The Scout membership fees, often referred to as “subs” are not a payment for a service. They are an annual fee for membership that we break down into monthly payments.
The group is a registered charity, and even when we aren’t meeting face-to-face, we have several on-going overheads. These include but are not limited to: insurance, capitation fees payable to UK headquarters, utilities and building upkeep etc. The subs that you pay for each young person in the group are therefore still payable during the suspension of face-to-face Scouting.
Of course, we understand that Coronavirus (COVID 19) has brought about unprecedented levels of change in a short period of time, particularly to some people’s employment. The group and it’s trustees would never intentionally act to place anyone into hardship.
We have a hardship policy – if after reading the linked policy, you feel you qualify, please confidentially reach out to a representative of the group’s senior leadership team by emailing: [email protected]
Some of you may have been aware that we had planned a phased move from Standing Orders the manual reconciliation of subs payments to a Direct Debit mandate integrated with Online Scout Manager. This was due to start rolling out after Easter 2020; however, those plans are now on hold. Please leave all Standing Orders in place.
Thank you