 to £140,000 1 -

The Chief Executive Officer, Matt Hyde, is also a Trustee, for which he is not paid. He received salary and benefits for his service as Chief Executive Officer of £131,011 (2021 £129,924).

No other Trustee received remuneration for services to the Association.

The key management personnel of the parent charity and its subsidiaries comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Commercial Services, Director of Communications and Marketing, Chief Operating Officer, Director of Finance & Resources, Managing Director of Unity Insurance (SISL) and General Manager of Scout Shops and World Scout Shop. The total employer cost of the key management personnel of the Scout Association and its subsidiaries was £937,796 (2021 £896,702).

50

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Pension schemes

Pension provision for current staff is mainly provided through a defined contribution arrangement. The Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme ("the Scheme") is closed to new staff and has a small number of existing members. The Scheme provides benefits, on retirement, on leaving service or on death, based on final salary and length of service.

The Scheme is subject to the Statutory Funding Objective under the Pensions Act 2004 and a valuation of the Scheme is carried out at least once every three years. As part of the process, the Association must agree with the

trustees of the Scheme the contributions to be paid in order to address any shortfall against the Statutory Funding Objective and the contributions to be paid in respect of the accrual of the future benefits.

The most recent comprehensive actuarial valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 31 March 2019, and showed a deficit of £6,477,000, a funding level of 86%. The Scheme Trustees and The Scout Association have agreed a recovery plan with deficit contributions of £510,000 for the year to 31 March 2021. Then £500,000 each year until 2028, and an additional oneoff contribution of £500,000 to be paid by 30 September 2022.

FRS102 valuation

These financial statements have been prepared in line with the requirements of FRS 102. The FRS 102 valuation is only in respect of the defined benefit Scheme. The principal FRS 102 actuarial assumptions, determined by financial markets and demographic conditions, are shown below. A later table shows the sensitivity of the liability to these assumptions.

Principal actuarial assumptions

Principal actuarial assumptions
31 March 2022 31 March 2021
% %
Discount rate 2.65 1.90
Inflation - RPI 3.65 3.25
Inflation - CPI 2.85 2.45
Salary increases 2.95 2.55
Pension increase (RPI max 5.0%) 3.55 3.20
Pension increase (RPI max 2.5%) 2.40 2.35
Mortality 95% of S3PA tables 95% of S3PA tables
CMI 2021 projections CMI 2019 projections
1.25% p.a. long-term 1.25% p.a. long-term
trend rate for pensioners trend rate for pensioners
1.50% p.a. long-term 1.50% p.a. long-term
trend rate for non- trend rate for non-
pensioners pensioners
Retirement cash Members are assumed to Members are assumed to
take 20% of their pension take 20% of their pension
as tax-free cash as tax-free cash
Balance sheet position
31 March 2022 31 March 2021
% £'000 % £'000
Equities 11% 4,467 26% 13,884
Diversified growth assets 35% 14,184 24% 8,468
Absolute return 0% - 0% 6,307
Liability Driven Investments 18% 7,282 21% 6,152
Diversified credit 0% - 0% 5,736
Corporate bonds 34% 13,752 28% -
Cash 1% 482 1% 1,504
Fair value of assets 100% 40,167 100% 42,051
Present value of funded obligations (41,596) (46,973)
Net defined benefit liability (1,429) (4,922)

51

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Amounts recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities

2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Current service cost (75) (81)
Administration costs (162) (187)
Interest on liabilities (876) (949)
Interest on assets 787 846
Cost in total expenditure for theyear **(326) ** (371)
Remeasurements over the period
Gain/(loss)on assets in excess of interest (1,370) 4,678
Experience gain on liabilities - -
Gain/(loss) from changes to demographic
assumptions 581 (174)
Gain/(loss) from changes to financial assumptions 3,991 (4,945)
Actuarial gains/(losses)
on defined benefitpension scheme 3,202 (441)
Reconciliation of the fair value of the Pension Scheme assets and liabilities
31 March 2022 31 March 2021
£'000 £'000
Fair value of assets at the start of the year 42,051 38,646
Interest on assets 787 846
Administration costs (162) (187)
Contributions by members 14 18
Contributions by TSA 617 722
Benefits paid (1,770) (2,672)
Return on assets less interest (1,370) 4,678
Fair value of assets at the end of the year 40,167 42,051
Actual return on assets (583) 5,524
31 March 2022 31 March 2021
£'000 £'000
Value of liabilities at the start of the year (46,973) (43,478)
Interest cost (876) (949)
Current service cost (75) (81)
Contributions by members (14) (18)
Benefits paid 1,770 2,672
Experience gain on liabilities - -
Changes to demographic assumptions 581 (174)
Changes to financial assumptions 3,991 (4,945)
Value of liabilities at the end of the year (41,596) (46,973)

52

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Adjustments to assumptions Approximate effect on the liabilities
£'000
Discount rate Plus 0.10% p.a. (647)
Minus 0.10% p.a. 663
Inflation Plus 0.10% p.a. 313
Minus 0.10% p.a. (316)
Salary increase Plus 0.50% p.a. 182
Minus 0.50% p.a. (171)
Mortality Long-term rate of improvement 0.25% (400)
Long-term trend rate 1.25% for all members (262)
Commutation Members take 25% of their pension in cash (460)

Projected SOFA for year to 31 March 2023

Projected SOFA for year to 31 March 2023
£'000
Current service cost 67
Administration costs 162
Interest on liabilities 1,079
Interest on assets (1,053)
Total 255

The estimate above assumes the following:

8. Net movement in funds

The net movement in funds arises as follows:

2022 2021
£'000 £'000
The Scout Association 4,513 12,645
Subsidiaries (1,657) (1,009)
Total 2,856 11,636

53

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

9. Intangible fixed assets

Consolidated Systems
IT software Brand licences Goodwill Development Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Cost
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 341 85 119 9,157 9,702
Additions 35 - - 1,096 1,131
Disposals - (1) - (68) (69)
At 31 March 2022 376 84 119 10,185 10,764
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 186 79 50 6,406 6,721
Charge for the year 76 3 29 878 986
At 31 March 2022 262 82 79 7,284 7,707
Net book values
At 31 March 2022 114 2 40 2,901 3,057
At 31 March 2021 155 6 69 2,751 2,981
The Association Systems Development
Cost £'000
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 8,782
Additions 1,058
Disposals (68)
At 31 March 2022 9,772
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021 - Restated 6,083
Charge for the year 855
Eliminated on disposals -
At 31 March 2022 6,938
Net book values
At 31 March 2022 2,834
At 31 March 2021 2,699

54

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

10. Heritage fixed assets

a. Heritage assets

Consolidated and the Association Unrestricted Funds

Scouting heritage, historical and contemporary assets £'000

Cost or valuation

At 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

A valuation is provided for some of the key items in the Association’s collection, particularly those relating to the Founder, since the nature of these items permits sufficiently reliable valuation. The initial valuation was prepared by Lyon & Turnbull, members of the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers, in 2011. A revaluation report was produced by Pall Mall on 1 April 2016. The valuation is planned in the financial year 2023. Any surplus or deficit on revaluation is charged to the net movement in funds on the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities. Additional valuations will only be carried out for the purpose of lending items to other organisations and insurance.

The Trustees consider that obtaining valuations for the remainder of the Collection would involve disproportionate cost due to the diverse nature of the material held and the lack of comparable market values. Other than the items that have been valued as described above, the Association does not recognise these assets on its Balance Sheet. It is the intention of The Scout Association to preserve these items indefinitely, therefore amortisation is not in our view appropriate.

(b) Five year financial summary of heritage asset transactions

There have been no purchases, donations, disposals or valuations in the last five years.

(c) Further information on heritage assets

The Association maintains a heritage collection of around 250,000 items. Through an active and innovative programme of collecting, interpreting and engagement, the Heritage Collection helps create connections between members of The Scout

Association, both past and present, and the wider community. The Heritage Collection is managed by the Headquarters’ Heritage Service. To ensure its ongoing representation of Scouting’s story the Heritage Service continues to collect both historical and contemporary material. New acquisitions are normally made by donation with occasional low cost purchases. New material is acquired in accordance with The Scout Association’s Collecting Policy.

The Heritage Service, supported by a small team of volunteers, is working to catalogue the Collection in line with The Heritage Collections Trust SPECTRUM standard and the national standard for archive cataloguing, this activity is an ongoing priority. Currently approximately 10% of the Collection is catalogued to these standards.

The Association will occasionally approve the disposal of elements of the Collection, this process is carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics and industry best practice as dictated by the Arts Council England Accreditation Standard. Disposal will be judged against the Association’s Collecting Policy. Disposal will be carried out in line with the Disposal Policy and follow the Disposal Procedure. Disposal of accessioned material only takes place with the approval of the Trustees or their designated representative. Disposal of non-accessioned items takes place with the approval of the Director of Commercial Services. In accordance with best practice the Heritage Service will always try to keep the item in the public domain by gifting it free of charge to other relevant museum collections or archives. If an appropriate museum or archive cannot be found the item may be considered for sale, any proceeds from such

3,553

a sale would be restricted to the care and preservation of the Collection. Expenditure that is, in the Trustees’ view, required to conserve or prevent further deterioration of individual items, including conservation work, is recognised as expenditure when it is incurred. The Heritage Service actively seeks external funding to support the delivery of this work.

A small number of Collection items is displayed within the buildings and grounds of Gilwell Park but most of the Collection is held in storage. Included in the development plans for Gilwell Park is a new facility which would increase public access to the Collection, through a permanent display and a series of temporary exhibitions, as well as providing more appropriate storage for the Collection, ensuring its long term preservation. Currently access to the Collection is provided through the enquiries service, research appointments, the Gilwell Park Heritage Trail, the Scout Heritage website and exhibitions and activities organised with partner organisations. The Heritage Service continues to reach out to new audiences through activities including participation in the national Heritage Open Days scheme and programmes, including the UK Dementia Friendly Heritage Network.

The Association maintains the heritage collection in a good condition, and no items currently require substantial conservation expenditure. The nature of some of the assets, such as early cine- film, means they will deteriorate over time and should be considered a priority for preservation by digitisation and specialist storage..

55

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

11. Tangible fixed assets

Consolidated Furniture,
Freehold Leasehold Fittings and Motor
Property Property Equipment Vehicles Total
Cost £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 24,594 958 8,004 100 33,656
Additions 506 - 595 - 1,101
Disposals - (7) (98) (105)
At 31 March 2022 25,100 958 8,592 2 34,652
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 7,484 927 6,735 100 15,246
Charge for the year 615 1 795 - 1,411
Eliminated on disposals - - (7) (98) (105)
At 31 March 2022 8,099 928 7,523 2 16,552
Net book values
At 31 March 2022 17,001 30 1,069 - 18,100
At 31 March 2021 17,110 31 1,269 - 18,410
The Association Furniture,
Freehold Leasehold Fittings and Motor
Property Property Equipment Vehicles Total
Cost £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 24,602 958 6,568 82 32,210
Additions 497 - 383 - 880
Disposals - - - (82) (82)
At 31 March 2022 25,099 958 6,951 - 33,008
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021 – Restated 7,492 927 5,463 82 13,964
Charge for the year 607 1 551 - 1,159
Eliminated on disposals - - - (82) (82)
At 31 March 2022 8,099 928 6,014 - 15,041
Net book values
At 31 March 2022 17,000 30 937 - 17,967
At 31 March 2021 17,110 31 1,105 - 18,246

At the year end, The Scout Association had contractual commitments on capital projects totalling £825,661.

56

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

12. Investment in subsidiary companies

12. Investment in subsidiary companies
£'000
Cost of shares
Balance at 1 April 2021 500
Liquidation of Scout Insurance(Guernsey)Limited (100)
Balance at 31 March 2022 400

At 31 March 2022, the Association owns 100 per cent of the following unlisted companies:

Country of incorporation Company number Issued share capital
Scout Shops Limited England & Wales 01101498 £200,000
Scout Insurance Services Limited England & Wales 05038294 £100,000
Scout Services Limited England & Wales 01920846 £100
World Scout Shop Limited England & Wales 07767748 £100,000
Unity Insurance Services Limited (dormant) England & Wales 06093321 £1
Scout Products Limited England & Wales 13214240 £100

The Boards of Directors of Scout Shops Limited, World Scout Shop Limited, Scout Services Limited and Scout Insurance Services Limited have covenanted their companies' distributable profits to the Association.

Following a request from the Trustees, the Board of Scout Insurance Guernsey Limited (which had operated as a captive insurance company) resolved to dissolve the company and transfer all liabilities and assets to the Association which occurred with effect from 9 December 2021.

The principle activities of each subsidiary is as follows: Scout Shops Limited Sale and distribution of merchandise Scout Insurance Services Limited Insurance broker Scout Services Limited Sponsorship and marketing services for The Scout Association and other commercial activities

World Scout Shop Limited Scout Products Limited

Sale and distribution of World Scout Organisation branded merchandise Procurement and supply of Scout Shops products for The Scout Association

57

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

12a. Investment in Subsidiaries

The summarised profit and loss accounts and balance sheet totals for the active trading subsidiary companies are shown below:

2022 2021
Scout Scout
Scout
World		 Scout Insurance
Scout		 Insurance
Shops
Scout Shop		 Services Services
Products		 (Guernsey)
Limited
Limited		 Limited Limited
Limited		 Limited Total Total
£'000
£'000		 £'000 £'000
£'000		 £'000 £'000 £'000
Trading income 9,049
190		 977 2,453
94		 (88) 12,675 6,215
Cost of sales (5,859) (68) (531) -
(91)		 (336) (6,885) (2,748)
Gross profit 3,190
122		 446 2,453
3		 (424) 5,790 3,467
Other income -
-		 - -
-		 3 3 101
Other costs and expenses -
(104)		 (195) (1,452) - - (1,751) (3,728)
Surplus/(deficit) before taxation 3,190
18		 251 1,001
3		 (421) 4,042 (160)
Taxation (195)
(1)		 - -
-		 - (196) -
Dividend/donation to the
Association (2,019) - - (999) - - (3,018) (983)
Net surplus/(deficit) 976
17		 251 2
3		 (421) 828 (1,143)
Netgain/(loss)on investments -
-		 - -
-		 - - 5
Retained surplus/(deficit) 976
17		 251 2
3		 (421) 828 (1,138)
Surplus distributed on
liquidation -
-		 - -
-		 (2,492) (2,492) -
Consolidation adjustments -
-		 - -
-		 - - 129
Net movement in funds 976
17		 251 2
3		 (2,913) (1,664) (1,009)
Shareholders’ funds
Share capital 200
100		 0 100
-		 - 400 500
Reserves 500
1		 (125) 54
4		 - 434 2,098
Fund balances as at 31 March
2022 700
101		 (125) 154
4		 - 834 2,598
13. Fixed asset investments
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Listed investments 24,429 14,134 24,429 9,475
Bank deposits 25,000 - 25,000 -
Investmentproperties - 46,000 - 46,000
Market value at 31 March 2022 49,429 60,134
 49,429 55,475
Listed investments
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Market value at 1 April 2021 14,134 14,751 9,475 8,793
Acquisitions at cost 15,000 - 15,000 -
Disposal proceeds (4,659) (2,304) - (1,000)
Netgain/(loss)on revaluation (46) 1,687 (46) 1,682
Market value at 31 March 2022 24,429 14,134
 24,429 9,475
Historical cost at 31 March 2022 24,007 16,951 24,007 9,007

58

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

All the listed investments are classified as tier 1 in the fair value hierarchy, being quoted prices in an active market. The investments have a credit rating of at least A. The listed investments are subject to market risk, with their value changing as market prices change. The Scout Association holds listed investments in support of the reserves policy and in 2021 Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited held investments for the purposes of insurance activities.

The Association paid £25,015 investment management fees and commission charges to Cazenove Capital Management during the year (2021: £8,000).

Investment properties Consolidated and
The Association
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Market value at 1 April 2021 46,000 36,200
Acquisitions at cost - 5
Disposal proceeds (46,000) -
Netgain/(loss)on revaluation - 9,795
Market value at 31 March 2022 - 46,000
Historical cost at 31 March 2022 - 5,190

The investment property at 65 Queens Gate, Baden-Powell House was sold in August 2021 for £46 million.

14. Stocks

14. Stocks
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Goods for resale 1,154 1,917 99 120
15. Debtors
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Trade debtors 1,815 641 896 708
Amounts owed by subsidiaries - - 4,190 2,310
Prepayments and accrued income 1,730 3,333 1,137 3,691
Other debtors 2,154 825 1,844 280
Debtors due within one year 5,699 4,799 8,067 6,989
Debtors due in more than one year:
Amounts owed by subsidiaries - - 2,260
Other debtors 374 1,772 374 1,772
6,073 6,571 8,441 11,021

Other debtors includes secured, interest bearing loans made to Scout Groups. These are repayable as shown below.

Consolidated and
The Association
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Within one year 126 126
Between 2024 and 2030 374 572
500 698

59

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

16. Current asset investments

The Association holds short-term deposits with Royal London Asset Management, and a bank current account with Barclays, which back amounts deposited by Scout Groups in the Short Term Investment Service.

Consolidated and
The Association
2022 2021
£'000 £'000
Market value at 1 April 2021 8,586 11,542
Net movement in deposits for the year 2,325 (361)
Net(loss)on revaluation at 31 March (46) (27)
Market value at 31 March 2022 10,865 11,154

17. Creditors

17. Creditors
Consolidated The Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Amounts falling due within one year
Deposits by Scout Groups in the Short
Term
Investment Service 11,287 11,118 11,287 11,118
Trade creditors 3,052 2,257 1,198 986
Amounts owed to subsidiaries - - - 1,002
Loans - 600 - -
Other creditors 5,967 3,855 4,880 3,016
20,306 17,830 17,365 16,122
Amounts falling after more than one year
Loans - 2,400 -
- 2,400 -

Scout Shops Limited arranged a £3m loan under the government Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme with Barclays Bank, secured by a guarantee from The Scout Association. The loan was repayable in quarterly instalments over 5 years commencing September 2021. Interest was charged at 2.3% above a floating base rate commencing in September 2021. The loan was prepaid in full in December 2021.

60

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

18. Provisions for liabilities and contingent liabilities

Consolidated and
The Association
Claims provision
£'000
Movements for the year to 31 March 2022
Balance at 31 March 2021 4,026
Provision utilised (892)
Provision released (2,022)
Additional provision 3,206
Balance at 31 March 2022 4,318
Movements for the year to 31 March 2021
Balance at 31 March 2020
5,252
Provision utilised
(1,022)
Provision released (2,932)
Additional provision
2,728
Balance at 31 March 2021
4,026

The Association puts young people first and their safeguarding and safety is paramount, but with the nature of our work there are claims made against the Scout Association. Taking account of legal advice, provision is made on a best estimates basis for those claims of which the Association is aware and for which it is assessed it is probable that the Association will be liable. Such claims are covered in part by commercial insurance policies and, in relation to the Association itself in the prior year, by insurance policies issued

by Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited. The amount receivable from insurers to the extent that provision has been made is included in debtors.

In addition it is the Association’s experience that incidents and/or claims may still be notified to the Association for events which occurred prior to 31 March 2022. Since the nature of any such incident or claim is not yet known, it is not possible for the Association to determine whether it is probable that the Association will be held liable or to

estimate the amount of any consequential outflow of economic benefits. Therefore there exists an unquantifiable contingent liability in respect of such incidents and/or claims. As noted above the Association has arranged cover with commercial insurers for such claims and accordingly the Association is satisfied that any such claims that might arise would not present a significant financial risk to the Association.

61

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

19. Fund Balances

a. Reconciliation of movement in funds

19. Fund Balances
a. Reconciliation of movement in funds
Balance Balance
1 April Gains and 31 March
2021 Income Expenditure Transfers losses 2022
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Group and charity
Endowment funds
1914 Endowment Fund 1,029 - - - 27 1,056
King George VI Leadership Fund 763 9 (3) - 20 789
All other funds 339 1 - - 9 349
2,131 10 (3) - 56 2,194
Restricted funds
International Fund 153 6 (1) - - 158
Benevolent Fund 137 2 - (100) - 39
Benevolent Fund – Squirrels in the Nations - - (10) 100 - 90
Cornwell Memorial 192 4 (3) - - 193
Gilwell Development 130 34 (21) - - 143
Pears Foundation Big Lottery Fund 151 - (6) (86) - 59
Green Recovery Fund (YHA) - 379 (369) - - 10
Mercers Early Years 104 90 (190) - - 4
Financial Capabilities (HSBC UK) 88 83 (29) - - 142
DofE Diamond Fund 24 - (18) - - 6
Race Round the World 225 (28) (193) (4) - -
Pears Volunteer Onboarding - 310 (277) 30 - 63
Nominet - Digital Skills Framework 131 120 (102) - - 149
Safeguarding during COVID-19 (NLCF) - 53 (43) - - 10
Kickstarter (DWP) Project - 67 (76) - - (9)
Digital Skills (CAST) 2 - - - - 2
Recovery Fund Nations Support (Pears) - 100 (93) - - 7
Local Development Funds 713 1,394 (1,610) 136 - 633
All other funds 1,195 1,187 (126) 11 - 2,267
3,245 3,801 (3,167) 87 - 3,966
Designated funds
Fixed assets 24,498 - - (144) - 24,354
World Scout events 1,078 - - (18) - 1,060
Future growth - - - 8 - 8
Gilwell Park buildings 149 - - - - 149
Hardship Fund - 546 (351) 4 - 199
Capital development - - - - - -
25,725 546 (351) (150) - 25,770
Unrestricted funds
General funds 57,162 18,989 (18,714) 63 (147) 57,353
Pension reserve (4,922) - 291 - 3,202 (1,429)
52,240 18,989 (18,423) 63 3,055 55,924
Total charity funds 83,341 23,346 (21,944) - 3,111 87,854
Group
Non-charitable trading funds
Tradingsubsidiaries 2,098 6,667 (8,331) - - 434
2,098 6,667 (8,331) - - 434
Total group funds 85,439 30,013 (30,275) - 3,111 88,288

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

a. Reconciliation of movement in funds for 2020/21

Restated Restated
Balance Balance
1 April Gains and 31 March
2020 Income Expenditure Transfers losses 2021
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Group and charity
Endowment funds
1914 Endowment Fund 864 - - - 165 1,029
King George VI Leadership Fund 788 9 (10) (24) - 763
All other funds 284 1 - - 54 339
1,936 10 (10) (24) 219 2,131
Restricted funds
International Fund 148 5 - - - 153
Benevolent Fund 145 2 (10) - - 137
Cornwell Memorial 189 4 (1) - - 192
Gilwell Development 69 67 (6) - - 130
Pears Foundation Big Lottery Fund 429 164 (480) 38 - 151
NCS Partnership Project 110 (86) (114) 90 - -
Mercers Early Years 103 81 (80) - - 104
Financial Capabilities (HSBC UK) 79 71 (50) (12) - 88
DfE Diamond Fund 60 - (36) - - 24
Race Round the World - 742 (571) 54 - 225
Pears Community Match Fund - 1,051 (1,051) - - -
Nominet - Digital Skills Framework - 131 - - - 131
Safeguarding during COVID-19 (NLCF) - 98 (98) - - -
COVID-19 Mass Testing Activities (DHSC)
-		 30 (30) - - -
Digital Skills (CAST) - 27 (25) - - 2
LXS Discovery Project - - (24) 24 - -
Local Development Funds 668 851 (1,001) 195 - 713
All other funds 1,203 492 (218) (282) - 1,195
3,203 3,730 (3,795) 107 - 3,245
Designated funds
Fixed assets 26,231 - - (1,733) - 24,498
World Scout events 1,080 - (2) - - 1,078
Future growth 10 - (21) 11 - -
Gilwell Park buildings 149 - - - - 149
Capital development 280 - - (280) - -
27,750 - (23) (2,002) - 25,725
Unrestricted funds
General funds 42,639 17,638 (16,265) 1,919 11,231 57,162
Pension reserve (4,832) - 351 - (441) (4,922)
37,807 17,638 (15,914) 1,919 10,790 52,240
Total charity funds 70,696 21,378 (19,742) - 11,009 83,341
Group
Non-charitable trading funds
Trading subsidiaries 3,107 5,770 (6,784) - 5 2,098
3,107 5,770 (6,784) 5 2,098
Totalgroup funds 73,803 27,148 (26,526) - 11,014 85,439

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

b. Endowment funds - Consolidated and the Association

Endowment funds include the 1914 Endowment Fund, the King George VI Leadership Fund and 8 (2021: 6) other funds administered by the Association.

Income from the 1914 Endowment Fund and two others is unrestricted and credited to the General Fund.

Income from two funds is restricted and income from the remaining fund is paid to an external Scouting beneficiary.

c. Restricted funds - Consolidated and the Association

The main restricted funds are shown in note 18(a), comprising national and local development funds.

Further details of the funds available, and the process of applying to them for grants, are to be found at www.scouts.org.uk/grants.

d. Designated funds - Consolidated and the Association

The fixed asset fund represents the value of the Association's tangible fixed assets, goodwill & licences, and heritage assets.

The World Scout Events Fund provides support to members attending World Scouting events, such as World Jamborees, the World Moot and the World Scout Conference.

The Capital Development Fund represents capital projects that have been approved by the Finance Committee to improve the safeguarding and operations of the charity, where the future commitment has not been incurred at the year end.

e. Analysis of net assets between funds

31 March 2022 Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Intangible fixed assets		 3,057 - - 3,057
Heritage assets 3,553 - - 3,553
Tangible fixed assets 18,100 - - 18,100
Investments 47,235 - 2,194 49,429
Current assets 24,949 15,253 - 40,202
Creditors (9,019) (11,287) - (20,306)
Provisions for liabilities (4,318) - - (4,318)
Pension liability (1,429) - - (1,429)
82,128 3,966 2,194 88,288
Restated
31 March 2021 Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Intangible fixed assets 2,981 - - 2,981
Heritage assets 3,553 - - 3,553
Tangible fixed assets 18,410 - - 18,410
Investments 58,003 - 2,131 60,134
Current assets 15,176 14,363 - 29,539
Creditors (9,112) (11,118) - (20,230)
Provisions for liabilities (4,026) - - (4,026)
Pension liability (4,922) - - (4,922)
80,063 3,245 2,131 85,439

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Notes to the financial statements (continued)

20. Other financial commitments and authorised expenditure

2022 2021
£'000 £'000
At 31 March 2022, the Group had the following minimum lease
payment obligations under non-cancellable operating leases.
Not later than one year 200 140
Later than oneyear and not later than fiveyears 429 211
Total 629 351

At 31 March 2022 there was no capital expenditure authorised but not committed (2021: £nil).

21. Events occurring after the reporting period

There have been no material events occurring after the reporting period.

22. Related party transactions

During the year 15 Trustees (2021: 2 Trustees) were reimbursed £4,281 expenses (2021: £300) for travel and subsistence, incurred in their attending meetings and in the carrying out of their duties. Note 6 refers to trustee remuneration.

Transactions with the defined benefit pension scheme comprised agreed ongoing, deficit and administration payments of £617,000 (2021: £722,000) and in 2021 a one-off £2,000,000 deficit payment in accordance with the agreed deficit reduction plan.

Transactions with subsidiaries:

Transactions with subsidiaries:
Sales made by Management Purchases Amounts due Amounts due
TSA to charges to from from related to related
related related related party at party at
Entity party party party 31 March 2022 31 March 2022
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Scout Shops Limited - 70 - 1,632 -
Scout Services Limited - 125 - 1,161 -
Scout Insurance Services Limited - - 110 1,340 -
Scout Products Limited - 11 - 93 -

23. Restatement of Systems Development

The balance sheet at 31 March 2021 has been restated to reflect the reclassification of Systems Development as Intangible Fixed Assets

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Our members

Census results for the year ending 31 January 2022

Youth membership Male Female Self- Prefer Total Notes
identify not to say
Squirrel Scouts 2,293 1,050 1 4 3,348
Beaver Scouts 83,371 24,097 16 798 108,282
Cub Scouts 105,616 31,432 39 719 137,806
Scouts 88,948 32,683 150 554 122,335
Explorer Scouts 27,095 13,635 255 241 41,226
Network Members 5,522 3,263 11 58 8,854 1
312,845 106,160 472 2,374 421,851
Adult membership (listing the main role category for each adult volunteer)
Section leadership team members 40,845 35,978 93 179 77,095
Plus Young Leaders 9,581 5,668 95 50 15,394 2
Manager roles 4,426 2,215 1 8 6,650 3
Governance roles 14,268 15,906 8 54 30,236 4
Support roles 15,164 10,319 9 55 25,547 5
74,703 64,418 111 296 139,528
Total membership 387,548 170,578 583 2,670 561,379

Our operation comprises

Our operation comprises
Squirrel Scout Dreys 382
Beaver Scout Colonies 7,544
Cub Scout Packs 7,921
Scout Troops 7,228
Explorer Scout Units, including Young Leader Units 3,037
Scout Networks 578
Scout Active Support Units 1,659
Groups 7,272
Districts 639
Counties, Regions (Scottish), Areas, Islands 90

  1. As well as the 8,854 Network members, 5,676 also have another ‘adult’ role (in a section, governance or support role). This means the total number of persons who are Network members is 14,530.

  2. Young Leaders (aged 14-18) are included in the Explorer Scout numbers above. However, they’re also members of their Section Leadership Team, so the total membership of Section Leadership Teams is 92,489.

  3. Manager roles have the responsibility and authority to ensure effective operation of their charity (the Scout Group, the Scout District, etc.), so our charitable objectives are met. They are Group Scout Leaders, District and County Commissioners and others.

  4. Governance roles form the membership of each charity's Board of Trustees or Executive Committee, together with any subcommittees. Each Board of Trustees is responsible for making sure the strategic direction of the charity is achieved. The 30,236 Governance roles don’t include the volunteers who have an Ex Officio Trustee role (for example Lead Managers, Youth Commissioners and others).

  5. Support roles are vital for supporting the line managers in the effective operation of Scouts, and contribute to the effective operation of each Colony, Pack, Troop, Unit and Network.

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How we operate

The Scout Association exists by authority of a Royal Charter granted by King George V in 1912 and supplemented by further Charters granted by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. These Charters give authority to the Bye-Laws of the Association, which are approved by Her Majesty’s Privy Council. The Bye Laws, in turn, authorise the making of rules for the regulation of the Association’s affairs. The rules are laid out in the Association’s Policy, Organisation and Rules.

This report and financial statements cover the activities directly controlled by the Association – charity numbers 306101 (England and Wales) and SCO38437 (Scotland). This includes its six wholly owned subsidiary companies – Scout Shops Limited, Scout Insurance Services Limited, Scout Insurance (Guernsey) Limited, Scout Services Limited, Scout Products Limited and World Scout Shop Limited (see note 12 to the financial statements for further information on these Companies). During the year, Scout Insurance (Gurnsey) Limited was liquidated. All processes were completed, and the assets and liabilities were transferred to The Scout Association as at 9 December 2021.

The activities of the Scout Councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales together with Scout Counties, Areas, Regions (Scotland), Districts and Groups are not reflected in this report and accounts. These bodies are autonomous charities affiliated to the Association, which together form the Scout Movement in the United Kingdom.

The Board of Trustees

The management of the Association’s business is vested in the Board of Trustees. The Board has 20 members:

the Treasurer and up to three others

We provide an induction for all new Trustees and all Trustees take part in further training and development opportunities throughout the year.

In 2021-22, this included a training and development session, which focused on one or more areas material to the Association’s business, including:

  1. Risk Management

  2. Safety

  3. Charity Finance and the associated responsibilities of the Board

  4. Race Equity workshops

The Board’s responsibility includes policy making and oversight of risk management. It delegates the day-today management of the Association to the Chief Executive and UK Chief Commissioner, who work in partnership with the UK Chief Commissioner’s Team, (UK Leadership Team), the UK Youth Commissioner and his team, and the Executive Leadership Team.

The Board also delegates certain functions to the six Committees which report to it (Strategy and Delivery, Finance, People and Culture, Nominations and Governance, Safeguarding, and Safety). The Board appoints Trustees to serve on these Committees annually, with the Committee Chair having a three-year term, subject to performance and their continuation as a Trustee. The Board met nine times formally during 2021/22.

Policies and rules

The Association has a comprehensive set of policies and rules applicable to the movement, which are regularly reviewed by senior volunteers, senior management and staff employed across the UK. We’re committed to providing the best possible experience for everyone in Scouts, whether they’re young people or adult

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volunteers. To help us achieve this, we work to a number of key policies, through which we can make sure that Scouts continues to develop in a way that’s safe, accessible and free from discrimination.

throughout the year. The safety and safeguarding of young people involved in Scouts are our highest priorities.

Other major risks to the organisation include:

An agreed risk management framework is used by the movement, which enables local Executive Committees to deliver their risk management responsibilities based on guidance from the Charity Commission.

Our key policies include:

Risk management

The Board of Trustees is responsible for identifying, assessing and managing the risks of The Scout Association and its subsidiaries. The Board of Trustees and its committees operate a comprehensive risk management process to make sure that appropriate steps are taken to manage and mitigate governance, external, operational (including safety and safeguarding), legal/regulatory and financial risks. The undertaking of Scouts activities requires risk identification and its reasonable mitigation, to make sure our charitable objectives are achieved.

The process involves the identification and grouping of the risks that the Association faces, both directly and indirectly, through the activities of the movement more generally. It includes evaluating the risks in terms of their potential impact and likelihood to occur, as well as considering the Association’s appetite for those risks, and identifying means whereby they can be mitigated and managed.

Responsibility for risk management is assigned to members of the Executive Leadership Team, UK Leadership Team (senior volunteers) and Chairs of the Board’s reporting committees, as well as the Boards of its subsidiaries.

The Board reviews its major risks

In all cases, the above risks are either being mitigated or controlled. All risks have been reviewed and adapted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recently identified risk is around ensuring we have the right working culture and employer offer to recruit and retain talent. The Board has referred this to the People and Culture Committee for consideration and oversight, and the risk will be added to the Corporate Risk Register.

The overall risk framework is now overseen and regularly monitored by the Board. Individual significant risks will continue to be allocated to the appropriate Board committees.

The risk framework, due in part to the impact of COVID-19, was thoroughly reviewed in March 2021. Revisions were made, which were approved by the Board. Since then, more detailed work has been done to make sure the framework provides an effective risk and control environment, utilised by all senior staff, UK Leadership Team and members of the Board and its committees. Work is ongoing to continuously review the framework, and individual risks to ensure they provide adequate information to the Board. This enables trustees to have the proper oversight and reassurance that risks are being effectively managed.

Risk Appetite

The Board reviews the risk appetite of each corporate level risk annually to determine the individual tolerance level, and what happens when thresholds are breached.

While accepting risk in Scouting activities can never be entirely eliminated, given the nature of the activities undertaken, we seek to minimise the potential for serious harm to be caused to young people and members to the greatest extent feasible.

However, The Scout Association has a high appetite for opportunities for membership growth, and would be comfortable taking more risk in this area.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is the golden thread throughout Scouts. Our number one priority is keeping young people in our care safe from harm.

We believe an open and transparent culture of challenge is how we protect our young people. Our Yellow Card Code of Practice for adults in Scouts is embedded in everything we do. We always make sure everyone knows about this card, including young people and parents. It’s a priority that they’re clear about the expectations and behaviours of our volunteers, and know exactly what to do if the code isn’t being followed.

At Scouts, we have a centralised national safeguarding team. They deal with all safeguarding, welfare and suitability referrals, covering adults and young people. As part of our safeguarding processes, a key aspect of the team’s work is liaising closely with all statutory agencies.

The safeguarding team’s made up of professionals who’ve been involved in safeguarding practice before. This includes social workers, ex-child protection police officers, probation

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officers, early years practitioners and education professionals.

We’re always striving to improve our team, and recent changes include:

As part of our safer recruitment processes, we’re still working with the Disclosure and Barring Service, Disclosure Scotland, and AccessNI.

We refresh our safeguarding training and support material to make sure they’re current. Every three years, volunteers need to complete mandatory safeguarding training. This training is validated online, and each volunteer needs a 100% pass rate to get certification. Volunteers in commissioner roles do additional management safeguarding training.

Each quarter, the Board of Trustees receives a safeguarding report. Scouts has a strong Safeguarding Committee, that’s chaired by a Trustee with extensive experience in safeguarding. The committee also has external safeguarding experts.

The Safeguarding Committee is given regular performance data. They make sure it’s used effectively, to improve practice, make appropriate changes to training, and make sure lessons learnt are effectively implemented.

We continue to engage with the wider sector, sharing best practice, and have presented at national conferences on our safeguarding arrangements and governance as examples of best practice. We also work in partnership with government bodies, so we’re always at the forefront of safeguarding practice.

Safety

Along with safeguarding, safety is a golden thread throughout Scouts. Our number one priority is keeping young people in our care safe from harm.

To achieve this, we have a range of measures in place. These include:

– Safety Committee: Scouts has a Safety Committee, which reports directly to the Board of Trustees. It also reports to people whose responsibility it is to provide leadership, and oversee safety policies, procedures and rules that are provided to our volunteers. It’s chaired by an external appointee, who has significant professional experience of health and safety management, and who’s also a Trustee. The Safety Committee’s made up of different individuals, who all have extensive experience in health and safety across a number of sectors.

– Each quarter, the Board of Trustees gets an update on safety matters, including

– Incident statistics, training and compliance reports at their meeting. Each year, the Board is given a full report of Safety Committee activities, along with a detailed overview of trends and statistics.

Safety Committee has processes and procedures in place to gather data about incidents, and to consider that data carefully to make improvements.

This year, we have increased investment in the Safe Scouting team, appointing a new Head of Safety, HQ Safety Manager and 3 further Safety and Compliance Officers. These appointments mean we can greatly increase our support across the movement, and develop our commitment to safe Scouting. We’ve led and supported a return to safe Scouting, while dealing with everchanging challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also focus on the delivery of risk assessments. We’ve reviewed the Policy, Organisation and Rules, guidance and supporting templates, and we’ve delivered briefings and training sessions to support members.

Fundraising: our approach

Section 162A of the Charities Act 2011 requires charities to make a statement regarding fundraising activities.

The day-to-day management of all income generation’s delegated to the Executive Leadership Team, which is accountable to the Board of Trustees.

We take the protection of our supporters and donors’ personal data very seriously: we never use personal data in any way that they don’t wish us to. We always provide them with the opportunity to change their minds if they no longer want to receive communications; we never share or sell their data; and we don’t contact anyone, if we know they don’t want us to.

Although we don’t receive widespread fundraising from the general public, we do enter into Commercial Participator Agreements with commercial partners who sponsor a variety of our programmes, and this activity is fundraising for the purpose of section 162A of the Charities Act 2011. We also receive legacies, grant funding and donations,

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which are presented in our accounts as ‘voluntary income’. We make sure that no one’s ever pressured to leave us a legacy or donate any funds.

The charity, nor any person acting on its behalf, has been subject to any undertaking to be bound by any voluntary scheme for regulating fundraising. We’re a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising regulated by the Fundraising Regulator, and comply with the standards in the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice, as well as all other relevant legislation codes of practice and guidance. All staff involved in fundraising are made aware of, and the need to comply with, the requirements of relevant fundraising legislation and codes of practice.

We’ve received no complaints on our fundraising activity.

All our Commercial Participator Agreements include an obligation to make sure that they act at all times to protect vulnerable people from any intrusion to their privacy, and don’t make any unreasonable approaches to, or put undue pressure on, any vulnerable people to give money to the charity. This is included even if they’re not undertaking any direct public fundraising.

We’re not aware of any failure to comply with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice in relation to our fundraising activities, either by us, our staff, or our Commercial Participators.

We monitor fundraising activities undertaken by our Commercial Participators. All contracts with Commercial Participators contain a provision for monitoring by us. This is usually undertaken by way of regular meetings between the parties and feedback on the progress of any fundraising activity, and an obligation to provide access to additional information and assistance as may be necessary to help us to demonstrate compliance with our duty to monitor. Where Commercial Participators are sponsors, but not undertaking any direct public fundraising, the requirement for access to additional information isn’t always deemed necessary.

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Governance structure and Board membership – 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

Founder

Robert Baden-Powell, OM, First Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell

Patron

Her Majesty The Queen

Presidents

His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, GCVO

Vice Presidents

The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Airlie, KT, GCVO, PC

Wayne Bulpitt CBE

Peter Duncan

George Purdy CBE

Tim Kidd OBE

Chief Scout

Lt Col (Hon) Bear Grylls RM OBE

The Board of Trustees

The percentages indicate the number of eligible Board meetings each member attended.

Trustees (voting)

Mike Ashley (100%) 1, 4 Treasurer

Nigel Ball (100%) 3 (from September 2021)

David Branagh (100%) 1, 3

Craig Dewar-Willox (100%) 5

Nicola Gamlen (100%) (until September 2021)

Graham Haddock (100% %) 2, 3

Carl Hankinson (100%) 2,3 UK Chief Commissioner (from September 2021)

Gareth Jones (100%) 3 Vice Chair (from September 2021)

Sharon Lee (100%) 6 (from September 2021)

Dr Ann Limb CBE DL, (100%) 3 Chair of the Board (until September 2021)

Ella MacLeod (100%) 1, 4

Kieron Moir (100%) 2, 3, 6 Vice Chair of the Board (until September 2021)

Jake Myatt (100%) 1 (from September 2021)

Peter Oliver (100%) 2

Caroline Pearce (75%) 4, 6

Jennie Price CBE (100%) 3 Chair of the Board (from September 2021)

Lexie Sims (100%) 4 (until September 2021)

David Sandall (75%) 5

Jane Simpson (100%) 6 (until September 2021)

Busola Sodeinde (100%) 1, 4

Liz Walker (100%) 3

Rhiannon Wells (100%) 3 Michael Wood-Williams (100%) 1

Ollie Wood (100%) 2, 3 UK Youth Commissioner

Tim Kidd OBE (100%) 2, 3 UK Chief Commissioner (until September 2021)

Matt Hyde OBE (75%) 2, 3 Chief Executive

Right of attendance (non-voting)

The Chief Scout, the Deputy Chief Scout, the International Commissioner, any Country/Regional/ County/Area Commissioner or Chair and Chief Commissioner

Invited to attend

Chloe Kembery 2 Director of Communications and Marketing

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Mark Hislop 2 Director of Commercial Services

Ross Maloney 2 Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer

Kris Murali 1, 2 Director of Finance and Resources Margaret Giles Company Secretary

Apart from the Nominations and Governance Committee, all Board Committees have the Trustee members indicated above plus one or more nonTrustee members appointed for their specialist skills and at least one member who’s under the age of 25 years.

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Our advisers

Auditors: Crowe U.K. LLP 4th Floor St James House St James Square Cheltenham GL50 3PR

Pension advisers: ENTRUST Ship Canal House 98 King Street Manchester M2 4WU

Solicitors:

B ankers: Barclays Bank plc 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP

Bates Wells LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Kennedys Investment Managers: 25 Fenchurch Avenue Cazenove Capital Management London London Wall Place EC3M 5AD London EC2Y 5AU

Sarasin & Partners UK Sarasin House 37-39 St Andrews Hill London EC4V 5DD

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Our thanks

Scouts would like to thank all its volunteers and supporters for their commitment and contributions over the last year. Special thanks go to those mentioned here.

We’d like to thank our Gilwell Fellows and supporters of Gilwell Park, UK Fellows, 1st Gilwell Park and Campfire Circle supporters, along with everybody that generously gives and raises money on our behalf throughout the year.

With thanks to our valued partners:

Cadent, SGN, Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities

Dungeons and Dragons

Gas Distribution Networks

GO Outdoors

Gravity

HSBC UK

Institute of Electrical Engineering and Technology

Our additional thanks to: Peter Brown FRSA FCA

Dr Michael Kesseler

Charles Wilson and Rowena Olegario

Trusts and Foundations

Appreciation goes to all our valued funders:

The Alpkit Foundation

Aziz Foundation

Bergman Lehane Trust

Jaffa

Lawn Tennis Association

Magic the Gathering

Manchester United Foundation

Niantic

Nominet

Pets at Home

Pokémon

Raspberry Pi Foundation

Rolls Royce Royal Airforce Royal Navy Royal Marines Stanley Black and Decker

The British Army The Rail Industry UK Power Networks

UK Space Agency Victorinox Walker Publishing Warhammer

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Education

Doris Field Charitable Trust

Dudley and Geoffrey Cox Charitable Trust

Everard Foundation

Fowler Smith & Jones Trust

Garfield Weston Foundation

Islamic Relief UK

Jack Petchey Foundation

Leslie Sell Charitable Trust

The Mercers’ Company Charity Masonic Charitable Foundation Muslim Charities Forum National Lottery Community Fund P F Charitable Trust

Pears Foundation

Peter Cruddas Foundation Privy Purse Charitable Trust Schroder Foundation Sir John Fisher Foundation

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The Tanner Trust

Scout Adventurers Darren Clarkson-King

Trinity House

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights Whirlwind Charitable Trust

Youth United Foundation

iWill Fund

Community Impact – ‘A Million Hands’ partners The British Red Cross

Crisis Inspire Mind National Autistic Society

Save the Children

Sean Conway Karen Darke MBE Joe Doherty Alastair Humphreys Laura Jones Rhys Jones Poldy van Lynden Mahroof Malik Robert McArthur Sal Montgomery Ben Saunders Phoebe Smith Mark Wood

Scottish Association of Mental Health

The Simon Community NI

WWF

Other charity partners British Youth Council

Girlguiding UK

National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

The Together Coalition

Scout Ambassadors

Steve Backshall MBE

Julia Bradbury

Warwick Davis

Chris Evans

Dwayne Fields

Megan Hine

Helen Glover MBE

Saray Khumalo

Tim Peake CMG

Anita Rani

Ellie Simmonds OBE

Ed Stafford

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In 2019, we retained our Investors in People accreditation and achieved the prestigious Gold standard. The assessor highlighted that people really live by the organisation’s values and understand (and achieve) our strategy. Our accreditation lasts for three years: we’re working on how we set objectives and nurture ideas as we aim for Platinum, the highest level. The next review will be taking place in summer 2022.

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The Scout Association

Charity numbers 306101 (England and Wales) SCO38437 (Scotland)

Registered address Gilwell Park, Chingford London, E4 7QW

Contact us info.centre@scouts.org.uk

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