Current restrictions under the yellow readiness level

- Residential activities can resume. Group size limits have been removed for nights away activities.
--Participants are limited to 6 people per sleeping space, be that a tent or room. 
--Groups of adults or Scout Network members are limited to 6 people when completing a residential.
--Lateral flow testing is suggested to take place prior to departure and twice a week through the trip and on return for those age 11 and over, Guidance on the Scout website.

- Sections can continue to meet indoors and outdoors. There is no limit to group sizes, meaning that full sections and multiple sections may now meet together. You must still act to minimise the spread of COVID-19 when running activities. These changes now apply to all age ranges, with no differences for Scout Network and adult groups. In line with the government’s desire to minimise the transmission of COVID-19, we strongly recommend you focus on returning young people to local scouting activities at this time.

--Measures such as social distancing and good hygiene are suggested but are no longer the law. Members still need to wear face coverings in the following circumstances: when an activity requires direct physical contact; when in direct contact because of an incident; or in poorly ventilated spaces.

- Outdoor adult activities for our charitable purposes should be in line with current government guidance. 

- Trips and Visits are allowed. These should only be done where you cannot stay local to achieve the outcomes of the activity. International trips will not be allowed until 2022. Details in the Programme tab.

- Events involving more than 100 people can not take place until autumn 2021. More details in the Events tab.

The Hampshire Scouts Programme team have published a guide to get back to face to face Scouting - check it out here. 

Please continue to follow all COVID-19 restrictions while meeting with your group. If you’ve had an Amber risk assessment approved by your District, this will still be valid – but we’d encourage you to review your risk assessment before meeting again. If your Amber risk assessment hasn’t been approved yet, we’d recommend you complete one as soon as possible, detailing risks for both indoor and outdoor activities. Don’t forget that before meeting face-to-face, all adults will have to have their mandatory safety and safeguarding up to date.

Scout Readiness Levels
Devised by the Scouts and the National Youth Agency, the Readiness Levels are an easy way for the Scouts to interpret the Government guidance and restrictions to allow us to understand what is allowed at a certain point in time. Full details about the different levels, what activities are permitted at each and support for resuming face to face activities can be found in the Getting Back Together Safely pages on the Scout website.

Hampshire Scouts' latest summary of activities for Zoom can be found on our members site here. We also suggest you check your section websites for updates as well.

Returning to face-to-face Scouting
The Programme Team have produced a booklet to help leaders get back to face-to-face Scouting, counting down the steps to help you get back to normal. It can be found on our members site here.

Socially distanced Scouting
Looking for specific activities that can be done face-to-face? Then there are some socially distanced activities for every section on the Scout website which are being added to constantly. The links to the section pages can be found on the Scouts' website here.

Virtual Scouting - ideas
The Scouts have developed 'The Great Indoors', which features (quite literally) hundreds of activities for you to try at home and is constantly growing. Take a look at scouts.org.uk/greatindoors There is also a new and expanding list of virtual activities available on the Scout website here.

The Basingstoke East team have developed 'Scouting at Home', an online tool which enables young people to continue completing badges at home. Groups from across the UK are welcome to sign up - more information can be found here.

Virtual Scouting - press play and go
Need some activities that you can just run with? These video based activities are great to share to a zoom meeting or with your young people direct. There are some from HQ called Press Play and Go and there are some at 1st Digital Scouts.

International
There will be no international Scout trips before 1 January 2022. We know this is hugely disappointing news and that it will cause a number of challenges for those organising trips (and those looking forward to going away). The Scouts are aware that the Government is set to review international travel in May, but they expect the guidance to focus around family travel (rather than group travel) and Scouts would still be limited by restrictions in other countries.

The decision has been made now to help with funding and insurance, and to allow leaders to deliver a clear message to young people and their parents and carers. The Scouts consulted with Counties, Areas and Regions to find out about the impact of this decision, and the overall feedback is that leaders would appreciate clarity sooner rather than later. If you have any trips booked for 2021, you can read a Unity blog to understand how you can claim for your trip or reschedule.

Office 365 and Microsoft Teams
We have created Office 365 Accounts for each District Commissioner and Chair which have access to Microsoft Teams, which enable you to host meetings and webinars remotely. 

Locally, we would suggest implementing Office 365 or G Suite for your District (if this has not been done already), which both have free plans for qualifying charities. More information can be found on the Microsoft and Google websites.

If you need support, email [email protected] 
You can login at login.microsoftonline.com

Zoom
Zoom is now being offered by Hampshire Scouts. Those who are already involved in Hampshire Scouts will have been emailed about this already but if you have any questions please email [email protected].

Virtual backgrounds
Hampshire Scouts have created some virtual backgrounds that you can use behind you in meetings. They can be found on our Hampshire Brand Centre here. 

Systems Support
For assistance with County Systems such as Office 365, please contact [email protected]

There are lots of places with advice for charities at this time:
• The NCVO has published some useful guidance on their website.
• Advice on gov.uk for the Charity sector including meeting and annual return guidance. It can be found on the gov.uk website here.
• Charity Commission guidance for those that need an extension to their annual return deadline on gov.uk here.

Virtual meetings
In April 2020, the Scouts made an amendment to the standard group constitution in POR  (Groups 3.23; Districts 4.25; County 5.16) that allowed remote meetings and for voting by email if 75% of committee members approve the decision. Members have access to Office 365 and Zoom Pro to enable this, see the section about this on this page.

Annual General Meetings
Advice from the Charity Commission on this states that "If you feel that in the best interests of your charity and to follow the governments public health guidance it is necessary to cancel or postpone your charity’s AGM (or any other key meeting) that will be fine. You should record the decision you have made to show good governance."

As long as you as a trustee body are satisfied that the decision to not go ahead is in the best interests of the trustees, membership and beneficiaries the Commission will support you in this. More information can be found here.

The County Office team are operating differently to usual so if you attempt to contact us via phone, your call may not be answered. We are monitoring emails during this time so please contact us via email at [email protected].

The latest updates from Ferny Crofts, along with their contact details can be found on their website at fernycrofts.org.uk/coronavirus-information

Current status
Ferny Crofts is currently open on a limited scale, and we are working hard to ensure we can safely re-open to maximum permitted levels as soon as possible. We are looking forward to welcoming you back to our site as we move through the steps of the Government's Roadmap to Reopening.

Currently we are open to Scout Groups, Guides, Youth Groups and Schools for day visits, and for Scout Leaders and their families to join us for a camping holiday, until 6th June.

Previous bookings
This update is dated 12th March 2021.

The office team are working to assist you with amendments to existing or past bookings, as well as helping you plan for future visits, however please contact by email rather than telephone for the most efficient response. If your booking is or was unable to take place due to Coronavirus restrictions you have the following options:

1. 2020 Postponed Bookings
Bookings postponed from 2020 due to Coronavirus will be charged at the 2020 price rate. All additional bookings made by the same group or organisation in 2021 will be subject to 2021 prices. If bookings are further postponed to 2022, the 2022 price rate will apply.

2. Cancellations enforced by Government or National Regulations
Where bookings cannot take place due to the enforced closure of Ferny Crofts, or restrictions imposed on the hirer by Government Departments or National Governing Bodies (eg The Scout Association), you will be entitled to a full refund of any monies paid, less any costs already incurred by Ferny Crofts in administering your booking. However, we would like to encourage you to move your deposit in full to alternative dates where possible.

3. Cancellations by Hirer (Coronavirus)
Where customers do not wish to proceed with a booking but cancellation is not legally or otherwise enforced as defined above, and the hirer chooses not to rearrange their booking to new dates, a 50% refund of the accommodation deposit will be arranged.

If you have any questions, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Please note that we are working with a much smaller team at present, but be assured that we shall aim to respond within a couple of days. We are unable to monitor phone lines during regular hours, so please contact us by email for the most efficient response time. Thank you for your patience.

Guidance on large events
The Scouts have produced a page of guidance on organising large events. For the purposes of coronavirus, a large event is described as being 100 people or more. The guidance can be found on the Scout website. 

This is for events that include young people - adult only events should follow the guidance on adult events. For Scouts taking part in community events, such as Pride, no more than 100 Scouts should take part. 

At present, no events involving 100 or more young people can take place until the autumn term at the earliest.

All events organised by Hampshire Scouts and locally should be under constant review. The event organisers should be in touch with you about this. 

The following large events have been cancelled or postponed:
• World Scout Moot - Postponed to July 2022
• European Scout Jamboree - Cancelled.
• Suisse Adventure - Postponed to August 2022.
• Hampshire Beaver Scouts County Camp - Cancelled for 2021.

Training courses
Hampshire Scouts have moved to running training modules through Zoom which members can join instead of face to face courses at this time. Full details on when modules are being held can be found on this page along with booking forms.

Mandatory Ongoing Learning
These are the modules our volunteers complete to ensure everyone is up to date with safety and safeguarding matters. These now need to be done every 3 years in line with First Aid.

For those whose safety and safeguarding training had not expired but were in the fourth or fifth year, your Compass record should have been updated to an expiry date of 30 September 2021.

You can find the new training on the Scout website.

First Aid
Full details on how First Aid is being run by Hampshire Scouts during the coronavirus pandemic can be found on our training site here.

Changes to training modules 
As part of the September 2020 POR update, some training modules have been ended and others introduced and the training that is needed by some roles has been updated.

The Getting started modules now consist of Module 1: Essential Information, Safety, Safeguarding and GDPR, all of which have been re-launched, can be completed online and are validated through a certificate given to a TA or line manager. There is also a new Trustee information module. Some roles still need to complete Module 2 (Personal Learning Plan), Module 3 (Tools for the Role, Section Leaders) or Module 4 (Tools for the Role, Managers) as before.

Full details of the changes can be found on the Scouts website in the learning development and awards section as well as sign up to a 1 October webinar.

DBS Checks
Guidance on how the process of checking disclosures is affected and how to operate it digitally, see the advice on the Scouts website. In line with POR, members without a disclosure will be automatically suspended.

Appointment Advisory Committee Panels
To support Appointments Committee and Panel meetings to take place virtually, District Commissioners and Chairs have been provided access to Microsoft Teams as well as the Zoom Pro in use by Scouts HQ. There is advice on some of the recent changes available on the Scout website here including a webinar on the subject.