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.<br>Reflect.<br>Refocus.<br>Renew. aa<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Reflect. Refocus. Renew. 

**Annual report and accounts 2024–2025** 



## Annual report and financial statements 2024–25 

## Contents 


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|||
|---|---|
|Reflecting on new beginnings|3|
|Refocusing our priorities|4|
|Renewing our promise to help other people|5|
|Our purpose and method|7|
|Skills for Life Our plan to prepare better futures 2018-2025|8|
|Growth|9|
|Inclusivity|12|
|Youth shaped|15|
|Community impact|18|
|Three pillars of work|20|
|Youth programme|21|
|Volunteering|24|
|Perception|26|
|The impact of Scouts on young people|28|
|Keeping young people safe|30|
|Safeguarding|35|
|Fundraising|36|
|Our finances|38|
|Trustees’ responsibilities|42|
|Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees of The Scout Association|43|
|Consolidated statement of financial activities|47|
|Balance sheet|48|
|Statement of cash flows|49|
|Notes to the financial statements|50|
|Our members|74|
|How we operate|75|
|Governance structure and Board membership – 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025|77|
|Our advisers|79|
|Our thanks|80|

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## Reflecting on new beginnings 

Scouts is all about new beginnings. We help young people start their lives filled with hope, friendship, encouragement and the skills to succeed. 

I’m proud over 1,241 young people aged 4-18 (many of whom were Squirrels) joined us this year. Thank you to the tens of thousands of volunteers (and Young Leaders too, of course) who made this possible. 

This year, we’ve seen other new beginnings with Dwayne Fields joining as our Chief Scout. His announcement in September 2024 was a bright moment for us as a movement. Dwayne is a wonderful friend and champion for Scouts. 

Our members and commentators in the media warmly welcomed him into the role. Dwayne’s message is that Scouts is for everyone and that volunteering changes lives for the better. He’s been highly visible since then – supporting Scouts at the Cenotaph, joining hikes and meetings, and sharing our message far and wide – Not least on Boxing Day when he guest-edited the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 

we said farewell to Matt Hyde, OBE, outgoing Chief Executive who stepped down after 11 years’ dedicated service. We thank Matt for his extraordinary contribution and wish him all the best in his next chapter. We were pleased to welcome Aidan Jones, OBE as our new CEO as we look ahead to what young people will need from Scouts over the coming years. 

On a personal note, there’re new beginnings for me too as I step down as Chair. I look back with pride on all we’ve achieved together since I joined in September 2021; the challenges and the highlights. 

Supported by a wonderful team, I know Scouts will continue its commitment to safe Scouting for all, making sure every young person who wants to learn skills for life with Scouts, can. A very big thank you to everyone, including my fellow Trustees, who’ve supported me along the way. 

You’ll take Scouts onto even bigger and better things. 

**Jennie Price, CBE** Chair 

Jennie Price ended her term as Chair in March 2025. Our interim Chair is the former Vice-Chair, Craig Dewar-Willox, while we recruit for a permanent replacement. 

We were also incredibly proud to welcome HM King Charles III as our Patron this year. This continues an unbroken line of Royal Patronage initiated by Edward VII, and continued by George V, who granted our Royal Charter in 1912. Having our monarch as our Patron instils an enormous sense of pride and connection with our nation for our young people which lasts a lifetime. 

Nationally, our Board of Trustees guided Scouts through significant reflection, change and learning about safety this year. In April 2024, as part of concluding the inquest into the tragic death of an Explorer Scout, a Prevention of Future Deaths report was published. The Board accepted the coroner’s observations and responded with a set of commitments, which we’ve been delivering against to make sure the golden thread of safety runs though everything we do. 

As we conclude our 2018-2025 Skills for Life strategy, we’re starting to look ahead to the next strategic period. It’s a time to reflect on the great successes we’ve had, not only over the 12 months, but since 2018. This year, 

3 **3** 



## Refocusing our priorities 

This is my first Annual Report as Chief Executive. It’s humbling, returning to Scouts after some time away, to be reminded of the incredible difference Scouts makes to young lives. 

Young people need Scouts more than ever. With over 10 million children in the UK saying they’re unhappy with life, Scouts offers a sense of fun, friendship and possibility. As we heard at our national conference in January, what young people need most is ‘trusted adults and safe spaces’ – exactly what our volunteers offer across our 7,000 Groups. 

In my first 100 days in the role, I had excellent conversations with volunteers from across the UK. I’ve heard how and where we can best use our time and resources, acknowledging we can’t do everything. 

As a team of volunteers and staff, we must be practical and honest about the financial challenges we face. Returning to our pre-pandemic membership levels is still a work in progress, and costs are increasing. To make sure we’re sustainable for the future, I’m focused on refining our operating model so we can run a balanced budget and support the movement long term in creating the right conditions for growth. Thank you to all our people for their continuing support during this time of change. 

Thank you as well to those supporting volunteers with our membership system. We’re all too aware of the challenges this is presenting, and we’re working hard to resolve these. We’re sorry for the extra work this has created locally. We know there are still outstanding delivery issues and we’ve prioritised these. 

We continue to be grateful for the generous support of funders and partners to enable our ambitions for young people. This year has included the largest ever donation to Scouts, £3.5 million from Omaze, as well as continued investment from the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s Uniformed Youth Fund of £2.8 million to support Scouts and Explorers growth. This is making a vital difference, helping us create new places in new communities. Our Squirrels numbers are climbing, and continued growth of Explorers is an encouraging sign too. 

**Luke, Cub Scout** 

As ever, recruiting and supporting adult volunteers remains critical to supporting young people. Our work developing and delivering improvement to our volunteer experience will help us achieve this – creating the conditions to make it easier and more rewarding to volunteer. 

Alongside this, we’ve worked hard this year to help everyone in our movement understand what they need to do to keep our young people, volunteers, and staff safe. We’re committed to a continuous journey of learning and improvement, and we’re grateful to the partners who’ve given critical scrutiny to help us progress. 

Planning for the next strategy is well underway. Thank you to the tens of thousands of young people and volunteers who’ve contributed so far, including those who attended our national conference in Birmingham. The future belongs to our young people, so thank you for helping them. 

Finally, let’s not forget the incredible impact we make – like supporting Cub, Luke, who has autism and Tourette’s syndrome. He gave a talk to his fellow Cubs to help them understand more and work towards the Disability Awareness Badge. This is just one story among thousands, showing how Scouts builds confidence, kindness and self-belief. It’s also an indicator of our commitment to inclusion. Scouts really is a place for all. 

Your belief and dedication to Scouts remains undiminished, and together we’re changing lives for the better. 

**Aidan Jones, OBE** 

Chief Executive 

4 **4** 



## Renewing our promise to help other people 

In Scouts, we bring young people together to have fun and make friends, creating great futures along the way. We’re good at it, but it’s not always easy. 

## Sophie’s mum, Nicola said: 

‘Ever since she joined, Sophie has thrived in Scouts. In the two years she’s been a Beaver, she’s played games and explored nature. She’s never made to feel like the odd one out and she’s finally found a space where she belongs.’ 

This year‘s been particularly challenging for so many of our volunteers. I know we’ve asked a lot of them. 

As we adopt the cultural changes and adapted ways of working for our new Volunteer Experience, there’s been a lot to get used to and our volunteers’ feedback has been invaluable. This’ll pay dividends in the long run, and we’re already hearing newly recruited volunteers talking positively about their experience. But change takes a lot of time and energy, and there never seem to be enough hours in the day. And of course, we’re all juggling work and family commitments too. 

That’s why I’m more grateful than ever to our 140,000 volunteers who’ve continued to deliver great, and most importantly, safe activities to our young people. It’s been a full-on year, and as I travel around the country, I’m pleased to hear their feedback so we can improve and get things right. We rely on the goodwill and support of our volunteers, and we neglect that at our peril. 

That’s also why Summit25, our national conference in Birmingham, was such a key moment. Gathered together, we had fantastic conversations about what needs to be a priority for us as we support young people. At the top of the list were two core parts of what we do, making sure there’s outstanding support to Scouts locally, and delivering great activities while keeping young people safe. It was so helpful to look forward and set the framing for our next strategy which, over the months ahead, we’ll continue to work with you on. 

It’s so important we take a step back and reflect on why we offer opportunities and life skills to young people of all backgrounds. People like Sophie, a Beaver Scout with cerebral palsy and a rare respiratory disease. She’s visually impaired and unable to walk on her own. 

**Sophie, Beaver Scout** 

That’s a fantastic tribute to the volunteers and young people who help make Scouts so welcoming. It’s a reminder for us all to keep going and keep supporting young people. We’re making all the difference to young people lives, and creating better, kinder and closer communities too. 

Looking ahead, we’ll continue our focus on safety. The past year has seen a change towards being more reflective and open about what we’re learning. We also established a new approach to reviewing risk and compliance and I’m grateful to the many volunteers who stepped up to assess and support safety across Nights Away, training, safety visits abroad and adventurous activities. We’ll keep building on this, supporting our volunteers locally with assurance, making sure everyone gets the support they need. 

Thank you again to all our volunteers and supporters this year. We couldn’t do it without you. 

**Carl Hankinson** 

UK Chief Volunteer 

5 **5** 



It’s such an honour being the UK Chief Scout. I want a new generation to learn the skills, friendship and belonging I felt when I needed them most. As Chief Scout, I want to show that the outdoors is a place for all of us to be at our best, and that Scouts is truly open to all. **Dwayne Fields, UK Chief Scout** 

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## Our purpose and method 

Scouts gives young people skills for life. We actively engage and support them in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. 

## **Our vision for the future** 

We’re approaching the end of our 2018–2025 Skills for Life strategy. By this time, we committed to providing more young people with skills for life, supported by the amazing volunteers who deliver our inspiring programme. We said Scouts will grow, in a more inclusive way, shaped by young people, so we can make a bigger impact in our communities. 

In partnership with adults, young people take part in fun indoor and outdoor activities. They learn by doing, sharing in spiritual reflection and taking responsibility. They make choices, try new and challenging activities, and live their Scout Promise. All of this is underpinned by our Scout values. 

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 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: 

## **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. We’re open to all young people aged 4–24 and adult volunteers who are willing to make the Scout Promise. We help young people step up, speak up and dream big. Most importantly, we help them gain the skills they need to succeed in life. 

We’re proud that all young people, particularly those in areas of deprivation, can benefit from our programme and aren’t constrained by their ability to pay the subscription. Locally, there are arrangements to waive subscriptions and other costs for those who face financial hardship. We give support nationally to help Groups in lower income areas. The benefits of Scouts are further demonstrated throughout this report. 

We’re thrilled this vision has been realised through the exceptional dedication and support of our volunteer teams. We’re now concluding our Skills for Life strategy. You’ll find details of its achievements in this report. Please note, due to COVID-19, we extended our strategy from 2023 to 2025 and reset our Key Performance Indicators. 

View our 2018–25 strategy at scouts.org.uk/ourplan. 

## **Developing our new vision** 

We’re now in the advanced stages of developing a new vision for Scouts in the next decade. This process has consulted widely with both adults and young people. A key milestone in this process was our national conference, Summit25, held in January 2025. This event brought key volunteers together to both celebrate the achievements of our Skills for Life strategy and plan what comes next for Scouts’ strategic priorities. 

7 **7** 



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

## **Our vision** 

By 2025, we’ll have prepared more young people with skills for life, supported by amazing volunteers delivering an inspiring programme. 

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

## **Our mission** 

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

## **Our values** 

We act with care, respect, integrity, cooperation, exploring our own and others’ beliefs. 

## **Our goals** 

By delivering this plan, we’ll achieve the following goals against our four objectives: 

- **Growth Inclusivity Youth Shaped Community Impact** 

- • 547,000 young people • 500 more Sections open • 66% of young people • At least 42% of young aged 4–18 in areas of deprivation aged 6–18 shape their people making a 

- • 88,000 front line • The number of Black, experience at Scouts positive impact in their volunteers Asian and Minority each year community each year 

- • 19,500 Young Leaders Ethnic adult volunteers • 57% of young people • 40% of young people will reflect wider society use their skills to run 4–14 will achieve top with a minimum target Scouts activities for Awards of 5% other young people • 10% of young people • 40% of young people 14+ will achieve top aged 4–14 achieve top Awards awards 

- • 10% of those 14+ achieve top awards 

## **Our three pillars of work** 

To support the movement to achieve these objectives, we’ll focus on three pillars of work: 

**Programme People Perception** A fun, enjoyable, high quality More, well trained, better supported Scouts is understood, more visible, programme consistently delivered and motivated adult volunteers, and trusted, respected and widely seen and supported by simple (digital) more young people from diverse as playing a key role in society today. tools. backgrounds. 

9 8 



## Growth 

## **Aim** 

To welcome more people than ever to our movement, so it grows in an inclusive way. 

It’s vital we reach and involve all communities in the UK. We want the benefits of what we do to be shared with everyone, including those in primarily ethnic minority communities, and those who live in areas with the lowest Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). 

respectively). Our Scouts Section has also seen a small decline in the past year. That said, we’re excited to see a continuation of the post-pandemic trend of growth in Explorer Scouts, which grew by 5% (+2,274 young people). 

- Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, our Growth and Communities team opened or reenergised 373 Sections in England. 

IMDs are widely used data sets that classify the relative deprivation in small areas of the UK. They give areas a deprivation score – 1 being most deprived, and 10 being least deprived. Scouts is passionate about supporting more young people in IMD 1–5 areas. 

## **Goals** 

- Continue to grow our movement in an inclusive way. 

- Prioritise specific support for the growth of new Squirrels Dreys. 

- Create 155 more Scouts and Explorers Sections, supported by the third year of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Uniformed Youth Fund.. 

## **Progress a year on** 

Growth has undoubtedly been a challenge across our movement in 2024/25. We’ve faced competing challenges and priorities across many areas, meaning it’s been understandably very difficult for volunteers to dedicate substantial time to supporting new growth. That said, due to impressive levels of commitment across Scouts, we’re continuing to grow all over the UK. 

- We’ve seen an overall 0.3% increase in numbers of young people (ages 4-18), 1,105 individuals, across Scouts. This has been driven by continued growth of Squirrel Scouts, which saw an increase of 31% (5,200 young people) this year. 

- Numbers of Young Leaders have also increased by 7%, bringing the total to over 21,162 members. Young Leaders help deliver our Squirrels programme. 

- Frontline volunteers have grown by 3.7%, with 3,000 more supporting our young people. 

- This year saw 25,990 active Sections run for young people, which is 306 more Sections than the year before. 

- We’ve continued to see a decline in both Beavers and Cubs numbers for a third year. Both Sections shrank by 2% (-2,287 and -3,027 young people 

- Much of this growth was supported through generous support from the Uniformed Youth Fund Waiting Lists funding from the DCMS, which continued through its third year. So far, this funding has supported 371 new Scout and Explorers Sections. 

- Despite the focused efforts on tackling waiting lists, demand for Scouts means our waiting lists remain similar to last year, with 106,827 young people wanting places. 

- Scouts’ Underrepresented Communities Fund has 15 Local Growth Officers in England, two in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. These officers opened more than 90 new Sections, targeting the lowest 

9 



IMDs (1–3) and ethnic minority communities. Their focus was on opening new Sections from scratch, not re-energising existing ventures. These low IMD and inclusive growth Sections are taking significantly longer to establish than a standard growth project, but with most officers now well established, we expect growth to accelerate in year two. This means this project will likely contribute over 250 new Sections in the lowest IMDs by the time of Census 2026. 

## **What’s next** 

- Over the year ahead, we’ll continue to work to develop better methods to holistically support volunteers in creating the right conditions for organic growth. 

- We’ll continue to respond to demand from volunteers to have specific support for growing Squirrels Scouts. Part of the £3.5 million Omaze donation will be specifically invested in supporting volunteers to grow 12,300 more Squirrel places over the next two years. 

also review and update our programme for Beavers and Cubs. This includes responding to volunteers asking for help and providing them with the tools to better support young people with special educational needs and managing behaviours, while providing programme activities for this age range. 

   - We’re grateful for the fourth and final year of the DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund, which’ll support the growth of 110 new Scout and Explorer Sections, creating 2,474 more places in IMD 1–5 and underrepresented communities. 

   - We’re excited to continue developing our approach for Scouting in Black Communities throughout 2025/26. Through this project, we’re working with Black communities to understand and develop new methods for making sure Scouts is available to all young people who want to join. 

- We’ll focus on sustaining places in Beavers and Cubs to reverse the trend of decline in these Sections. This is where we’ll invest some of our £3.5 million donation from the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, both to help us understand and support volunteers with the challenges that’ve driven the recent decline in this age range. We anticipate this’ll include support for Sections or Groups at risk of closure, and we’ll 

## **Our growth goals** 

Prioritise specific support for the growth of new Squirrels Dreys 

Continue to grow our movement in an inclusive way 

Create 155 more Scouts and Explorers Sections, supported by the fourth year of DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund 



I really love seeing the Squirrels growing in their confidence and making friends with each other and learning new skills which stay with them for life. **Ninian, Squirrels volunteer** 

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## Inclusivity 

## **Aim** 

To make sure Scouts is open to everyone and a place where young people feel they belong and can thrive. 

We make sure we understand the opportunities to make this happen, to do the work and spread this inclusive message, particularly to those communities currently underrepresented in Scouts. 

We’re always ready to learn, asking ‘How can we do Scouts differently, in order to guarantee it’s inclusive?’ This means partnering with those who can help us remove any barriers that might stop underrepresented communities from taking part, and engaging and working within the communities too. 

We always put research front and centre in what we do, guiding how we support young people. We work in an evidence-based way. This ensures sustainable and impactful cultural change by grounding our decisions in data. We believe measurable progress and continuous improvement is pivotal for the long-term cultural change needed to make Scouts more inclusive. 

We’re passionate about this ever-evolving process. 

## **Goals** 

## **By 2026, we plan to:** 

## **Scouting in Black Communities** 

   - Our Programme of Work (PoW), that’ll support volunteers as they strive for inclusivity, continues to be driven by a staff and volunteer team focused on three key priority areas: 

      - Piloting Scouts in Black communities 

      - Supporting neurodivergent members 

      - Diversifying our UKHQ appointments 

   - We’re proud to have developed an ever-expanding bank of resources, tailored to the needs of our movement, that’s informed by feedback from both volunteers and young people. 

   - We’re continuing to upskill volunteers and staff on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), making sure they’ve the knowledge and confidence to support our diverse, inclusive movement. 

   - We’ve updated our guidance on helping our LGBTQ+ young people and volunteers feel Scouts is a safe space for them. 

   - To make Scouts more accessible to young people who are disabled and those with special educational needs (SEN), we’ve produced new guidance, available on our website. We encourage volunteers to access these resources for the tools and frameworks to support their interactions with young people with additional needs. 

- Continue working towards the goal of 5% of our volunteers coming from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The current figure is 3.8%. 

- Increase inclusion and representation by continuing to actively engage with underrepresented communities, through partnerships and cooperation. 

- Equip our movement with the skills and confidence needed to support diversity and inclusion, with the help of accessible learning and resources. 

- Further explore diversifying our UKHQ volunteering leadership to make sure our leaders, and the decisions they make, reflect the communities we serve. 

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- We’ve progressed our work on race equity – aligning with our Vision for Race Equity. We continue to work closely with Scouts’ Race Equity Project Board, embedding their recommendations from the Race Review. 

- In January, an interactive EDI session, at Summit25, saw over 100 volunteers sharing their experiences and highlighting opportunities to make our movement more inclusive. 

- Scouts strengthened our engagement with underrepresented communities to better understand, and address, any barriers to getting involved in what we do. 

- Safety remains a key focus for us. We’re continuing to work with volunteers to better understand and make sure Scouts is a safe space for all marginalised groups. It’s our duty to make Scouts somewhere where everyone is protected from harassment, physical and mental abuse. 

## **What’s next** 

- Early next year (2026), we’re aiming to have the full Programme of Work ready to kick off, building on our current priorities. We’ll offer more online resources and a range of learning opportunities, and strengthen the breadth and reach of our inclusion volunteers. We’re hoping all of these will help more volunteers feel they have the capacity, capability, and confidence to grow Scouts in the communities we’re currently underserving. 

- We’ll be reviewing the experiences of neurodivergent people across Scouts, making sure we understand their needs, how we can improve their experiences in Scouts, and highlight where there’s already good practice that fellow volunteers can learn from. 

- We’ve started work around building a zero tolerance approach to discrimination, including zero tolerance to racism. This is to prevent harm before it’s caused, as well as improving how we respond as a movement to instances of discrimination. Throughout all our work, we’re committed to making Scouts welcoming and inclusive to all. 

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A lot of organisations might support LGBTQ+ young people until it’s an inconvenience. But Scouts fight harder, create supportive teams and tackle any challenges to welcome everyone. It’s a powerful and inspirational movement. **Astro, Scout volunteer** 

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## Youth shaped 

## **Aim** 

For every young person to shape their own experience in Scouts, so they can gain the skills they’ll need to be the next generation of great leaders. 

For this to happen, it’s vital we create opportunities for young people to use their voices and listen to what they say. 

There’s no doubt that when young people shape their experience in Scouts, they improve our movement and are far more likely to achieve Top Awards. 

## **Goals** 

## **By 2026, we want:** 

- 66% of young people aged 6–18 to influence what happens locally in Scouts. 

- 57% of young people using their skills to run Scouts’ activities for other young people. 

- 40% of young people aged 4–14, and 10% of those aged 14+, to achieve Top Awards. 

- To continue to increase the number of young people in volunteer leadership roles. 

## **Progress a year on** 

- In 2024, we asked our young people how much they’re shaping their Scouts experience. 75% reported they make choices about what they do in Scouts (stable since 2023), and 49% reported their views influence what happens in Scouts locally (-7% from 2023). 

- In the past year, across all Sections, we’ve awarded over 110,000 YouShape Awards. This means we achieved 44% of our goal to have 250,000 young people shaping Scouts by 2025. 

- We introduced the YouShape Award into our Squirrel Scouts Programme, and 23,790 awards have been achieved so far in our youngest Section. 

- We’ve surpassed our goal to have 19,500 Young Leaders in Scouts. There are now 21,162 Young Leaders, who can access the newly improved resources in our Young Leaders’ Scheme. 

- In 2024, an impressive 43% of 4–14 year olds and 7% of 14+ year olds achieved Top Awards. Young people did a wide variety of different things to merit these awards such as: leading debate evenings, taking part in recruiting adult volunteers, and partnering with social supermarkets to establish initiatives that support their local communities. 

- A central Youth Shaped objective is to keep increasing the number of young people in leadership roles. We’re proud to say there’re now 635 inspiring local Youth Leads (previously ‘Youth Commissioners’), an increase of 83 since 2018. Additionally, we have three elected youth members, aged 18-24 years, who sit on our national Board of Trustees. These young Trustees are actively involved in shaping policies and making strategic decisions, making sure the voices of young people are embedded at the highest level of our movement. 

- We’ve been eagerly hearing from our young people to shape our movement’s next strategy. More than 3,500 young people shared their views through our ‘Youth Voice in the Strategy’ sessions. We held four in-person UK Youth Forum events, bringing more than 500 Scouts, Explorers and Network Scouts from across the UK (and British Scouting Overseas) together for the first time. Their input will shape our strategy through to 2035. 

- Young people have engaged in shaping our Explorer programme redesign. They’ve been actively involved in developing new badges and activities, which’ll be tested in the coming months. 

## **What’s next** 

- We’ll continue developing our Young Leaders Scheme, finding alternative ways to engage young people through peer leadership. 

- We’ll make sure young people have more opportunities to shape their experiences in Scouts– locally, regionally and nationally. 

- We’ll keep listening to and involving young people in our new strategy development. Youth Leadership is a substantial theme emerging for our future strategy and youth led activities will continue to inform our work. 

- Building on the findings from the Safe Scouting sessions held at the UK Youth Forums, we’ll continue to research and develop ways young people can be involved in managing and supporting their own safety, and the safety of others. 

15 



For me, YouShape is having the support to determine your own experience in Scouts and improve the experiences of others. By having the support to make the changes I want to see, I’ve gained so many skills and fulfilment, and I’m honoured to have become a DofE UK Youth Ambassador. I’ve had unforgettable experiences and met even more amazing volunteers. **Scarlett, Duke of Edinburgh Award UK Youth Ambassador** 

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78% of young people agree that they get to share their ideas for what they do in Scouts. 

79% agree that Scouts helps them to make their own decisions and have a say in things that affect them. 

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## Community impact 

## **Aim** 

To continue our commitment to social action and making a difference, both for the young people taking part in our projects and the communities they help. Helping our communities is a huge part of what Scouts does. 

- Census data shows 43% of young people from Squirrels to Scouts achieved Chief Scout Awards, with 7% over the age of 14 completing at least one Top Award, a 1.6% increase on the previous year. 

- Last year around 50 Network Scouts take part in community-based projects for their Scouts of the World Award (SOWA). This included activities like creating community spaces for young people and introducing a uniform bank to help other Scouts and reduce textile waste. 

## **What’s next** 

Although high quality community impact projects take planning and time, we understand that they’re essential to any Scouts’ programme, especially for young people hoping to achieve our Top Awards. 

## **Goals** 

- Based on the recommendations from our Community Impact group of young people from across the UK, a youth-led team is now reviewing activities. It’s all about supporting young people to identify what their local area needs, helping them to plan community projects that’ll make a positive difference. 

## **By 2026, we want:** 

- 42% of our young people to make a positive impact in their community each year. 

- 40% of our young people, aged 4–14, and 10% of those aged 14+, to be achieving Top Awards. 

- To launch a new community impact opportunity in Scouts’ programme. 

## **Progress a year on** 

- In the last year, our amazing young people dedicated over 224,000 hours to community impact projects. In doing this, they made strides towards creating meaningful, sustainable, change in their communities. Their dedication and commitment shows how individuals and organisations are driving positive social impact on a large scale. 

   - Serving our local and the wider communities continues to be at the heart of what we do in Scouts. We’re honoured that Scouts will be central to the commemorations of VE Day 80 in May 2025 – an event that’s pivotal to communities across the UK. 

   - Community impact will be part of the updated 14–18 years programme that we are now piloting. Engaging our local community is embedded in all activity badges, with a new Community Engagement Challenge Award celebrating the importance of giving back. 

   - We’ll continue to enhance our community impact programme resources, making sure we empower leaders to create meaningful opportunities for young people as they develop skills for life, helping them to make a difference in their communities. 

- Our Scout Experience Survey (SES) shows that 46% of young people take part in action that makes a positive difference in their communities or the world around them. 

- Young people told us they wanted to be making a difference to the environment. In June, we launched the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) initiative ‘Earth Tribe’ to all Sections. Since then, we’ve seen over 17,000 young people become ‘Planet Champions’. Earth Tribe is a global environmental challenge, helping all Scouts (from Squirrels through to Network) to understand the world around them, and grasp the challenges our planet faces. 

- Through Earth Tribe, we’re supporting young people to be environmentally conscious, active, globallyaware citizens, who understand how their actions can still make a difference during climate crisis. 

In the last year, our amazing young people dedicated over 224,000 hours to community impact projects 

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I love my community, I care about the environment, and I want to be a responsible person. I believe if everyone makes a small change in their life, it could have a big impact on the environment. We were learning about environment and pollution at school, so I decided to organise the litter pick event. **Leani, Scout** 

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## Three pillars of work 

**To reach our goals, we’ll change how we deliver Scouts. Our three pillars of work – programme, volunteering, 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.** Programme 

# Volunteering Perception 

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## Youth programme 

## **Aim** 

To provide young people with a wide range of fun, safely adventurous, empowering, high-quality and inclusive experiences as part of our programme. 

Our programme enables young people to develop essential life skills and promotes a positive impact in communities. It’s consistently and safely delivered by volunteers, who are supported by simple digital tools. 

more outdoor activities. We know being active outside is a key to improving mental health and wellbeing. 

- In the last year, we’ve granted volunteers 13,953 Nights Away and Adventurous Activities permits, to support safe adventures. This year, 43,000 young people experienced a Night Away for the first time. 

- We’re continuing to review the Activity Badges as part of continuous improvement. This year, for our Scouts Section, we’ve updated seven Activity Badges. We also launched a new badge design competition – the winner was the ‘History Comes Alive’ badge designed by a Cub from South Lanarkshire. 

## **Goals** 

## **By 2026, we’ll:** 

- Increase support for volunteers delivering our Scouts and Explorer programmes towards our 2025 target of 40% of Scouts and 10% of Explorers achieving Top Awards. 

- Design and pilot an offering that supports new Sections with a high-quality programme as they first open. 

- Create a new programme offer for Explorers. 

## **Progress a year on** 

- Census data shows 43% of young people, from Squirrels to Scouts, achieved Chief Scout Awards. 7% of young people over the age of 14 completed at least one Top Award, which is a 1.6% increase on the previous year. 

- Our Squirrels programme is now established and continuing to grow, with 1,934 Dreys now open. 

- We’ve focused on delivering a new Explorers programme. The main recommendations from the research in the discovery phase was for the 14–24 programme to be fun and impactful, have a flexible method of delivery, and encourage wider participation. 

- Based on those recommendations, we worked with young people and volunteers to co-design a programme to pilot. We’re currently testing 26 new activity badges and five Challenge awards with a range of accompanying activities. These are all developed in collaboration with those that use them. Our ‘Test and Learn’ phase launched with 90 units across the UK and British Scouting Overseas (BSO). 

- Our programme continues to reflect how thinking and talking about safety is a key skill for life. Through our Outdoor in 24 initiative, we encouraged all Scouts, from Squirrels to Network, to take part in 

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- We launched a blanket badge marking Islamophobia Awareness Month. We worked with volunteers in our Muslim Scout Fellowship to design activities for this optional initiative. We’re always looking for ways to help promote understanding, respect, and kindness in Scouts, contributing to greater tolerance in the wider community. 

- We’ve worked with disabled and non-disabled adults and young people, and external experts to update our Beavers and Cubs Disability Awareness Activity Badges. These updates mean young people can learn about a wider range of disabilities, including those known as ‘hidden disabilities’. We updated our badge design to include the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, a simple tool used by anyone wanting to communicate they have a less visibly obvious condition. Our thanks go to The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower for all their support and guidance. 

- Working with volunteers and Swim England, Swim Wales, Scottish Swimming, Swim Ulster and the Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA), we aligned our Swimmer Staged Activity Badges with existing external swimming levels and awards. This simplifies how more young people achieve badges, because it’s easier to match Scouts swimming badges to young people’s swimming achievements outside Scouts. 

## **What’s next** 

   - Continuing to renew and improve our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers programme activities. This includes launching Money Skills badges for both Scouts and Explorers, so that young people can continue the learning from the Beavers and Cubs Money Skills badges, all generously supported by HSBC. 

   - Our proposed new badge framework for Explorer Scouts will be tested by selected Units so we can learn how it works in practice. 

   - We’ll work with volunteers to understand what additional support helps them deliver the best programme. We know that a fun, adventurous and safe programme creates the right conditions to attract more young people to join Scouts. 

   - Developing activities to support all our young people with mental health, wellbeing, and healthy relationships, supported by the Omaze Million Pound House Draw. 

   - Testing new ways of delivering Scouts online and running activities in school holidays for underserved communities, supported with funding from DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund. 

- We concluded our Squirrels’ Family Engagement pilot of 46 leaders and submitted our recommendations report. We’re currently working on embedding these recommendations into our future plans. 

- We awarded 381 young people with their King’s Scout Award this year. They’ll enjoy, or have enjoyed, celebrations at our Day of Celebration and Achievement in April 2025 or 2026. 

- This year, 7,486 Explorer and Network members started on The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE). We’re proud that more than 600 Scouts go to Gold Award presentations at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in May this year. 

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As a TV presenter and being passionate about conservation, I’ve learned to be more observant – not just towards nature, but people too. That helps me communicate better and raise more awareness about the beautiful creatures I care so much about. **Aneeshwar, Cub Scout and conservationist** 

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## Volunteering 

## **Aim** 

To have motivated, supported, and well-trained volunteers from all backgrounds. Our volunteers have seen a huge amount of change in Scouts in the last year, which they’ve taken in their stride. 

We thank them for all they do, remembering it’s vital every volunteer has a wonderful experience at Scouts. We hope that if they enjoy volunteering with us, they’ll continue to support our young people as they gain skills for life. 

We also want to welcome new volunteers. It’s only through growing our volunteers that we’ll be able to give more young people the chance to enjoy Scouts. 

72,000 volunteers have completed a new learning course, with 92% feeling they understood the topics covered 

Since 2018, as part of our Skills for Life strategy, this was the ‘People’ section of the Annual Report. As we’ve progressed beyond the Skills for Life strategy, our focus on ‘People’ became our Volunteer Experience Programme. This section is now called ‘Volunteering’ to reflect this change. 

## **Goals** 

- To recruit more volunteers to Scouts, welcoming them warmly from the start. 

- To make sure volunteering is always a positive experience through our redesigned approach. This includes being more flexible, so volunteers can easily carry out their Scouts role(s) alongside their other life commitments. 

- To create even more engaging learning for our volunteers, supporting them to develop their skills when and where they need them most. 

- To provide the digital tools needed to enable these goals. 

## **Progress a year on** 

- Local volunteers are adopting the changes we’ve made to make volunteering with Scouts easier and more attractive. Our local volunteers have been vital in powering this transformation. They’re embedding our new Volunteering Culture along with changes to local Trustee Boards. We’re thrilled that volunteers are embracing new ways to welcome new volunteers and organising themselves in a teams-based approach. 

- In November 2024, we began the roll out of new digital tools, easily accessed through scouts.org.uk, that support our new ways of working. My Membership allows volunteers to manage all the processes they need in one place, including applying 

for adventurous activity permits, completing the Nights Away Notification process, onboarding new volunteers, and much more. Since it launched, nearly 77,000 volunteers have signed in, which is more than double the number that ever signed into our old membership system, Compass. 

- While we’ve had a lot of success stories, and many are finding the new ways of working positive, there are more and ongoing challenges than we expected, which are particularly impacting our Lead Volunteers. This has meant putting more time, attention and resources into fixing bugs, refining and improving the digital tools, which’ll continue over the coming months. 

- Redesigned with volunteers and subject matter experts, our new learning is easier to use and more intuitive. Crucially, all learning can be accessed online, at a time or place that suits our volunteers. Since this learning launched, over 72,000 volunteers have completed a new learning course, with 92% feeling they understood the topics covered in the course and 88% feeling it prepared them for their role. 

- We’ve also redesigned the way we welcome new volunteers to Scouts, aided by our new digital tools, which were designed in collaboration with Girlguiding and generously funded by the Pears Foundation. We’re already seeing volunteers using these tools to advertise roles locally and onboard new volunteers. 

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- To help with the nationwide roll out of these changes, our local Transformation Leads have given vital support across all 85 Counties, Areas and Scottish Regions in the UK. In their local patches, Transformation Leads have communicated upcoming changes, engaging with volunteers and dealing with concerns. 

- When our digital tools went live, over 800 volunteers worked in our ‘Go Live Support Teams’, helping to answer local questions and queries. 

- Our website now has a wider range of resources, including mini training videos. 

- The National Support Team continues to provide advice and problem solving for volunteers as they start to use the new digital tools. We’re also supporting volunteers’ digital skills through our award-winning Digital Skills platform, which was kindly funded by Nominet and CAST. This tool, aided by our Digital Champions, helps volunteers to build their skills and confidence. 

- We’ve improved our support, web guidance, and readiness information to help everyone understand and prepare for the changes coming locally. 

## **What’s next** 

- We’ll continue working with our local volunteers, making sure our new ways of working and digital tools are supporting people effectively, and everyone is fully supported in adopting these changes. 

- We’ll keep acting on user feedback to improve the digital tools, resources and information for volunteers. 

- We’ll continue developing new resources and launch more voluntary learning, including our new Wood Badge as part of ‘Branching Out’ learning. ‘Branching Out’ will be the additional optional learning our volunteers can complete to improve their skills in different areas. This is currently made up of learning to support growing your Section, delivering residential experiences, improving practical skills and more. In the future, we’ll review this content and launch more across a variety of different topics. 

- As ever, we’re always looking at areas of our volunteer experience that we’d like to improve. 

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## Perception 

## **Aim** 

For Scouts to be more visible, trusted, respected, and seen as playing a key role in today’s society. 

## **Goal** 

Make sure our brand is frequently and positively seen in the public eye, sharing our key skills for life message and building trust. 

- On Boxing Day, Dwayne Fields guest edited BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme. This was part of a wide range of media activity from Dwayne, including the cover of The Big Issue and an interview in The Telegraph. 

- In March, Tim Peake launched our new Explorer Space Activity Badge, designed to help young people aged 14 to 18 with STEM. Media coverage meant over two million people saw content related to the launch. 

## **Progress a year on** 

This year, perception of Scouts was shaped by several key moments, and three stand out in particular: welcoming HM King Charles III as our Patron, announcing Dwayne Fields as our 11th Chief Scout, and continuing to campaign for our Scouts’ Manifesto. 

- In June, The King became Scouts’ Patron, continuing the Royal tradition dating back to 1912. Our young people recorded videos welcoming him, which we shared across our social media channels. 

- In September, Dwayne Fields became our new Chief Scout. Dwayne is a passionate advocate for what we do. Scouts helped shape the person Dwayne is today, and now he, in turn, is shaping what we do in Scouts. In total, there were 2,400 pieces of media coverage and on social it was our top performing content, with 2.6 million impressions and 54 thousand engagements. 

- Lastly, we said thank you and farewell to Bear Grylls after three impressive five-year terms as Chief Scout. During this time, two million people have been Scouts in the UK, and we’ve grown by 100,000 members. To commemorate Bear’s contribution, artist Jemma Phipps was commissioned to paint his portrait, which is now on display at Gilwell Park. 

## **Improving our perception** 

- A 2025 YouGov brand perception survey shows public trust in Scouts remains high at 86%, while the perception that we’re open to all is improving at 83%. The perception that Scouts is safe has also risen to 80% from 78%, and perception that we make a positive impact in communities has risen from 78% to 81%. 

- In its second year, The Big Help Out blossomed. 100 groups took part, working to improve their local areas. Scouts, along with our Ambassadors, did amazing work to raise awareness of the benefit of volunteering in your community. 

- In November, on Remembrance Sunday, Dwayne Fields attended The Cenotaph, helping to form the Guard of Honour collecting and laying wreaths from organisations parading. 

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## **Attracting, recruiting, and retaining volunteers** 

- We promote volunteering with Scouts throughout the year. The announcement of our new Chief Scout, our highest profile volunteer role, helped support the growth in frontline volunteers by 3,000 – the biggest in-year increase since 2018. 

- Through the year, we continued to share our Scouts’ Manifesto following its launch in March 2025. We gave our youth advocates a platform to share their lived experience and help us make the case for policies to support Scouts and young people. We met with over 100 Members of Parliament, government ministers and councillors during the year to ask them to support volunteering, champion young people and protect community spaces. 

- We launched our volunteer leave campaign, in collaboration with Sea Cadets, Girlguiding and St John Ambulance. As part of this campaign, we’re petitioning government to grant every employee in the UK, the right to request 35 hours of volunteer leave a year. Our petition generated over 8,000 signatories within a month. 

## **Progressing our brand** 

- After consulting with 26,000 young people and adults, our ‘What we wear’ project concluded. While no major changes were called for, it was clear our uniform needed to be more practical, inclusive, affordable and comfortable. In response, we made improvements to comfort and fit, introduced personalisation, expanding our range of options and informal wear. We also updated our Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) to define the purpose of uniform and make sure it’s not a barrier to young people or adults taking part. 

- We welcomed five new ambassadors: Liam MacDevitt, Zanna van Dijk, Ollie Eats, Louis Cole and Sean Conway. These inspiring new supporters, with substantial social media presences, helped extend our reach. Combined, their launch content generated 265,000 impressions and 200,000 views. It’s been another highly engaged year on social media and followers across all platforms went up by 7%. 

## **What’s next** 

- We’ll continue to work on our 35 hour volunteering leave campaign. 

- We’re busy looking for and creating high profile moments for our Chief Scout and Ambassadors. Through them, we’ll continue to raise awareness of what Scouts does. 

- In everything we do, our focus continues to be promoting safe adventures through Scouts. 

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## The impact of Scouts on young people 

Every year, we conduct the Scout Experience Survey (SES), as we try to better understand our members’ attitudes and experiences. In this survey, we asked our young people, aged 13–17, questions about Scouts’ key Theory of Change outcomes: 

- Adventure 

active. The heartening news is our young people engage in, at least, 30 minutes of physical activity more frequently than their counterparts in 2019. This illustrates the effectiveness of the range of Scouts programmes in promoting a healthy lifestyle to our young people. We’re also pleased to report that our young people, compared to 2019, are more satisfied with life generally. 

These high-level results are supported by a number of positive feedback areas: 

   - 95% of our young people take part in activities they hadn’t tried before Scouts. 

   - 94% developed life skills that’ll benefit them in the future. 

- Skills for life 

   - 85% of our young people say they’re happier since joining Scouts. 

- Wellbeing 

- Leadership 

We’re pleased to see that all these measures improved since last year. 

- Citizenship 

- Connectedness 

Running the survey is a great way to find out if, and in what ways, the impact of Scouts is changing throughout our Skills for Life strategy. 

We’re proud that, since 2019, Scouts has seen significant improvements in youth outcomes, especially in the areas of adventure and wellbeing. This trend highlights the positive impact Scouts continues to have on our young people’s lives. 

Scouts is thrilled to report one of the SES’s key findings. Our young people are now significantly more physically 

Other positive impacts of Scouts, revealed in the SES, include: 

- 68% of our young people say they’re healthier through being part of Scouts. 

   - 84% of our young people say Scouts has made them more confident. 

   - 78% of our young people tell us that, through Scouts, they’re happier to help in their local area. 

   - 40% of our young people say, through attending Scouts, they do better in school. 

66% of our young people say Scouts has made them more confident about getting a job in the future. 

## **Impact of Scouts on young people** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
100%<br>80%<br>84%<br>78%<br>60%<br>68%<br>66%<br>40%<br>40%<br>20%<br>0%<br>Healthier More   Happier   Do better in  More confident<br>confident to help school about getting<br>a job<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


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These results highlight the positive impact our activities, Groups and volunteers are having on young people’s personal development and engagement. 

The SES also shows our young people are finding Scouts more challenging, but still enjoyable, than in previous years. This is a clear improvement on last year’s results, which saw around half of our young people feeding back that some activities could be more challenging. 

## **Summary** 

The SES shows that, since 2019, Scouts has made tangible progress towards improving outcomes for our young people. There are clear improvements to be seen across adventure, wellbeing and skills for life, where increased physical activity and higher life satisfaction all demonstrate Scouts’ positive impact on our young people’s lives. 

We’re still committed to improving the experience of our young people in Scouts. The insights from this survey, along with other feedback from our young people and volunteers, feed into the programme activities we’ll develop in the year ahead. The SES gives us a sharpened focus, showing us where new programme development should be targeted to respond to our young people’s needs. 

We’re developing programme resources that focus on healthy relationships, as well as good mental health and wellbeing. Informed by our SES results, Scouts will increase its focus on how it helps young people to improve their wellbeing by building connectedness and caring for others. 

Through information gathering, like the SES, we continue to learn and refine its offering as part of our movement’s ongoing efforts to give young people the best possible start in life. 

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## Keeping young people safe 

The past year has been one of deep reflection and significant change regarding safety in Scouts. So, in this section, we’re seeking to explain what we’ve learned and how we’ve progressed. This annual review’s more extensive focus on safety should provide the foundation for a dedicated review, solely focused on safety, in the years to come. 

What follows is an overview of how Scouts works, regarding safety. It’s designed to help everyone in our movement understand what we all need to do to keep our young people, volunteers, and staff, healthy and safe. Ours is a continuous journey of operational improvement around safety. 

A big part of what we’ve learned is to be more open. So, we’re sharing the lessons we’ve learned, the improvements we’ve made, and recognising the work we still need to do. 

In April 2024, as part of concluding the inquest into the tragic death of an Explorer Scout, a Prevention of Future Deaths report was published. Scouts accepted HM Coroner’s observations and made a set of commitments. 

These commitments included reviewing our safety policies and practices, working with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), developing and delivering new safety learning for volunteers, reviewing and reflecting on our internal permit schemes for Adventurous Activities and Nights Away, and much more. 

Our commitment to improving safety includes increasing our safety related support for the movement. With this in mind, alongside managing safety incidents, our Safety Team has increased site visits, to give their expert ‘on the ground’ support. 

The Safety sub-committee of our Board of Trustees, has focused on critical root cause analysis, supported by new members with expertise in equivalently complex settings. Risk considerations are being incorporated into decisions at every level, so a golden thread of safety runs through everything we do. 

## **Aim** 

- To empower those with operational responsibilities for safety by supporting them as they deliver safe activities for our young people, through new learning, guidance, and support. 

- To provide young people with learning opportunities through a wide range of adventurous activities, where risk is appropriately managed. 

- To supporting young people, adult volunteers, and staff as they develop their understanding of risks and how these can be managed. 

To support these aims, Scouts’ National Safety Team, and a growing network of County safety advisors, will offer advice, guidance, information, and training to those in leadership roles. 

## **Goals** 

## **By April 2026, we’ll:** 

- Support those in senior leadership roles as they’re continuously trained in line with the best safety practice standards. This’ll help them to provide the robust oversight needed to continue to lead our movement safely. 

- Deliver, and further embed, the changes we’ve made in response to HM Coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) Report. 

- Review and strengthen Scouts’ safety management system, considering the learning we’ve gained from external reviews, reports, and the varied experiences of our movement. 

- Support our leaders, volunteers, and staff as they empower young people (and those they influence) to make sound risk-based choices. 

- Help young people, as part of their experience in our programme, to make good risk-based decisions. 

- Establish an enhanced approach to assurance. 

## **Progress a year on** 

Our progress and learning this year has been strongly shaped by our 24 commitments responding to the observations made by HM Coroner, following the inquest into the tragic death of an Explorer Scout. These commitments included promising to openly share our progress. Full quarterly reports, including the lessons we’ve learned and the actions we’ve taken, are available on scouts.org.uk. 

- Safety through our governance: Scouts introduced a series of new governance approaches including a dedicated sub-group of our Trustee Board, led by our Chair, to oversee the delivery of our commitments. This involved engagement across our movement, sharing the changes we planned to make and the reasons behind them. 

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- We developed and adopted a new Duty of Candour Policy, which was approved and implemented by our Board of Trustees from July 2024. 

- Scouts developed new policy and procedures for how we manage critical incidents, for testing and adoption in summer 2025. 

- We made sure our Safety Policy was externally reviewed. This process shows our commitment to safety and underlines the expectation that everyone in Scouts plays their part in keeping young people safe. 

- We added to our Safety Committee’s capabilities by recruiting two new independent members. Their role is to scrutinise and challenge our movement’s actions on safety. 

- The addition of these new members, with their strong credentials in complex safety environments, significantly enhances the committee’s expertise. 

- Scouts appointed the first UK Lead Volunteer with a focus on safety to complement the professional safety expertise of the staff team. 

- We increased our investment in a national support network for volunteers, including a staff Safety Team that works in partnership with volunteers; with oversight from the Safety Committee. Together, they’re establishing clearer governance pathways for direction setting, assurance, and leadership. This clarity of communication is essential as we continue to transform how we progress our safety practices. 

– New Safety Learning for our volunteer base, developed with (and assured by) RoSPA Qualifications. 

– Requiring all our volunteers to complete additional safety training. We’re giving support to volunteers so they can complete this training by 14 July 2025. 

- We commissioned independent experts Adventure Risk Management Services (Adventure RMS) to review our Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme, assessing its design, standards, and regulatory engagement. A formal response to these findings will be submitted to the Safety Committee in summer 2025. 

## **Supporting our movement** 

The Safety Team gives advice and guidance across our movement, comprising staff and volunteers. 

- They’ve run training weekends around key activities, Nights Away, and permits. Following positive feedback, more of these weekends are planned for the year ahead. 

- They’ve made some initial, proactive, on-site riskbased visits offering more direct support for volunteers. 

- They’ve delivered internal reviews of safety guidance and began offering more support at key events for our movement. 

- They’ve enhanced the approach to First Aid training and support, clarifying the use of external qualifications. 

## **External review and scrutiny** 

- Scouts appointed a panel, with strong credentials in senior investigatory and safety work, to complete a Fatal Accident Investigation into an Explorer Scout’s tragic death in 2018. We accepted all findings from the first phase of the investigation. We’re implementing the panel’s recommendations and learnings across our movement. We’ve since commissioned this independent panel to undertake a review of the key decisions made by Scouts directly following the tragedy. 

- We established a relationship with The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) who supported us with: 

   - A review of policies, procedures, and arrangements within Scouts, including the annual review of our Safety Policy. 

   - They’ve given clarity about restrictions for those involved in critical incidents or significant near misses, making sure Scouts provides adequate support and is effectively managing risk. 

   - They’ve established a new approach to reviewing risk and compliance throughout the movement with dedicated staff support. This was informed by team site visits and has included engaging with a substantial number of volunteers across our movement to assess and support compliance within five core control areas: Nights Away, Training, Safety, Visits Abroad, and Adventurous Activities. 

   - They’ve taken the first step to rebuilding our volunteer Adventurous Activities team, as a core part of what young people experience in our programme. 

- A training needs analysis, aligned to our volunteer roles and ways of working. 

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## **Reporting and insights** 

Through the year, there’s been an increase in the number of safety incidents and ‘near misses’ reported into the National Safety Team. We believe this correlates with increasing awareness of safety reporting arrangements as we increased communication about safety as part of our ongoing commitments. 

A slight increase in critical incidents may indicate the impact of revising internal definitions, and improved reporting as a result. 

## **Total incidents by severity** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Total<br>Incidents<br>Significant<br>event<br>Near Miss /<br>Hazard<br>Major<br>incident<br>Critical<br>incident<br>0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500<br>2023/24 2024/25<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **Incidents by type of activity** 


Scouts skills Programme injuries HQ based Programme injuries away from HQ Pre-existing condition/illness Free time 

- 2,332 incidents were reported in total, with more incidents during the summer season (May to September), which is in line with when the movement is more active and outdoors. 

## **Monthly incidents year on year comparison** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2500<br>2024/25<br>2000<br>2023/24<br>1500<br>1000<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


500 

The spread of incidents by membership type broadly follows the trends of previous years. There’s some variation for Explorer Scouts which relates to the impact, in the previous reporting period, of the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea. 

- The distribution of incidents by activity type and injury type is maintained from the previous period. 

## **Incidents by nature of injury (top 10)** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Thermal burns Inflamation (includes<br> insect bites)<br>Strain (tendon or muscle)<br>Illness (food poisoning,<br>Sprain (ligament)<br> vomitting, epilepsy)<br>No injury<br>Fracture (broken bones)<br>Mild concussion (head injury)<br>Contusion (bruising)<br>Laceration (cut)<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


- 0 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Total 

- 654 incidents were recorded in ‘free time’. 

- The most common cause of incidents is ‘a slip, trip or fall’ at 43% or 1,012 incidents. 

## **Incidents by type of activity** 



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Slips, trips, falls Health and/or illness<br>Road traffic/vehicle Exposure to a heat source<br>Reactions to contact (allergies,  Emergency service called to site<br> food, poisoning, drowning)<br>Contact with something<br>Premises issue  (equipment, entrapment,<br> electricity, sharp object etc)<br>Lifting and handling<br>Assault and abuse<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


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- The next most common issue is ‘contact with something’ at 540 incidents. 

- ‘Health-related’ incidents make up 347. 

These top three causes account for 82% of reported incidents and we’ll focus on these areas in the coming year. 

## **Learning and reflection** 

During the reporting period one National Learning review was considered by the Safety Committee which related to an adult volunteer who suffered serious injuries following an abseiling incident. Learnings from this and other reported incidents are published on Scouts website to make sure learning is shared openly with the movement. Learnings which led us to change our approach or processes have included: 

- A ban on using Trotti bikes following an incident overseas. Investigations determined brakes are orientated differently in mainland Europe compared to UK cycles. This, combined with the potential for further incidents, meant the Safety Committee ratified the unusual decision to stop this activity. 

- The importance of applying robust risk assessment principles, including how to implement dynamic risk assessment, has been incorporated into the mandatory training designed in this period and supported by RoSPA. 

- The importance of communicating with parents and carers, in a clear, emphatic way, about any serious incidents. This comes from our adoption of the Duty of Candour Policy and the new ways of working it requires. 

- In regard to the challenges specific to our federated structure and joint leadership approaches, these have been mitigated through closer scrutiny from the Safety Committee. The Safety Team continues to build relationships to strengthen our approach. For example, the way the Safety Team has worked with Adventurous Activities has given us a model that can be reproduced elsewhere. 

- Regarding so-called ‘Unknown unknowns’, in respect of our approach and general policies, Scouts commissioned a series of external reports. We’re currently working through their recommendations at pace. 

## **Learning supported by partnership** 

Over the past 12 months, we’ve worked with a considerable number of external partners and organisations, whose expertise has supported our learning and development of safety. The following deserve a special mention: 

- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for their independent expertise as leaders in the safety sector. 

- Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), who continue to share vital learning with us. 

- The Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP). 

- Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. 

- Adventure Risk Management Services (Adventure RMS) who’ve worked with Scouts this year as we examine specific elements of what we do, such as the Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme. 

## **Actions and mitigations against key risks** 

- Scouts continues to review its approaches to risk. We’ve instituted external assurance to make sure we’re complying with legal requirements and expected organisational arrangements for safety. We’ve instigated a process for rapid assurance which was prioritised by the Board of Trustees and Safety Committee. 

- In regard to communicating changes and updates effectively across the movement, we’ve updated our approach to both safety learning and communications. This means members, via our website, are given regular updates and can learn from key safety–related incidents. 

- Regarding insufficient national resourcing to proactively offer support to the movement, Scouts continues to expand its Safety Team, across staff and volunteers, so that it can investigate all reported incidents. The team has begun to look at proactive projects where there are opportunities to make sure approaches are more robust with the aim of preventing incidents. 

- Independent members of the Fatal Accident Investigation Panel for the diligence they showed in their investigation into the tragic death of an Explorer Scout. 

- Our Primary Authority partner, for their continued hard work and dedication to our movement. 

## **What’s next** 

Scouts will continue to invest in safety, putting it at the heart of all we do. We’re passionate about building our collective capability to deliver safe and meaningful learning for young people. 

## **Specifically, we’ll:** 

- Keep seeking input from independent experts as we drive transparent, continuous, improvement in Scouts’ safety practices. 

- Review and learn from the recommendations in independent reports and movement consultation, while continuing to deliver on all our PFD commitments. 

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- Refine our policies and practices around safety. We’ll make changes in our approach to risk assessment, as highlighted by RoSPA’s review, and develop the Adventurous Activities Permit Scheme in response to the independent review by Adventure RMS. 

- Review our approach to incident management, making it easier for teams to report incidents and provide helpful insights to leaders. We’ll use this data to improve arrangements and support learning. 

- Make sure our practices are fit for purpose and the movement is following them effectively, providing dedicated safety learning for senior volunteers and staff. 

- Improve safety management systems and how we provide effective guidance for volunteers. 

- Refine how we use data and insights to target our work, focusing on where we can make the greatest impact. 

- Support volunteers in involving young people in safety decision making. This’ll make safety and risk more youth shaped and enable young people to develop safety awareness as a skill for life. 

- Develop a dedicated annual report focused on safety and what we’re learning. We’ll publish the first report in 2026, which’ll detail Scouts’ progress as a continuation of our commitment to transparency around safety. 

34 



## Safeguarding 

## **Aim** 

To continue our commitment to keeping all young people in our care safe from harm. This is our number one priority. Along with safety, safeguarding is the golden thread throughout our movement. 

## **Progress a year on** 

- In the past 12 months, we’ve stabilised the structure and resourcing of our national Safeguarding Team. Building upon previous improvements, we have a solid foundation for working with our volunteers, as we all strive to keep young people safe. These changes have reduced the number of open cases being worked on and improved efficiency and effectiveness in managing cases. 

## **What’s next** 

   - We’ll continue to listen to, and work collaboratively with, survivors. 

   - We’re continually reviewing our resources, identifying areas where we can provide more support to our members. This includes tackling how we improve our support to young people with welfare issues. 

   - We’ll examine our current system of learning reviews. We’re keen to embed changes to practice more quickly, learning from things that’ve gone wrong. 

- We’ve introduced an accessible online referral form, making it simpler for people to report their concerns to us. This builds upon earlier changes to enable direct reporting to the national team, meaning anyone who’s concerned can report issues straight to our team. This has led to young people reporting things themselves, rather than through a third party. This child-centred approach means we can provide support directly to young people, dealing with their concerns more quickly. 

- We’ve seen an increase in the number (and complexity) of cases reported to us. This reflects wider trends across society in the UK and demonstrates that our reporting procedures are easily accessible. 

- We updated our mandatory safeguarding training course that’s externally validated by the NSPCC for all volunteers. 

- We’re proud that our national team has become more professional. Through our comprehensive Quality Assurance Framework and regular auditing, we’ve seen increases in our performance, which means we’re providing a better service to our volunteers and young people. 

- We’re committed to putting the survivor’s voice at the heart of our safeguarding work, and make sure we’re trauma informed. Along with hearing feedback from various organisations and forums, Scouts have formed a partnership with the National Working Group (NWG) as part of our shared continued commitment to actively involve survivors who have lived experience. We’ll consult them as we work on changing policies, training, and resources, and in how we work to prevent further harm from occurring. 

35 



## Fundraising 

## **Aim** 

To raise vital funds for Scouts through partnerships, funders and donors to give young people the practical skills, confidence, and experiences needed to thrive both now and in the future. 

Working with a diverse range of partners, we’re continually creating new opportunities and expanding our reach, making sure every young person has the chance to thrive in Scouts. 

## **Goals** 

## **By 2026, we’ll:** 

- Generate a sustainable net income that contributes to Scouts’ core costs. 

- Strengthen and grow relationships with our key corporate partners, so we can keep creating fun, adventurous activities and experiences for our young people. 

- Secure funding to support projects that help Scouts to grow, particularly in Black, Asian or minority ethnic communities. 

- Collaborate with key strategic partners to unlock new funding opportunities that’ll support Scouts’ emerging priorities in the next strategy. 

- Continue to make sure all fundraising activities are cost-effective, generating a high return on investment, so every pound raised directly benefits young people and supports the growth of Scouts. 

## **Progress a year on** 

Thanks to the continuing generosity of our supporters, we’ve created more opportunities for young people, supported our volunteers, and strengthened the foundations for our long-term fundraising growth. 

Our corporate partnerships help deliver memorable, movement-wide moments. They show Scouts is as vital today as ever, helping young people build skills for life through having fun, getting outdoors, and making friends. 

- Our partnership with Omaze raised an incredible £3.5 million. This relationship, our most successful corporate campaign to date, is helping to grow Squirrels, sustain places across Beavers and Cubs, invest in volunteer training, and help us support young people’s mental health. 

- In association with the UK Space Agency, we launched our Space Activity Badges. With events at The National Space Centre and Science Museum, over 108,000 young people have earned badges so far. 

- Our ongoing partnership with GO Outdoors supported more young people to get outdoors as part of our Outdoor in 24 initiative, and contributed to 399,000 badges being awarded. This relationship also helped generate record TikTok engagement for Scouts, as we’ve had over 240,000 views of our sleeping bag rolling competition. 

- Our ‘Platforms for Change’ campaign, as part of our partnership with The Rail Industry, promoted railway safety alongside community impact. It won multiple prizes at the Corporate Engagement Awards 2025, and ‘National Partnership Champion’ at the Charity Times Awards. 

- Our partnership with HSBC UK resulted in 40,000 Beavers and Cubs earning Money Skills badges, setting them up with lifelong financial skills. In addition, 2,600 young people got to learn directly from HSBC staff volunteering in their local Scout groups. We joined HSBC UK at the Labour and Conservative party conferences to promote financial skills for life alongside our Scouts’ Manifesto. 

Working alongside statutory partners, trusts, and foundations helps Scouts to open new Sections to reach underserved communities and offer the life-changing opportunities that help our young people gain skills for life. 

- The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Uniformed Youth Fund enabled 155 new Scout and Explorer Sections to open across England this year. This created over 3,100 new places for 10-18 year olds to gain skills for life. Crucially, this funding also helped recruit 460 new volunteers. DCMS funding plays a key role in reducing waiting lists, expanding access, and strengthening Scouts’ offering in underserved communities. 

- ‘Generation Green 2’ funding, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), enabled 3,350 young people from disadvantaged communities to get outdoors and enjoy nights away. Generation Green 2 provided fully-funded, two-night residentials where young people got to build lifelong connections to nature through activities. 

- A grant from Rewilding Britain enabled us to pilot new plans around how we can actively support nature to thrive, while creating new opportunities for young people to develop green skills for life. 

36 



- We’re proud to have become long-term partners of Postcode Children Trust, supported by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. This funding played a pivotal role in our Skills for Life strategy, supporting our ambitious growth plans and enabling more young people to benefit from Scouts. 

- Generous support from Islamic Relief UK (IRUK) has continued to help more young people in Muslim communities to join Scouts. 

- Developing new fundraising initiatives help us to create sustainable ways for Scouts supporters to invest in the future of young people and keep membership fee increases to a minimum. 

- We launched our Scouts lottery. By donating just £1 a week, participants stand a chance of winning up to £25,000. 

- We encouraged more people to remember young people and Scouts in their wills by offering a free will-writing service. Leaving a legacy makes it easier for future volunteers and secures the future of Scouts in more communities. 

Scouts remains committed to cost-effective fundraising that delivers the maximum impact. We were recognised as a sector-leading team and took home ‘Highly Commended Fundraising Team of the Year’ at the Charity Times Awards 2025. 

37 



## Our finances 

## **Overview** 

Scouts is pleased to share that, as of 31 March 2025, our balance sheet remains strong. This is despite a £3.1m reduction (2023-24: £4.1m reduction) in our total funds from £82.5m to £79.4m arising from a net deficit on unrestricted funds of £5.7m, partially off-set by an increase in restricted funds of £2.6m. Looking forward, our focus is on containing the unrestricted deficit for the year to March 2026 within the £2.5m budget set by the Board, while also meeting their challenge to achieve a break-even position, or better, for the year to March 2027 and beyond. 

For the purposes of this report, we have excluded any jamboree income and expenditure, as referenced throughout, to ensure the figures are comparable. 

## **Income** 

Our total income for the year was £46.9m, compared with £39.6m in the prior year, excluding £14.1m of Jamboree income not repeated in the current year. £38.8m of income was unrestricted (2023-24: £34.8m, excluding the Jamboree) and £8.2m restricted (202324: £4.8m). 

The unrestricted income included: 

- Membership subscriptions of £15.5m (2023-24: £14.3m) reflecting a 2.0% increase in youth membership and a £2 (5.6%) increase in the membership fee. 

- Trading income of £12.9m (2023-24: £13.2m), made up of retail sales from Scout Shops, insurance commission income generated by Unity, sponsorship, 

and promotional income. A decline in uniform and badge sales, combined with a lower-than-expected membership growth during 2024–25, reduced Scout Shop income by £0.7m to £8.9m. At £2.7m, Unity commission income showed a slight increase on the previous year. Income from promotions and sponsorships increased by over 15% to nearly £1.3m. 

- Charitable activities income of £6m (2023-24: £4m, excluding the 2023 Jamboree) consists primarily of income from the National Scout Adventure Centres. While the increase year on year is promising, these centres don’t yet show an overall surplus. Their work, however, is continuing to improve our offer both to Scouts and non-Scouts clients. 

- £1.2m profit on the sale of Downe Activity Centre. 

- Investment income (including interest) of £1.95m, £0.1m down on the previous year due to lower cash and investment balances. 

At Scouts, we can’t overstate how much we appreciate the vital and generous support of our donors. In these difficult and uncertain economic times, we’re thrilled that voluntary income at £9.4m was £3.5m up on the previous year. Of this total, unrestricted income was broadly flat at about £1.3m and includes £0.5m from the Postcode Children Trust. Restricted income increased by about £3.5m, largely due to the donation from Omaze to fund the growth and development of Squirrels in future years, as well as £0.7m from Generation Green. We’re also grateful to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) for a grant of £2.8m from their Uniformed Youth Fund to support Local Growth Officers in England, as they continue to open new Scout and Explorer Sections. 








**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Charitable activities Grants, Donations & Legacies Trading activities<br>Investment Income & Property Sales Membership subscriptions<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


38 



## **Expenditure** 

Scouts’ total expenditure was £50.6m, compared to £60.2m in 2023–24, which included £16m of spend related to the Jamboree that wasn’t repeated in the current year. 

£45.2m of spend was unrestricted (2023-24: £40.0m, excluding the Jamboree) and £5.4m restricted (202324: £4.3m) and included: 

- Staff costs of £25m. This was up £2.5m over the previous year, due to the full year impact of new roles recruited in 2023–24 and additional roles appointed to deliver key projects in digital transformation, Volunteer Experience, Skills for Life and safety. A number of these roles, particularly across Skills for Life and Volunteer Experience, were fixed term. They came to an end, in stages, in the run up to March 2025. 

## **Charity funds** 

By 31 March 2025, Scouts’ consolidated funds stood at £79.4m, down £3.1m over the previous year. These funds were made up of: 

   - £2.3m of endowment funds (2023-24: £2.3m) comprising of the 1914 Endowment Fund (£1.1m), £0.9m King George VI Leadership Fund, and six smaller endowments. While capital is preserved, the investment income arising is allocated to either unrestricted or restricted spend depending on the terms of the endowment. 

   - £6.9m of restricted funds (2023-24: £4.3m) comprising a £3.5m restricted donation from Omaze for spending over the coming years, £0.7m of funds remaining for the ongoing refurbishment of The Welcome Centre, £0.8m of local development funds, and a range of smaller unspent restricted funds. 

- £1.4m expenditure for continuing investment in new digital tools to support the Volunteer Experience, which went live in late 2024. A further £1.6m of spend was capitalised in the year. 

- £2.6m relating to public liability claims and the associated legal costs (2023-24 £2.5m). 

- £1.5m (2023–24: £1.3m) of grants to Scouts’ Groups, Districts, Areas, and Counties. 

As shown on the pie charts below, we spent £41.6m (2023-24: £34.6m, excluding the Jamboree) on charitable activities. This spend is allocated under four headings, which help Scouts fulfil four strategic objectives (Growth, Inclusivity, Youth Shaped, and Community Impact). £5.4m of costs (2023-24: £4.2m) were funded by restricted funds. 

- £31.5m designated fixed asset fund (2023-24: £29.9m) matched to The Scout Association’s tangible, intangible, and heritage assets. This mainly increased due to the revaluation of Scouts’ heritage assets and the capitalisation of our software development. 

- At £2.6m, the pension fund surplus remains broadly unchanged from the prior year. 

- General funds reduced by £7m to £35.1m, due to funding the unrestricted deficit for the year plus a £1.2m transfer to the fixed asset fund. 

Note 18 in the financial statements, describes all funds in more detail, including an analysis of movements in the review period. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
17% 17%<br>37% 37%<br>23% 23%<br>23% 23%<br>Youth programme and activities Adult support and training<br>Development of Scouts Support and services to the Scouts movement<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


39 



## **Reserve policy** 

Every year, the Trustees review our reserve policy. The intention is to hold reserves to protect The Scout Association and its delivery of charitable programmes. The policy is designed to provide Scouts with time to adjust to changing financial (and/or other) conditions. 

The reserves policy establishes a target for the level of general ‘free’ reserves, as represented by the balance of the General Fund. This target is based on a risk assessment of the likely financial impact on The Scout Association’s activities, caused by a decline in income, an inability to meet its financial obligations, or an inability to reduce expenditure in the short term. The risk assessment also considers how likely these circumstances are to occur. The policy aims to create a balance between spending the maximum amount of income raised as soon as we receive it, while maintaining an appropriate level of reserves so the charity can operate uninterrupted. It also provides parameters for future budgeting, strategic plans, and decision making. 

The COVID-19 pandemic showed how unexpected events can create significant short-term reductions in membership and the associated loss of commercial income while the need to maintain member services remains high. So, our Trustees currently believe that the appropriate target for Scouts’ free reserves should be based on one year’s unrestricted expenditure (excluding one-off, generally self-funded, events such as the Jamboree), with an additional element for possible future claims costs reflecting the longer time frame over which they emerge. 

Based on unrestricted charitable expenditure of £36m for the year ending 31 March 2025, plus an assumed £3m for possible future claims, this would indicate a target reserves level in the order of £39m. 

As of 31 March 2025, general ‘free’ reserves for the charity stood at £35.1m (2023-24: £42.1m), nearly £3.9m under this target reserves level. 

The Trustees have approved an unrestricted budget for 2025–26, which would give a further loss of about £2.5m. It’s, therefore, expected that free reserves will reduce again over the coming 12 months. While Trustees aren’t expecting the free reserves to be replenished to the target level in the short to medium term, they’ve challenged the management team to deliver a break-even (or better) budget for 2026–27 to protect reserves and build a more financially sustainable position into the future. A cost reduction programme is underway, focussed on both staff and non-staff costs, to meet this challenge. This should preserve (or marginally build) reserves next year, and lower the target, through reducing the level of unrestricted expenditure. 

## **Investment policy and performance** 

The charity holds £35.5m in fixed asset investments. £24.6m are in a longer-term investment portfolio (initially equally allocated between two fund managers), with the balance of £10.9m held in short-term money market funds. Since 2022, the performance targets given to the fund managers for the longer-term portfolios, over the medium to long term, are: 

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

- On a total return basis, to outperform CPI + 4% per annum on a rolling three-year basis. 

Neither manager has achieved this target in the period since the portfolios were established in 2022. This isn’t surprising, given the rise in inflation and volatile market conditions over this period. Both, however, are performing broadly in line with benchmarks for similar multi-asset portfolios which have a significant equity component. The Trustees believe that such an asset allocation is still appropriate for assets to be held for the long term, although the performance of the managers is kept under review. 

## **Going concern** 

The Board has considered the financial plans for the budget year of 2025–26 and projections for the following two years, looking at both cash and reserve projections. 

The Board believes that current actions, focused on containing the unrestricted deficit for 2025–26 to within the £2.5m budget set by the Board, and meeting the challenge of a break-even or better unrestricted budget for 2026-27 (through a cost-saving programme), will provide a solid foundation for building a sustainable financial position for the future. The Board’s view is Scouts’ current reserves provide a significant level of resilience towards any possible financial risks that may materialise in the short to medium term. 

Taking all the above into account, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has the 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. 

## **The Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme** 

The most recent full triennial actuarial valuation of The Scout Association Defined Benefit Scheme was carried out as of 31 March 2022. The valuation resulted in a deficit of £2.5m and a funding level of 94% – an improvement from the 86% funding level at the previous March 2019 valuation. As agreed by the Board, £2.5m was paid in March 2023 to eliminate this deficit. Following this injection and as sanctioned by the 

40 



Pension Fund Trustees, the scheme has further reduced its exposure to changes in future interest rates and equity markets. As such, the probability of Scouts’ facing prospective liabilities has significantly reduced. That said, the Board continues to monitor the scheme’s funding to make sure general reserves provide adequate cover and keep the potential for effecting an insurance buy-out of the scheme under review. 

The accounting FRS102 valuation as of 31 March 2025 shows the fair value of the scheme assets exceeded the present value of future obligations by £2.6m (2023-24: £2.7m). This slight reduction is primarily due to the decline in asset values over the year, largely offset by the decrease in the fund’s liabilities, due to the increase in the discount rate assumption. This comparatively low net variation was as anticipated, given that the fund has taken steps to derisk its overall exposure to economic conditions and in particular interest rates. 

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 for permanent members. 

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. 

## **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 senior staff remuneration are contained in notes 6 and 7 to the financial statements. 

41 



## Trustees’ responsibilities 

Our Board of Trustees are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and overseeing our financial statements in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (as amended in 2022) and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP). 

Trustees make sure our financial statements give a true and fair view of the status of both the group and the charity. They also monitor income generating activities and the application of Scouts’ resources throughout the year. 

- A scheme of delegated authority. 

- Risk identification and management processes. 

- Serious incident reporting. 

- Monitoring the effectiveness of any external audits by the Finance Committee. 

In reviewing the strategic plans and policies throughout this year, our Board of Trustees have complied with their legal duty to have due regard to Charity Commission guidance on public benefit while safeguarding the assets. Trustees believe these internal controls are adequate in providing reasonable assurance against material misstatement or loss. 

In preparing these financial statements, Trustees must: 

- Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently. 

## **Craig Dewar-Willox** 

Interim Chair 

- Make judgements and estimates that are both reasonable and prudent. 

- State whether they’ve followed applicable accounting standards, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements. 

- Prepare the financial statements on the ‘going concern’ basis, unless it’s inappropriate to presume the charity will continue in business. 

Our Trustees are responsible for making sure adequate systems of control and accurate accounting records are maintained to safeguard The Scout Association’s assets. They provide reasonable assurance for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 

The financial statements for The Scout Association are published on the Scouts website (scouts.org.uk), in accordance with legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements in the United Kingdom (this may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions) and the maintenance and integrity of the Scouts website is the responsibility of our Trustees. 

Our internal controls include: 

- A strategic and operational plan and budget. 

- Regular consideration by the Board, Finance Committee and Executive Leadership Team of financial results, variances from budget, and other (non-financial) performance indicators. 

42 



## 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 2025 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: 

- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent charity’s affairs as at 31 March 20245 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended; 

- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and 

- 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. 

## **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: 

- the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or 

- sufficient and proper accounting records have not been kept by the parent charity; or 

43 



- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. 

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. 

## **Responsibilities of Trustees** 

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement [set out on page 42], 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 non-compliance 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 noncompliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the 

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 non-compliance 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 legacy income, grant income, sponsorship and royalty income, insurance broking income, provisions, the assumptions applied in the define benefit pension scheme valuation and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management and the Finance Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, analytical procedures and sample testing of legacy income, grant income, sponsorship and royalty income, insurance broking income, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases in particular the judgements and assumptions in respect of claims provisions and define benefit pension scheme valuation, 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 we may not have detected some 

44 



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 nondetection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance 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 St James House St James Square Cheltenham, GL50 3PR 

Date: 07 August 2025 

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. 

45 



My daughter Sophie has cerebral palsy and a rare respiratory disease. Since she joined, Sophie has thrived in Scouts. In the two years she’s been a Beaver, she’s played games and explored nature. She’s never made to feel like the odd one out and she’s finally found a space where she belongs. **Nicola, Sophie’s mum** 

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## Consolidated statement of financial activities 

**For the year ended 31 March 2025** 

|**For the year ended 31 March 2025**||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**2025**|||2024|
||||**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||15,466|-|**15,466**|14,301|-|14,301|
|Other voluntaryincome|5.a|1,333|8,059|**9,392**|1,299|4,583|5,882|
|||16,799|8,059|**24,858**|15,600|4,583|20,183|
|**Charitable activities:**||||||||
|Youth programme||1,761|-|**1,761**|1,148|-|1,148|
|Development of Scouting||1,964|-|**1,964**|1,305|-|1,305|
|Adult support and training||1,964|-|**1,964**|1,305|-|1,305|
|Support and services to the members||350|-|**350**|276|-|276|
|Jamboree||-|-|**-**|14,146|-|14,146|
||5.b|6,039|-|**6,039**|18,180|-|18,180|
|Trading activities|5.c|12,889|-|**12,889**|13,244|-|13,244|
|Investment income|5.d|1,824|126|**1,950**|1,850|199|2,049|
|Proft on sale of Fixed Assets||1,199|-|**1,199**|-|-|-|
|Other income||4|1|**5**|52|25|77|
|**Total income**||38,754|8,186|**46,940**|48,926|4,807|53,733|
|**Expenditure on:**||||||||
|**Raising funds:**||||||||
|Donations and Legacies||222|4|**226**|261|26|287|
|Tradingactivities|6.a|8,731|-|**8,731**|9,407|-|9,407|
|||8,953|4|**8,957**|9,668|26|9,694|
|**Charitable activities:**||||||||
|Youth programme||7,066|19|**7,085**|5,856|41|5,897|
|Development of Scouting||7,820|1,758|**9,578**|6,588|1,349|7,937|
|Adult support and training||7,711|1,758|**9,469**|6,644|1,347|7,991|
|Support and services to the members||13,676|1,830|**15,506**|11,238|1,488|12,726|
|Jamboree||-|-|**-**|15,958|-|15,958|
||6.b|36,273|5,365|**41,638**|46,284|4,225|50,509|
|||||||||
|**Total expenditure**||45,226|5,369|**50,595**|55,952|4,251|60,203|
|Netgains/(losses)on investments||212|9|**221**|1,378|118|1,496|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**||(6,260)|2,826|**(3,434)**|(5,648)|674|(4,974)|
|Transfers between funds||211|(211)|**-**|147|(147)|-|
|**Other recognised gains/(losses):**||||||||
|**Gain on revaluation of heritage assets**||301|-|**301**|-|-|-|
|Actuarial gains on defned beneft||||||||
|pension scheme|7.a|14|-|**14**|823|-|823|
|**Net movement in funds**|8|(5,734)|2,615|**(3,119)**|(4,678)|527|(4,151)|
|**Reconciliation of funds:**|18|||||||
|**Fund balances brought forward at 31**||||||||
|**March 2024**||75,910|6,576|**82,486**|80,588|6,049|86,637|
|**Fund balances carried forward at 31**||||||||
|**March 2025**||70,176|9,191|**79,367**|75,910|6,576|82,486|



The notes on pages 50 to 73 form part of these financial statements 

47 



## Balance sheet 

## **As at 31 March 2025** 

|**As at 31 March 2025**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
|||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||Notes|**£'000**|£'000|**£'000**|£'000|
|**Fixed assets**||||||
|Intangible fixed assets|9|**6,549**|5,407|**5,905**|4,954|
|Heritage assets|10|**4,240**|3,939|**4,240**|3,939|
|Tangible fixed assets|11|**21,545**|21,086|**21,372**|20,948|
|Investment in subsidiary companies|12|**-**|-|**301**|393|
|Fixed asset investments|13|**35,495**|32,844|**35,495**|32,844|
|||**67,829**|63,276|**67,313**|63,078|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Stocks|14|**2,552**|1,943|**273**|394|
|Debtors|15|**13,730**|9,261|**17,632**|12,260|
|Cash & cash equivalents||**7,105**|17,602|**2,460**|12,914|
|||**23,387**|28,806|**20,365**|25,568|
|**Current liabilities**||||||
|Creditors - amounts falling due within||||||
|oneyear|16|**(7,194)**|(7,960)|**(4,531)**|(5,546)|
|**Net current assets**||**16,193**|20,846|**15,834**|20,022|
|**Total assets less current liabilities**||**84,022**|84,122|**83,147**|83,100|
|**Provisions for liabilities**|17|**(7,293)**|(4,364)|**(7,293)**|(4,364)|
|**Net assets excluding pension liability**||**76,729**|79,758|**75,854**|78,736|
|**Pension asset**|7a|**2,638**|2,728|**2,638**|2,728|
|**Net assets**||**79,367**|82,486|**78,492**|81,464|
|**The Association’s funds**||||||
|Endowment funds|18|**2,315**|2,267|**2,315**|2,267|
|Restricted funds|18|**6,876**|4,309|**6,876**|4,309|
|Total restricted funds||**9,191**|6,576|**9,191**|6,576|
|General fund|18|**35,137**|42,145|**35,137**|42,145|
|Pension reserve|7a,18|**2,638**|2,728|**2,638**|2,728|
|Designated funds|18|**31,526**|30,015|**31,526**|30,015|
|Non charitable tradingfunds|12,18|**875**|1,022|**-**|-|
|Total unrestricted funds||**70,176**|75,910|**69,301**|74,888|
|||||||
|**Total funds**||**79,367**|82,486|**78,492**|81,464|



Approved by the Board of Trustees on 7th August 2025 and authorised for release and signed on its behalf by: 

**Craig Dewar-Willox** Interim Chair 

**Mike Ashley** Treasurer 

The notes on pages 50 to 73 form part of these financial statements 

48 



## Statement of cash flows 

|**For the year ended 31 March 2025**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||**£,000**|£'000|**£,000**|£'000|
|**a. Cash fows**|||||
|**Net cash used by operating activities (see below)**|**(7,457)**|(13,780)|**(7,938)**|(12,031)|
|Cash fows from investing activities:|||||
|Investment Income|**1,950**|2,049|**2,001**|2,093|
|Proceeds from the sale of property|**1,775**|-|**1,775**|-|
|Purchase of fxed assets|**(4,335)**|(5,273)|**(3,862)**|(4,988)|
|Realisation of fxed asset investments|**12,389**|15,540|**12,389**|15,540|
|Acquisition of fxed asset investments|**(14,819)**|(5,332)|**(14,819)**|(5,332)|
|**Net cash (absorbed)/provided by**|||||
|**investing activities**|**(3,040)**|6,984|**(2,516)**|7,313|
|**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year**|**(10,497)**|(6,796)|**(10,454)**|(4,718)|
|Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April|**17,602**|24,398|**12,914**|17,632|
|**Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March**|**7,105**|17,602|**2,460**|12,914|
|**b. Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to cash fow from operating activities**|||||
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting**|||||
|**period from the Statement of Financial Activities**|**(3,434)**|(4,974)|**(3,286)**|(5,082)|
|Adjustments for:|||||
|Gains on investments|**(221)**|(1,498)|**(221)**|(1,498)|
|Investment Income|**(1,950)**|(2,049)|**(2,001)**|(2,093)|
|Funding of pension liabilities|**-**|(50)|**-**|(50)|
|FRS 102 Pension cost|**104**|153|**104**|153|
|(Proft)/loss on disposal of fxed assets|**(1,199)**|1|**(1,199)**|-|
|Depreciation|**2,158**|2,061|**1,911**|1,823|
|Impairment of subsidiaries|**-**|-|**92**|7|
|(Increase)/Decrease in stocks|**(609)**|71|**121**|(245)|
|(Increase)/Decrease in debtors|**(4,469)**|4,593|**(5,373)**|6,532|
|Decrease in current investments|**-**|10,780|**-**|10,780|
|Decrease in creditors|**(766)**|(23,767)|**(1,015)**|(23,257)|
|Increase in provisions for liabilities|**2,929**|899|**2,929**|899|
|**Net cash used operating activities**|**(7,457)**|(13,780)|**(7,938)**|(12,031)|
|**c. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents**|||||
|**Cash in hand**|**7,105**|17,602|**2,460**|12,914|
|**Total cash and cash equivalents**|**7,105**|17,602|**2,460**|12,914|



The notes on pages 50 to 73 form part of these financial statements 

49 



**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 organisations 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. 

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

- Scout Shops Limited (trading as Scout Store) 

- Scout Insurance Services Limited (trading as Unity) 

- Scout Services Limited 

- Scout Products Limited 

## **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** 

## **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. 

## **Grant income** 

The fair value of the government grants are accrued as per the terms of the funder agreement. 

## **Charitable, retail and other trading income** 

Income from charitable activities, retail sales and other trading activities including sponsorship 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. 

## **Insurance commission income** 

Insurance commission is recognised at the date of inception of the policy. The amount recognised is the total commission due to the company less an overall provision for unearned commission. 

Profit related commission is recognised when it can be reliably measured and is likely to be received. 

## **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. 

- World Scout Shop Limited 

The financial year end of each of the subsidiary companies is 31 March. More information on these companies is in note 12. 

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 post-acquisition 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. 

50 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **d. Allocation of income and costs** 

- Trading – 6% 

## **Charitable activities** 

This comprises income from the provision of services supporting the objects of the Association through operations including National Activity Centres, and the Information Centre. 

- Youth programme – 20% 

- Development of Scouting – 29% 

- Adult support and training – 26% 

- Support and services to members – 19% 

Charitable activities have been analysed under the following headings: 

- Youth programme 

- Development of Scouting 

- Adult support and training 

- Support and services to members 

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. Major self-funding events, including the Jamboree, are not allocated with total income and costs for the event shown separately. The other major allocations are set out below. 

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



## **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: 

## **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. Expenditure** 

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is allocated as per note 3d Charitable activities. 

## **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. 

## **f. 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 projects have completed they are written off over 5 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. 

## **g. 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 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. 

Some 300 key items in the Association’s collection, particularly those relating to the Founder, are valued periodically since the nature of these items permits that to be sufficiently reliable. The last valuation was at 19 February 2025 (see note 10). Gains and losses on revaluation are recognised through ‘Other recognised gains’ in the Statement of Financial Activities. It is the intention of The Scout Association to preserve these items 

51 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

indefinitely, therefore amortisation is not regarded as appropriate. 

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. Such items are therefore not recognised on the Balance Sheet. 

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. 

## **h. Tangible fixed assets** 

Tangible assets are stated at cost. Where land and buildings are acquired together it is assumed that the buildings represent 50% of the initial cost. Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of assets by equal annual amounts over their expected useful lives. Assets costing less than £5,000 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 

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. 

## **i. Fixed asset 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. 

price method and consists of the original cost of goods without any addition for overheads. 

## **l. 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. 

## **m. VAT** 

The Association is partially exempt for VAT purposes and is not able to reclaim all the VAT it pays. All Irrecoverable VAT is expensed as it is currently not allocated to the related expenses or assets. 

## **n. Leases** 

All leases are operating leases and the rentals expensed as they are paid. 

## **p. Pension costs** 

Contributions payable to The Scout Association Defined Benefit 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 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. Any excess of liabilities over the value of the pension scheme assets which are measured at fair value is recognised in full. Any surplus of pension scheme assets over liabilities is recognised as an asset to the extent that the Association is able to recover the surplus either through reduced contributions in the future or refunds from the plan. 

Administration costs, 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 or loss on the scheme for the year is included in the Other recognised gains/(losses) section of the Statement of Financial Activities. 

Contributions towards Defined Contribution schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they are incurred. 

## **p. Financial assets** 

Gains or losses arising during the year are disclosed in the Statement of Financial Activities and in note 13. 

## **j. Cash and cash equivalents** 

Cash and cash equivalents are held to meet short-term cash commitments as they fall due. Cash equivalents are fixed deposit accounts that are readily convertible to cash in that they have a short maturity of three months or less as at the balance sheet date. 

## **k. Stocks** 

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and estimated net realisable value. Cost is calculated using the current purchase 

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

## **q. 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.. 

52 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **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 or not there are indications of impairment of the Scout Association’s tangible and intangible assets, taking into consideration the economic viability and expected future financial performance of the asset. 

## **4. Nature of funds** 

All funds are 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** 

- 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 obligations in line with FRS 102 requirements, supported by actuarial advice. 

- The determination of whether the organisation can recover any pension scheme asset in line with FRS102 requirements. 

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. 

53 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **5. Income and endowments** 

## **a. Other voluntary income** 

||||**2025**|||2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Restricted**|||Restricted||
|||**and**|||and||
||**Unrestricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|Unrestricted|Endowment|Total|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Legacies|411|232|**643**|577|926|1,503|
|Grants|19|3,876|**3,895**|223|3,412|3,635|
|Otherdonations|903|3,951|**4,854 **|499|245|744|
|**Total**|1,333|8,059|**9,392**|1,299|4,583|5,882|



Included in grants above is the DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund grant of £2.8m (2024: £2.7m) and Generation Green grants of £0.7m (2024: £nil). 

Included in other donations is the Omaze donation of £3.5m (2024: £nil) and the Postcode Children Trust donation of £0.5m (2024: £nil). 

## **b. Charitable activities** 

This income is derived mainly from major events like the Jamboree and National Activity Centres where most of the activities are not undertaken with the principal intention of generating a surplus. The Association’s charitable activities are financed by membership subscriptions and fundraising. There was no restricted or endowment charitable activities income. 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**|Unrestricted|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|National events|**760**|567|
|National Centres|**4,763**|2,990|
|Jamboree|**-**|14,146|
|Other income|**516**|477|
|**Total**|**6,039**|18,180|



## **c. Trading activities** 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**|Unrestricted|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|Retail sales|**8,890**|9,556|
|Insurance commission income|**2,727**|2,590|
|Sponsorship, promotions androyalties|**1,272**|1,098|
|**Total**|**12,889**|13,244|



There is no income for trading activites under restricted and endowment funds. Retail sales is comprises sales from Scout Shops Limited, World Scout Shop Limited and Scout Products Limited. 

## **d. Investment income** 

|**d. Investment income**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**2025**|||2024|
|||**Restricted**|||Restricted||
|||**and**|||and||
||**Unrestricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|Unrestricted|Endowment|Total|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Fixed asset investments|1,126|126|**1,252**|1,023|110|1,133|
|Short Term Investment Service|-|-|**-**|-|89|89|
|Interest on bank and fxed deposit|611|-|**611**|775|-|775|
|accounts|||||||
|Other deposit interest|34|-|**34**|29|-|29|
|Rental income|53|-|**53**|23|-|23|
|**Total**|1,824|126|**1,950**|1,850|199|2,049|



54 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **6. Expenditure** 

## **a. Trading activities** 

||||**2025**|||2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Restricted**|||Restricted||
|||**and**|||and||
||**Unrestricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|Unrestricted|Endowment|Total|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Retail operating costs|6,551|-|**6,551**|7,330|-|7,330|
|Insurance brokerage costs|1,856|-|**1,856**|1,831|-|1,831|
|Hostel and conference expenditure|-|-|**-**|12|-|12|
|Sponsorship, promotions and|||||||
|royalties|324|-|**324**|234|-|234|
|**Total**|8,731|-|**8,731**|9,407|-|9,407|



Expenditure on trading activities includes support costs of £0.76m  (2024: £0.68m). The basis for the allocation of support costs is explained in note 6.c. 

## **b. Costs of charitable activities** 

|**b. Costs of charitable activities**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**2025**|
||||**Grant**|**Support**||
|||**Direct**|**funding**|**costs**|**Total**|
||**Notes**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|Youth programme||4,161|369|2,555|**7,085**|
|Development of Scouting||5,504|369|3,705|**9,578**|
|Adult support and training||5,779|369|3,321|**9,469**|
|Support and services tomembers||12,710|369|2,427|**15,506**|
|**Total**||28,154|1,476|12,008|**41,638**|
||||||2024|
||||Grant|Support||
|||Direct|funding|costs|Total|
|||£’000|£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Youth programme||3,308|321|2,268|5,897|
|Development of Scouting||4,326|321|3,290|7,937|
|Adult support and training||4,721|321|2,949|7,991|
|Support and services to members||10,250|321|2,155|12,726|
|Jamboree||15,958|-|-|15,958|
|Total||38,563|1,284|10,662|50,509|



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. 

55 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **6. Expenditure continued** 

## **a. Analysis of grants to local Scouting** 

|**a. Analysis of grants to local Scouting**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|Generation Green|**180**|-|
|Underrepresented Communities|**158**|46|
|Early Years Project|**90**|111|
|DCMS|**690**|609|
|International Fund|**24**|20|
|Benevolent Fund|**25**|15|
|Admiralty Fund and Trinity House Fund (Sea Scouts)|**65**|334|
|Ash legacy|**111**|-|
|Legacies paid to groups|**45**|1|
|Individual giving|**53**|26|
|Other|**35**|122|
|**Total**|**1,476**|1,284|



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. 

## **b. Support costs allocation** 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|Fixed asset depreciation|**2,158**|2,061|
|Irrecoverable VAT|**931**|965|
|Offce accommodation and services|**1,280**|1,202|
|Central management|**908**|926|
|Human resources, legal and company secretarial|**1,547**|1,528|
|Finance and accounting|**1,065**|902|
|Information technology and business solutions|**4,215**|3,171|
|Movement in pension scheme defcit recognised in resources expended|**104**|153|
|Governance|**565**|433|
|**Total**|**12,773**|11,341|
|**Allocated to:**|||
|Costs of charitable activities|**12,008**|**10,662**|
|Expenditure on trading activities|**765**|**679**|
|**Total**|**12,773**|**11,341**|



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.d. 

## **c. Expenditure includes:** 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|**Auditor’s remuneration**|||
|Audit fees|**100**|100|
|Taxation compliance and grant income certifcates|**-**|12|
|**Trustees’ expenses**|**15**|15|



During the year 22 Trustees (2024: 18 Trustees) were reimbursed £18,688 (2024: £15,417) for expenses, such as travel and subsistence, incurred in their attending meetings and in the carrying out of their duties. 

56 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **7. Staff costs** 

|**7. Staff costs**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|Wages and salaries|**20,816**|19,028|
|Social security costs|**2,367**|2,151|
|Defned contribution pension costs|**1,418**|1,268|
|Termination costs|**430**|128|
||**25,031**|22,575|



|The average number of employees during the year was:|**Headcount**<br>**Full time equivalent**|
|---|---|
||**2025**<br>2024<br>**2025**<br>2024|
|**Activity**<br>The Scout Association<br>Scout Shops Limited/World Scout Shop Limited<br>Scout Services Limited<br>Unity (Scout Insurance Services Limited)|**425**<br>392<br>**401**<br>375<br>**58**<br>59<br>**56**<br>58<br>**6**<br>6<br>**6**<br>6<br>**27**<br>28<br>**26**<br>27|
|**Total**|**516**<br>485<br>**489**<br>466|



Increases across various areas, mainly supporting digital transformation including Volunteer Experience, the Skills for Life programme and new safety roles. 

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

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
|£60,001 to £70,000|**28**|20|
|£70,001 to £80,000|**14**|5|
|£80,001 to £90,000|**7**|7|
|£90,001 to £100,000|**3**|3|
|£100,001 to £110,000|**2**|1|
|£110,001 to £120,000|**2**|4|
|£120,001 to £130,000|**3**|2|
|£130,001 to £140,000|**-**|1|
|£140,001 to £150,000|**1**|1|



The Chief Executive Officer role, is also a Trustee, for which they are not paid. They receive salary and benefits for their service as Chief Executive Officer. Matthew Hyde, OBE left in September and received salary and benefits of £79,910 (2024: £146,610) and Aidan Jones, OBE joined in October and received salary and benefits of £69,007 (2024: £nil). 

Pension contributions for the Chief Executive Officer role consisted of £7,912 (2024: £14,490) for Matthew Hyde and £7,012 (2024: £nil) for Aidan Jones. 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, Executive Director of Commercial Services, Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising, Executive Director of Operations, Executive Director of Finance & Resources, Executive Director of Strategy and Transformation, Managing Director of Unity 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 £1,133,389 (2024: £1,203,214). 

57 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **7a. Staff costs** 

## **Pension schemes** 

Pension provision for current staff is provided through a defined contribution arrangement. 

The Association previously provided defined benefit pensions through the Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”). The Scheme was closed to future accrual with effect from 1 July 2022. It has 87 deferred members and 156 members in receipt of a current pension. 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 last triennial actuarial valuation of the scheme was carried out as at 31 March 2022 and showed a deficit of £2.5 million. In March 2023 the Association paid £2.5 million to eliminate this deficit as agreed with the Trustees. This was in addition to payments of £50k made in April 2023, and £1.1 million in respect of the previous deficit reduction plan and to cover administration expenses. 

## **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. Pension payments increase at different rates for different accrual periods. A later table shows the sensitivity of the liability to these assumptions. 

The fair value of the scheme assets exceeded the present value of future obligations at 31 March 2025 by £2.7 million. 

## **Principal actuarial assumptions** 

|**Principal actuarial assumptions**|||
|---|---|---|
||**31 March 2025**|31 March 2024|
||**%**|%|
|Discount rate|**5.65**|4.75|
|Infation - RPI|**3.15**|3.20|
|Infation - CPI|**2.55**|2.50|
|Salary increases|**2.65**|2.60|
|Pension increase (RPI max 5.0%)|**3.10**|3.15|
|Pension increase (RPI max 2.5%)|**2.30**|2.30|
|Amount of tax-free cash taken at retirement|20%|20%|
|**Mortality**|||
|S3PA tables|95%|95%|
|CMI projections (year)|2023|2022|
|Long-term trend rate for pensioners|1.25%|1.25%|
|Long-term trend rate for non-pensioners|1.50%|1.50%|
|2020 and 2021 weight parameters|0%|0%|
|2022 weight parameters||25%|
|2022 and 2023 weight parameters|15%||



58 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **7a. Staff costs continued** 

## **Balance sheet position** 

|**Balance sheet position**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**31 March 2025**||31 March 2024|
||%|**£’000**|%|£’000|
|Equities|0%|**-**|13%|4,122|
|Diversifed growth assets|11%|**3,228**|23%|7,735|
|Liability Driven Investments|30%|**8,868**|26%|8,671|
|Corporate bonds|51%|**15,115**|25%|8,151|
|Cash|8%|**2,476**|14%|4,508|
|Fair value of assets|100%|**29,687**|100%|33,187|
|Present value of funded obligations||**(27,049)**||(30,459)|
|**Net defned beneft asset**||**2,638**||2,728|
|**Amounts recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities**|||||
|||**2025**||2024|
|||**£’000**||£’000|
|Administration costs||**(228)**||(242)|
|Interest on liabilities||**(1,407)**||(1,457)|
|Interest on assets||**1,531**||1,546|
|**Total expenditure for the year**||**(104)**||(153)|
|**Remeasurement gains/(losses)**|||||
|(Loss)/Gain on assets in excess of interest||**(3,087)**||105|
|Experience Gain/(Loss) on liabilities||**62**||(412)|
|Gain from changes to demographic assumptions||**92**||912|
|Gain from changes to fnancial assumptions||**2,947**||218|
|**Total actuarial gains**||**14**||823|



## **Reconciliation of the fair value of assets and liabilities** 

||**31 March 2025**|31 March 2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|Fair value of assets at the start of the year|**33,187**|34,238|
|Interest on assets|**1,531**|1,546|
|Administration costs|**(228)**|(242)|
|Contributions by TSA|**-**|50|
|Benefts paid|**(1,716)**|(2,510)|
|Return on assets less interest|**(3,087)**|105|
|**Fair value of assets at the end of the year**|**29,687**|33,187|
|Actual (loss)/return on assets|**1,556**|1,651|



59 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **7a. Staff costs continued** 

|||**31 March 2025**|31 March 2024|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£’000**|£’000|
|Value of liabilities at the start of the year||**(30,459)**|(32,230)|
|Interest cost||**(1,407)**|(1,457)|
|Benefts paid||**1,716**|2,510|
|Experience gain/(loss) on liabilities||**62**|(412)|
|Changes to demographic assumptions||**92**|912|
|Changes to fnancial assumptions||**2,947**|218|
|Value of liabilities at the end of the year||**(27,049)**|(30,459)|
|**Sensitivity of the value placed on the liabilities**||||
|**Adjustments to assumptions**|||**Approximate effect on the liabilities**|
||||**£’000**|
|**Discount rate**|Plus 0.10% p.a.||**(298)**|
||Minus 0.10% p.a.||**303**|
|**Infation**|Plus 0.10% p.a.||**125**|
||Minus 0.10% p.a.||**(124)**|
|**Salary increase**|Plus 0.50% p.a.||**65**|
||Minus 0.50% p.a.||**(63)**|
|**Mortality**|Long-term rate of improvement 0.25%||**(139)**|
||Long-term trend rate 1.25% for all members||**(74)**|
|**Commutation**|Members take 25% of their pension in cash||**84**|



60 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **8. Net movement in funds** 

The net movement in funds arises as follows: 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|The Scout Association|**(2,972)**|(4,258)|
|Subsidiaries|**(147)**|107|
|**Total**|**(3,119)**|(4,151)|



## **9. Intangible fixed assets** 

|**Consolidated**|**IT**|**Brand**||**Systems**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Software**|**Licenses**|**Goodwill**|**Development**|**Total**|
||||£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Cost||||||
|At 1 April 2024|905|84|119|13,917|15,025|
|Additions|368|-|-|1,746|2,114|
|Disposals|-|-|-|(122)|(122)|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**1,273**|**84**|**119**|**15,541**|**17,017**|
|Depreciation||||||
|At 1 April 2024|533|84|119|8,882|9,618|
|Charge for theyear|154|-|-|696|850|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**687**|**84**|**119**|**9,578**|**10,468**|
|Net book values||||||
|**At 31 March 2025**|**586**|**-**|**-**|**5,963**|**6,549**|
|At 31 March 2024|372|-|-|5,035|5,407|
|**The Association**||**Volunteer**||**Other**||
|||**Experience**|**TSA**|**Systems**||
|||**Programme**|**Website**|**Development**|**Total**|
|Cost||£'000|£'000|£'000|£'000|
|At 1 April 2024||3,844|423|9,172|13,439|
|Additions||1,522|142|77|1,741|
|Disposals||-|-|(122)|(122)|
|**At 31 March 2025**||**5,366**|**565**|**9,127**|**15,058**|
|Depreciation||||||
|At 1 April 2024||-|-|8,485|8,485|
|Charge for theyear||355|-|313|668|
|**At 31 March 2025**||**355**|**-**|**8,798**|**9,153**|
|Net book values||||||
|**At 31 March 2025**||**5,011**|**565**|**329**|**5,905**|
|At 31 March 2024||3,844|423|687|4,954|



The Volunteer Experience Programme will deliver transformation to our volunteers, enabling volunteers to do their role more easily, to undertake the learning they need to do for their role, as well as enabling us to attract and recruit more volunteers. As part of this, we are creating new digital tools to enable this work - this includes tools to help with membership tasks, learning, and recruitment. 

61 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **10. Heritage assets** 

## **(a) Consolidated and the Association Unrestricted Funds value** 

||**£’000**|
|---|---|
|At 1 April 2024|3,939|
|Revaluations|301|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**4,240**|



A valuation of items (see note 3g.) was undertaken as at 31 March 2025 by Patrick Bowen BA (Hons) Lond., MRICS which resulted in a valuation increase of £301k from the previous valuation undertaken in 2023. 

## **(b) Five year financial summary of heritage asset transactions** 

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

## **(c) Further information on heritage assets** 

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 16.8% of the Collection by number, including all those items held at valuation, is catalogued to these standards. An additional 1.8% is listed at inventory level. An average of 1,500 new items are accepted into the collection each year representing historic and contemporary Scouting. 

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. The Heritage Service actively seeks external funding to support the delivery of its conservation work. 

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 Executive 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 a sale would be restricted to the care and preservation of the Collection. 

62 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **11. Tangible fixed assets** 

|**Consolidated**|||**Furniture,**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Freehold**|**Leasehold**|**Fittings and**||
||**Property**|**Property**|**Equipment**|**Total**|
|**Cost**|**£'000**|**£'000**|**£'000**|**£'000**|
|At 1 April 2024|28,853|958|9,732|39,543|
|Additions|872|-|1,349|2,221|
|Disposals|(824)|-|(552)|(1,376)|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**28,901**|**958**|**10,529**|**40,388**|
|Depreciation|||||
|At 1 April 2024|9,377|930|8,150|18,457|
|Charge for the year|942|2|364|1,308|
|Eliminated on disposals|(374)|-|(548)|(922)|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**9,945**|**932**|**7,966**|**18,843**|
|Net book values|||||
|**At 31 March 2025**|**18,956**|**26**|**2,563**|**21,545**|
|At 31 March 2024|19,476|28|1,582|21,086|
|**The Association**|||**Furniture,**||
||**Freehold**|**Leasehold**|**Fittings and**||
||**Property**|**Property**|**Equipment**|**Total**|
|**Cost**|**£'000**|**£'000**|**£'000**|**£’000**|
|At 1 April 2024|28,853|958|7,954|37,765|
|Additions|872|-|1,249|2,121|
|Disposals|(824)|-|(552)|(1,376)|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**28,901**|**958**|**8,651**|**38,510**|
|Depreciation|||||
|At 1 April 2024|9,377|930|6,510|16,817|
|Charge for the year|942|2|299|1,243|
|Eliminated on disposals|(374)|-|(548)|(922)|
|**At 31 March 2025**|**9,945**|**932**|**6,261**|**17,138**|
|Net book values|||||
|**At 31 March 2025**|**18,956**|**26**|**2,389**|**21,372**|
|At 31 March 2024|19,476|28|1,444|20,948|



63 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **12. Investment in subsidiary companies** 

|**Net book value of shares**|**£’000**|
|---|---|
|Balance at 1 April 2024|393|
|Impairment of World Scout Shop Limited|(92)|
|**Balance at 31 March 2025**|**301**|



At 31st March 2025, 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|£579|
|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 each covenanted their respective company’s taxable profits to the Association. World Scout Shop Limited ceased trading on 31 March 2024. 

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

64 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **12. Investment in subsidiary companies continued** 

## **Investment in Subsidiaries** 

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

|||||||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**Scout**||||
||**Scout**|**World**|**Scout**|**Insurance**|**Scout**|||
||**Shops**|**Scout Shop**|**Services**|**Services**|**Products**|||
||**Limited**|**Limited**|**Limited**|**Limited**|**Limited**|**Total**|Total|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|£’000|
|Trading income|8,991|-|1,265|2,727|176|**13,159**|14,109|
|Cost of sales|(3,771)|-|(319)|-|(150)|**(4,240)**|(5,255)|
|Gross proft|5,220|-|946|2,727|26|**8,919**|8,854|
|Other income|163|(4)|-|19|-|**178**|206|
|Other costs and expenses|(2,851)|(88)|(5)|(1,856)|(36)|**(4,836)**|(4,715)|
|Surplus/(defcit) before taxation|2,532|(92)|941|890|(10)|**4,261**|4,345|
|Taxation|-|-|-|-|-|**-**|-|
|Donation to the Association|(2,644)|-|(941)|(915)|-|**(4,500)**|(4,245)|
|Net surplus/(defcit)|(112)|(92)|-|(25)|(10)|**(239)**|100|
|Net gain/(loss) on investments|-|-|-|-|-|**-**|-|
|Retained surplus/(defcit)|(112)|(92)|-|(25)|(10)|**(239)**|100|
|Surplus distributed on liquidation|-|-|-|-|-|**-**|-|
|Consolidation adjustments|-|-|-|-|-|**-**|-|
|**Net movement in funds**|(112)|(92)|-|(25)|(10)|**(239)**|100|
|**Shareholders’ funds**||||||||
|Share capital|200|100|-|100|-|**400**|400|
|Reserves|797|(99)|-|95|(17)|**776**|1,015|
|**Fund balances as at 31 March 2025**|997|1|-|195|(17)|**1,176**|1,415|



The reserves balance and net movement in funds are different to the amounts shown for subsidiaries in notes 8 and 18 due to the impairment in TSA of the investment in World Scout Shop Limited. 

65 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **13. Fixed asset investments** 

|**13. Fixed asset investments**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|**£’000**|£’000|
|Market value at 1 April 2024|**32,844**|26,024|**32,844**|26,024|
|Acquisitions at cost|**14,819**|5,332|**14,819**|5,332|
|Disposal proceeds|**(12,389)**|(27)|**(12,389)**|(27)|
|Net gainon revaluation|**221**|1,515|**221**|1,515|
|**Market value at 31 March 2025**|**35,495**|32,844|**35,495**|32,844|
|**Historical cost at 31 March 2025**|**35,738**|32,453|**35,738**|32,453|



The investments comprise of two multi-asset Charity Authorised Investments Funds (CAIFs) and a money market fund, managed by Cazenove Capital and Sarasin & Partners LLP. The CAIFs have a combined value of £24.7m (2024: £24.4m), and the money market fund totalled £10.8m (2024: £8.4m). 

The investments are open-ended funds for which prices are quoted daily by the investment managers and as such are classified as tier 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The multi-asset funds are subject to market risk, therefore, their value changes as the market prices change. The Association holds such investments in support of its reserves policy. 

In relation to the movements for the year, £12.4m of the acquisitions and disposal proceeds relate to switching the Cazenove Capital fund to their Charity Sustainable Multi-asset Fund. The balance related to the additions and subsequent withdrawals from the money market funds was utilised to meet the annual cash requirements. All of the net gain on revaluation relates to the multi-asset funds. 

The Association paid £27,429 investment management fees and commission charges during the year (2024: 44,032). £29,565 was received in rebates from our investment managers (2024: £nil). 

## **14. Stocks** 

|||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|**£’000**|£’000|
|Goods for resale|**2,552**|1,943|**273**|394|



66 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **15. Debtors** 

|**15. Debtors**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|**£’000**|£’000|
|Trade debtors|**1,526**|2,599|**419**|1,525|
|Amounts owed by subsidiaries|**-**|-|**5,889**|4,794|
|Prepayments and accrued income|**6,089**|2,753|**5,582**|2,247|
|Otherdebtors|**5,894 **|3,665|**5,521**|3,450|
|Debtors due within one year|**13,509**|9,017|**17,411**|12,016|
|Debtors due in more than one year:|||||
|Otherdebtors|**221**|244|**221**|244|
||**13,730**|9,261|**17,632**|12,260|
|Other debtors includes amounts receivable from insurers of £4.5m (2024: £3.3m), see note|||16 and 17, and secured, interest||
|bearing loans made to Scout Groups. The loans are repayable as shown||below.|||
||||**Consolidated and The Association**||
||||**2025**|2024|
||||**£’000**|£’000|
|Within one year|||**50**|50|
|Between 2027and2032|||**221**|244|
||||**271**|294|



## **16. Creditors** 

|||**Consolidated**||**The Association**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**|2024|**2025**|2024|
||**£’000**|£’000|**£’000**|£’000|
|**Amounts falling due within one year**|||||
|Trade creditors|**3,159**|2,644|**671**|1,052|
|Othercreditors|**4,035**|5,316|**3,860**|4,494|
||**7,194**|**7,960**|**4,531**|5,546|



Other creditors includes £nil (2024: £845k) of legal fees which will be reimbursed by insurers (see note 15). 

67 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **17. Provisions for liabilities and contingent liabilities** 

||**Consolidated and The Association Claims**|
|---|---|
||**provision**|
||**£’000**|
|**Movements for the year to 31 March 2025**||
|Balance at 1 April 2024|**4,364**|
|Provision utilised|**(1,909)**|
|Provision released|**(1,432)**|
|Additional provision|**6,270**|
|**Balance at 31 March 2025**|**7,293**|
|Movements for the year to 31 March 2024||
|Balance at 1 April 2023|3,465|
|Provision utilised|(1,190)|
|Provision released|(3,450)|
|Additional provision|5,539|
|Balance at 31 March 2024|4,364|



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 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 and to the extent that they can be reliably measured. Such claims are covered in part by commercial insurance policies. The amount receivable from insurers of £4.5m (2024: £3.3m) to the extent that a liability has been recognised has been included in debtors (see note 15). 

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 2025. In some cases, particularly regarding safeguarding or abuse claims, these may be made many years after the original event. 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. Taking into account such insurance cover as is available, the Association is satisfied that any such claims that might arise would not present a significant financial risk to the Association. 

The Association has been notified of regulatory investigations in relation to health and safety matters. At present these matters are not sufficiently advanced to make an assessment of any potential liabilities that could arise from the outcome of these investigations. 

68 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **18. Fund Balances** 

## **a. Reconciliation of movement in funds** 

||**Balance**|||||**Balance**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**1 April**||||**Gains and**|**31 March**|
||**2024**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**losses**|**2025**|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|**Group and charity**|||||||
|**Endowment funds**|||||||
|1914 Endowment Fund|1,070|43|-|(43)|4|**1,074**|
|King George VI Leadership Fund|833|32|-|-|3|**868**|
|All other funds|364|10|-|(3)|2|**373**|
||2,267|85|-|(46)|9|**2,315**|
|**Restricted funds**|||||||
|International Fund|140|6|(24)|1|-|**123**|
|Benevolent Fund|41|2|-|2|-|**45**|
|Benevolent Fund - Squirrels in the Nations|52|-|(25)|1|-|**28**|
|Cornwell Memorial|206|8|(2)|-|-|**212**|
|Gilwell Development|5|15|(3)|(15)|-|**2**|
|Pears Foundation Big Lottery Fund|59|-|-|-|-|**59**|
|Financial Capabilities (HSBC UK)|74|89|(54)|-|-|**109**|
|Nominet - Digital Skills Framework|42|-|(30)|-|-|**12**|
|Training and Permits Fund|30|25|(13)|-|-|**42**|
|Outdoor Adventure Fund|20|25|(13)|-|-|**32**|
|Local Development Funds|340|276|(376)|452|-|**692**|
|Omaze|-|3,500|-|-|-|**3,500**|
|DCMS|(11)|2,841|(2,830)|-|**-**|**-**|
|Welcome Centre|921|2|-|(226)|-|**697**|
|Individual Giving|2,220|445|(998)|(874)|-|**793**|
|All other funds|170|867|(1,001)|494|-|**530**|
||4,309|8,101|(5,369)|(165)|-|**6,876**|
|**Designated funds**|||||||
|Fixed assets|29,881|-|-|1,636|-|**31,517**|
|Inclusion and Solidarity Fund|-|-|-|7|-|**7**|
|Gilwell Park buildings|132|-|-|(130)|-|**2**|
|Hardship Fund|2|-|-|(2)|-|**-**|
||30,015|-|-|1,511|-|**31,526**|
|**Unrestricted funds**|||||||
|General funds|42,145|30,429|(36,650)|(1,300)|513|**35,137**|
|Pension reserve|2,728|-|(104)|-|14|**2,638**|
||44,873|30,429|(36,754)|(1,300)|527|**37,775**|
|**Total charity funds**|**81,464**|**38,615**|**(42,123)**|**-**|**536**|**78,492**|
|**Group**|||||||
|**Non-charitable trading funds**|||||||
|Trading subsidiaries|1,022|8,325|(8,472)|-|-|**875**|
||1,022|8,325|(8,472)|-|-|**875**|
|**Total group funds**|**82,486**|**46,940**|**(50,595)**|**-**|**536**|**79,367**|



69 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **18. Fund Balances continued** 

## **a. Reconciliation of movement in funds for 2023/24** 

||**Balance**|||||**Balance**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**1 April**||||**Gains and**|**31 March**|
||**2023**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**losses**|**2024**|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|**Group and charity**|||||||
|**Endowment funds**|||||||
|1914 Endowment Fund|1,013|44|-|(44)|57|1,070|
|King George VI Leadership Fund|758|33|-|-|42|833|
|All other funds|334|16|-|(5)|19|364|
||2,105|93|-|(49)|118|2,267|
|**Restricted funds**|||||||
|International Fund|154|6|(20)|-|-|140|
|Benevolent Fund|39|2|-|-|-|41|
|Benevolent Fund - Squirrels in the Nations|67|-|(15)|-|-|52|
|Cornwell Memorial|199|8|(1)|-|-|206|
|Gilwell Development|97|9|(2)|(99)|-|5|
|Pears Foundation Big Lottery Fund|59|-|-|-|-|59|
|Financial Capabilities (HSBC UK)|100|85|(50)|(61)|-|74|
|DfE Diamond Fund|6|(6)|-|-|-|-|
|Pears Volunteer Onboarding|35|-|(32)|(3)|-|-|
|Nominet - Digital Skills Framework|66|-|(24)|-|-|42|
|Kickstarter (DWP) Project|2|-|-|(2)|-|-|
|Training and Permits Fund|-|30|-|-|-|30|
|Outdoor Adventure Fund|-|20|-|-|-|20|
|Local Development Funds|676|263|(561)|(38)|-|340|
|DCMS|-|2,681|(2,692)|-|-|(11)|
|Welcome Centre|718|195|-|8|-|921|
|Individual Giving|1,565|925|(262)|(8)|-|2,220|
|All other funds|161|496|(592)|105|-|170|
||3,944|4,714|(4,251)|(98)|-|4,309|
|**Designated funds**|||||||
|Fixed assets|26,677|-|-|3,204|-|29,881|
|Inclusion and Solidarity Fund|1,021|-|-|(1,021)|-|-|
|Gilwell Park buildings|149|-|(17)|-|-|132|
|Hardship Fund|6|-|(4)|-|-|2|
||27,853|-|(21)|2,183|-|30,015|
|**Unrestricted funds**|||||||
|General funds|49,812|40,014|(47,023)|(2,036)|1,378|42,145|
|Pension reserve|2,008|-|(103)|-|823|2,728|
||51,820|40,014|(47,126)|(2,036)|2,201|44,873|
|**Total charity funds**|85,722|44,821|(51,398)|(0)|2,319|81,464|
|**Group**|||||||
|**Non-charitable trading funds**|||||||
|Trading subsidiaries|915|8,912|(8,805)|-|-|1,022|
||915|8,912|(8,805)|-|-|1,022|
||||||||
|**Total group funds**|86,637|53,733|(60,203)|(0)|2,319|82,486|



70 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **18. Fund Balances continued** 

## **b. Endowment funds - Consolidated and the Association** 

Endowment funds include the 1914 Endowment Fund, the King George VI Leadership Fund and 6 (2024: 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 the King George VI Leadership Fund and three others 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 and 18(a), comprising national and local development funds. 

The Omaze Fund is the largest individual restricted fund with a balance of £3.5m (2024: £nil). This is funding to be used for Squirrels growth. 

The restricted Individual Giving fund was set up to receive donations or legacies from individual donors that have been sent for specific purposes. The movements in the year were due to us receiving two large legacies totalling £353k. The outstanding income was for smaller legacies received. The expenditure on this restricted fund is due to the payment of legacies to Scout Groups chosen by donors. 

The Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) awarded funding to Scouts from their Uniformed Youth Fund.  We will use this funding to support growth across the Scouts and Explorers Sections and create 7,250 new places for 10- to 18-year-olds in under-represented and levelling up areas. Spend in the year through this fund was used to: 

- Recruit new staff to form a team within the Growth and Communities team in England, who’ll work with Groups to deliver taster sessions, build programme capacity and help set up new Sections to reduce waiting lists, 

- Recruit dedicated Community Marketing staff to work alongside volunteers in these areas and the new Growth and Communities team, 

- Continue our work to transform the Volunteer Experience to make sure volunteers feel valued and supported, 

- Continue work to improve data and youth insights. 

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 Inclusion and Solidarity fund was transferred to the General Fund last year to fund (in part) the losses on the Jamboree in 2023 

71 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **e. Analysis of net assets between funds** 

|**e. Analysis of net assets between funds**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**31 March 2025**|**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|Intangible fxed assets|6,549|-|-|**6,549**|
|Heritage assets|4,240|-|-|**4,240**|
|Tangible fxed assets|21,545|-|-|**21,545**|
|Investments|33,180|-|2,315|**35,495**|
|Current assets|16,511|6,876|-|**23,387**|
|Creditors|(7,194)|-|-|**(7,194)**|
|Provisions for liabilities|(7,293)|-|-|**(7,293)**|
|Pension asset|2,638|-|-|**2,638**|
||**70,176**|**6,876**|**2,315**|**79,367**|
|31 March 2024|Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|Total|
||£’000|£’000|£’000|£’000|
|Intangible fxed assets|5,407|-|-|5,407|
|Heritage assets|3,939|-|-|3,939|
|Tangible fxed assets|21,086|-|-|21,086|
|Investments|30,577|-|2,267|32,844|
|Current assets|24,497|4,309|-|28,806|
|Creditors|(7,960)|-|-|(7,960)|
|Provisions for liabilities|(4,364)|-|-|(4,364)|
|Pension liability|2,728|-|-|2,728|
||75,910|4,309|2,267|82,486|



## **19. Other financial commitments and authorised expenditure** 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£’000**|£’000|
|At 31 March 2025, the Group had the following minimum lease payment obligations under non-cancellable operating||leases.|
|Not later than one year|**128**|185|
|Later than oneyear and not later than fveyears|**202**|238|
|**Total**|**330**|423|



The total lease payments, included within the financial statements for the year were £185,338 (2024: £271,063). 

At 31 March 2025 there was capital expenditure authorised but not committed of £nil (2024: £606,083). 

## **20. Events occurring after the reporting period** 

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

72 



**Notes to the financial statements (continued)** 

## **21. Related party transactions** 

Expenses and remuneration paid to the Trustees are disclosed in notes 6 and 7 respectively. 

Transactions with the defined benefit pension scheme are disclosed in note 7a. 

Transactions with subsidiaries: 

|||||**Amounts due**|**Amounts due**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Sales made by**|**Management**|**Purchases**|**from related**|**to related**|
||**TSA to**|**charges to**|**from related**|**party at**|**party at**|
|**Entity**|**relatedparty**|**relatedparty**|**party**|**31 March 2025**|**31 March 2025**|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|Scout Shops Limited|-|70|-|3,341|-|
|Scout Services Limited|-|-|-|1,065|-|
|Scout Insurance Services Limited|-|-|110|1,453|-|
|Scout Products Limited|-|11|176|30|-|
|||||**Amounts due**|**Amounts due**|
|2024|**Sales made by**|**Management**|**Purchases**|**from related**|**to related**|
||**TSA to**|**charges to**|**from related**|**party at**|**party at**|
|**Entity**|**relatedparty**|**relatedparty**|**party**|**31 March 2024**|**31 March 2024**|
||**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|**£’000**|
|Scout Shops Limited|-|70|-|3,560|-|
|Scout Services Limited|-|-|-|961|-|
|Scout Insurance Services Limited|-|-|110|1,031|-|
|Scout Products Limited|-|11|470|73|-|



73 



## Our members 

## **Census results for the year ending 31 January 2025** 

|**Youthmembership**|**Male**|**Female**|**Self-**|**Prefer not**|**Total**|**Notes**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**identify**|**tosay**|||
|SquirrelScouts|15,374|6,341|9|160|21,884||
|Beaver Scouts|81,774|26,008|30|949|108,761||
|CubScouts|102,969|35,054|64|805|138,892||
|Scouts|90,300|36,898|116|515|127,829||
|ExplorerScouts*|31,176|16,822|289|263|48,550||
|NetworkMembers|4,300|2,609|61|255|7,225|1|
|**Total Youth Membership**|**325,893**|**123,732**|**569**|**2,947**|**453,141**||
|*Young Leaders|12,441|8,555|133|33|21,162|2|
|**Adult membership (listing the main role category for**||**each adultvolunteer)**|||||
|Section leadership teammembers|44,010|42,434|238|193|86,875||
|Leadershiproles|3,990|2,316|7|1|6,314|3|
|Governanceroles|11,535|8,829|34|41|20,439|4|
|Supportroles|14,060|14,089|10|22|28,181|5|
|**Total Adult Membership**|**73,595**|**67,668**|**289**|**257**|**141,809**||
|**Total membership**|**399,488**|**191,400**|**858**|**3,204**|**594,950**||



## **Scouts in the UK is made up of** (please refer to note 2) 

|**Scouts in the UK is made up of**(please refer to note 2)||
|---|---|
|Squirrel Scout Dreys|1,692|
|Beaver ScoutColonies|6,959|
|Cub ScoutPacks|7,449|
|ScoutTroops|6,895|
|Explorer Scout Units, including Young Leader Units|2,995|
|ScoutNetworks|554|
|Scout Active SupportUnits|62|
|Groups|6,877|
|Districts|624|
|Counties, Regions (Scottish), Areas,Islands|86|



1.  Of our 7,225 Scout Network members, 4,189 also have another ‘adult’ role (in a Section leadership, Governance, Leadership or Support role). 

2.  Explorer Scout Young Leaders aged 14–17 are included in the Explorer Scout numbers above. However, they’re also counted as members of Section Leadership Teams, so they’re included in the total Section Teams membership of 86,875. 

3.  Leadership roles are responsible for the effective operation of their charities (the Scout Group, the Scout District, County, Nations), so we can meet our charitable objectives as a federated charity. They are Group Lead Volunteers, District Lead Volunteers, County Lead Volunteers, Area Lead Volunteers (Wales), Regional Lead Volunteer (Scotland), Island Lead Volunteers, and Branch Lead Volunteers (where formally part of our federated structure). 

4.  Governance roles form the membership of each charity’s Board of Trustees together with any sub-committees. Each Board of Trustees is responsible for making sure the charity achieves its strategic direction. The 28,181 Governance roles don’t include the volunteers who have an Ex-Officio Trustee role (for example, Leadership roles described in note 3, Youth Leads and others). 

5.  Support roles are vital for helping volunteer line managers run Scouts and support Districts, Counties/Areas/Scottish Regions and Nations HQs to operate effectively. 

74 



## How we operate 

## **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 HM Queen Elizabeth II. These charters give authority to the byelaws of The Scout Association, which are approved by His Majesty’s Privy Council. 

The byelaws, in turn, authorise the making of rules for the regulation of The Scout Association’s affairs. The rules are laid out in The Scout Association’s Policy, Organisation and Rules. 

This report and financial statements cover the activities directly controlled by The Scout Association – charity numbers 306101 (England and Wales) and SCO38437 (Scotland). This includes its five wholly owned subsidiary companies – Scout Shops Limited, Scout Insurance Services 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). 

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

## **The Board of Trustees** 

Throughout the year, The Scout Association has diligently adhered to all relevant laws and regulations, ensuring full compliance with the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The Board of Trustees has taken proactive measures to maintain transparency and accountability in all our operations. We’ve implemented robust governance practices and regularly reviewed our policies to align with legal requirements. Our commitment to ethical standards and regulatory compliance underscores our dedication to serving the community effectively and responsibly. 

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

In 2024–25, Trustees took part in training and development sessions focused on one or more areas related to The Scout Association’s business, including safeguarding and safety. 

The Board’s responsibility includes policy making and overseeing risk management. It delegates the day-today management of The Scout Association to the Chief Executive and UK Chief Volunteer, who work with the UK Leadership Team, the UK Youth Lead and their team, and the Executive Leadership Team who manage our employed staff. 

The Board delegates certain functions to six committees that 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 chairs having a three-year term, subject to performance and their continuation as a Trustee. The Board met formally 10 times during 2024–25. In that period, the Board also met on several other occasions to receive briefings on important issues, when necessary. 

## **Policies and rules** 

At The Scout Association, we’ve a comprehensive set of policies and rules applicable to the movement. These policies and rules are regularly reviewed by senior volunteers, senior management, and staff employed across the UK. 

We’re committed to giving young people and adult volunteers the best possible experience in Scouts. To help us achieve this, we follow several key policies, so we can make sure Scouts grows **in a way that’s safe, accessible, and free from discrimination.** 

Our key policies include: 

- Duty of Candour 

- Equal Opportunities Policy 

- Privacy and Data Protection Policy 

The Board has 20 members: 

   - Religious Policy 

- 12 members nominated and elected by the Council of The Scout Association at the AGM: 9 elected members and 3 elected youth members. 

   - Safeguarding Policy 

   - Safety Policy 

- 5 members appointed by the Council at the AGM on the recommendation of the Board: the Chair of the Board, the Treasurer and up to 3 others. 

   - Vetting Policy 

   - Youth Member Anti-Bullying Policy 

- 3 Ex-Officio Members: the Chief Executive, UK Chief Volunteer and the UK Youth Lead. 

75 



## **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 appropriate steps are taken to manage and mitigate governance, external, operational (including safety and safeguarding), legal/ regulatory and financial risks. Scouts’ activities require risk identification and reasonable mitigation to make sure our charitable objectives are achieved. 

The process involves the identification and grouping of the risks The Scout Association faces, both directly and indirectly, through the activities of the movement more generally. This includes evaluating the risks in terms of their potential impact and likelihood to occur, as well as considering The Scout Association’s appetite for those risks, and identifying how 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. 

## **Risk Appetite** 

The Board reviews the risk appetite of each corporate level risk annually to determine the individual tolerance level, what happens when thresholds are breached, and the appropriate and immediate remedial action to bring any issue back within risk tolerance levels. While accepting that risk in Scouts’ activities can never be entirely eliminated, we’re committed to making sure activities are planned and undertaken to the highest levels of quality and safety. 

Given the nature of the activities undertaken, we seek to continuously minimise the potential for serious harm to be caused to young people and members to the greatest extent feasible. Where incidents or near misses do occur, we’re committed to learn from such events and develop our approaches through continuous improvement supported by our Duty of Candour. 

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

The Board reviews its major risks throughout the year. The safety and safeguarding of young people involved in Scouts are our highest priorities. 

Other major risks to our organisation include: 

- Public trust – reputational damage due to public perception, historical issues, and external factors. 

- Growth 

- Data security, specifically an information security breach. 

- Digital delivery and adoption. 

- Equity, diversity and inclusion. 

- Management and oversight of our federated structure. 

- Making sure we have the right working culture. 

- Financial loss or failure of investments and assets. 

76 



## **Governance structure and Board membership – 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025** 

## **Founder** 

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

## **Patron** 

HM King Charles III 

## **Vice Presidents** 

Wayne Bulpitt CBE Peter Duncan George Purdy CBE Tim Kidd OBE Lt Col (Hon) Bear Grylls RM OBE 

## **Presidents** 

Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales, GCVO 

## **Chief Scout** 

Dwayne Fields (from September 2024) 

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

Lt Col (Hon) Bear Grylls RM OBE (until September 2024) 

## **The Board of Trustees** 

The percentages indicate the number of eligible Board meetings each member attended. The Board met 11 times formally in the reportable period. Six were extraordinary meetings. 

|**Trustee**|**%**<br>**Ordinary**<br>**meetings**|**%**<br>**Extraordinary**|**%**<br>**Overall**<br>**attendance**|**Additional Roles/ Committee Memberships held**<br>**within the reporting period**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Mike Ashley|100|86|93%|<br>Treasurer, Chair of the Finance Committee|
|Nigel Ball|75|100|88%|Finance Committee Member|
|Craig Dewar-Willox|100|100|100%|Vice Chair of the Board (Interim Chair from March 2025), Safeguarding<br>Committee Member and Nominations & Governance Committee Member|
|Paul Dickson|75|72|79%|Finance Committee Member<br>People & Culture Committee Member|
|Liam Edgley|100|72|86%|<br>Nominations and Governance Committee Member|
|Joseph Fletcher|100|86|93%|People and Culture Committee Member<br>Safety Committee Member|
|Graham Haddock, OBE|100|58|79%|<br>Strategy and Delivery Committee Member|
|Carl Hankinson|100|86|93%|UK Chief Volunteer<br>Strategy and Delivery Committee Member<br>Nominations and Governance Committee Member|
|Matt Hyde, OBE|100|100|100%|CEO(until September 2024)|
|Aidan Jones, OBE|100|100|100%|CEO (from October 2024), People & Culture Committee Member and<br>Strategy & Delivery Committee Member.|
|Callum Jones|100|100|100%|<br>Nominations and Governance Committee Member (from<br>September 2024)|
|Ayesha Karim|100|86|93%|<br>UK Youth Lead<br>Strategy and Delivery Committee Member<br>Nominations and Governance Committee Member|
|Sharon Rose|100|86|93%|Chair of the Safety Committee|
|Kate Marks, OBE|100|72|86%|Strategy and Delivery Committee Member<br>Safety Committee Member|
|Jake Myatt|50|N/A|75%|<br>Nominations and Governance Committee Member (until<br>August 2024)|
|Peter Oliver, OBE|100|72|86%|<br>Chair of the Strategy and Delivery Committee|
|Jordan Pidwell|100|86|93%|People and Culture Committee Member<br>Safety Committee Member|
|Jennie Price, CBE|100|100|100%|<br>Chair of the Trustee Board(until March 2025)|
|David Sandall|75|86|81%|Chair of Safeguarding Committee|
|Busola Sodeinde|100|43|72%|Chair of the People and Culture Committee|
|Liz Walker|100|72|86%|Nominations and Governance Committee Member<br>People and Culture Committee Member|
|Ollie Wood, BEM|75|100|88%|<br>Finance Committee Member|



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## **UK Leadership Team** 

Carl Hankinson, UK Chief Volunteer (Trustee Board Member, Nominations & Governance Committee Member and Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

CJ Ledger, Deputy UK Chief Volunteer (People & Culture Committee Member and Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

Craig Turpie, Deputy UK Chief Volunteer (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member and Safety Committee Member) 

Elizabeth Henderson, Chief Volunteer of England (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

## **Executive Leadership Team and Committee membership** 

Chloe Kembery, Executive Director of Marketing and Fundraising 

Mark Hislop, Executive Director of Commercial Services 

Philippa Ward, Executive Director of Strategy and Transformation (until April 2025) 

Matthew Killick BEM, Executive Director of Operations (until May 2025) 

Matt Hyde, Chief Executive, (until September 2024) 

Aidan Jones, Chief Executive, (from October 2024) 

Barry Donald-Hewitt, Chief Volunteer of Scotland (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member and Safeguarding Committee Member) 

Rhian Moore, Chief Volunteer of Wales (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

Stephen Bell, Chief Volunteer of Northern Ireland (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

Rob Murray, Chief Volunteer for International (Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

Members of the Executive Leadership Team and the UK Leadership Team, the Chief Scout and the Deputy Chief Scout, have rights of attendance at all meetings of the Board and its Committees (subject to prior agreement of the relevant chairs). 

With the exception of the Nominations and Governance Committee, all Board Committees have appointed Trustee members for their specialist skills, along with one or more non-Trustee members. Additionally, each Committee includes at least one member under the age of 25. 

Ayesha Karim, UK Youth Lead (Trustee Board Member, Nominations & Governance Committee Member and Strategy & Delivery Committee Member) 

Jack Caine, UK Lead Volunteer for People 

Yousif Eltom, UK Lead Volunteer for Growth & Race Equality 

Lewis Dangerfield, UK Lead Volunteer for Programme 

Ian Hill, UK Lead Volunteer for Safety (Safety Committee Member) 

Rebecca Armstrong, UK Lead Volunteer for Inclusion (People & Culture Committee Member) 

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## **Our advisers** 

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

## **Bankers** 

Barclays Bank plc 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP 

## **Communications** 

Portland Bankside 2 90-100 Southwark St London SE1 0SW 

**Investment Managers** Cazenove Capital Management London Wall Place London EC2Y 5AU 

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

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

## **Solicitors** 

Bates Wells LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE 

Kennedys 25 Fenchurch Avenue London EC3M 5AD 

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## Our thanks 

We’d like to thank all our volunteers and supporters for their commitment and contributions over the last year. Special thanks go to those mentioned here. 

## **Our valued partners** 

Airfix Cadent, SGN, Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities – Gas Distribution Networks Dacia Disney Dungeons and Dragons Get Into Teaching GO Outdoors Gravity Gulliver’s Fun Resorts HSBC UK Institute of Electrical Engineering and Technology JD Foundation Lawn Tennis Association Magic the Gathering Nominet UK ODEON Pets at Home Raspberry Pi Foundation Rolls Royce Royal Airforce Royal Navy Royal Marines Speedy Hire The British Army The Green Tree Badge The Rail Industry UK Power Networks UK Space Agency Victorinox Warhammer Zoom 

## **Special thanks to** 

Odile Granter Marshall and Kimberly Hollis Dr Michael and Mrs Gale Kesseler Charles Wilson and Rowena Olegario We’d also like to thank our Gilwell Fellows, UK Fellows, 1st Gilwell Park and Campfire Circle supporters, London Marathon runners, as well as everybody who generously gives and raises money on our behalf throughout the year. 

## **Our valued funders** 

Aziz Foundation Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Dudley and Geoffrey Cox Charitable Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Islamic Relief UK Jack Petchey Foundation Leslie Sell Charitable Trust 

The Mercers’ Company Charity Masonic Charitable Foundation National Lottery Community Fund Pears Foundation Privy Purse Charitable Trust Sir John Fisher Foundation The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights #iWill Fund Community Impact – ‘A Million Hands’ partners The British Red Cross Crisis InspireMind National Autistic Society Save the Children Scottish Association of Mental Health The Simon Community NI World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Other charity partners British Youth Council Girlguiding UK National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) The Together Coalition Youth United Foundation 

## **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 

## **Scout Adventurers** 

Darren Clarkson-King 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 

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## **Investors in People** 

In 2024, we were pleased to sustain our Investors in People accreditation after being awarded the Gold standard back in 2022. 

Reflecting on a year that’s involved significant organisational change for Scouts, this year’s interim report highlighted excellent engagement levels. We’re pleased that the majority of our employees believe Scouts is a great place to work and our organisation has a positive impact on society. The report also highlighted the positive impact our line managers are having through performance management and one-toone support. 

Our scores overall, however, showed a decrease from last year’s interim survey. They highlighted the need for us to invest time and energy in building trust and communicating our exciting vision for the future, as well as effectively communicating and managing ongoing change. 

During 2025, we’ll undertake our next full Investors in People assessment, where Scouts’ existing Gold status will be reviewed. 



## **The Scout Association** 

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

**Registered address** Gilwell Park, Chingford London, E4 7QW **Contact us** support@scouts.org.uk