Assurance and our New Digital Toolkit

Safer, Simpler, Consistent: Our Approach to Assurance

Assurance helps us plan and run activities safely, learn from incidents and near‑misses, and meet our duty of care to young people and adult volunteers. Our new Assurance Tool brings these checks together in one simple place. It shouldn't add to your workload but help to organise what volunteers already do in an auditable and consistent manner across the County.

Why We’re Doing This

Learning and Duty of Care

The Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report have highlighted the need for Scouts as a national charity to strengthen how activities are planned, supervised, and reviewed. Alongside this, the Charity Commission’s Regulatory Advisory Note to The Scouts has reinforced the expectation that trustees and volunteers must be able to clearly demonstrate how risks are identified, managed, and monitored across all levels of the organisation.

Both UKHQ and local Scouting in Lincolnshire have already put significant work into addressing these findings, developing clearer guidance, improving reporting pathways, updating POR, providing training, and strengthening support for volunteers. The Assurance approach builds on this foundation, helping ensure that these improvements are embedded consistently in day‑to‑day practice.

Applying Learning from PFD Reports

PFD reports require organisations to show evidence of thorough activity planning, appropriate oversight, and effective communication of risks. They emphasise the importance of clear audit trails and consistent record‑keeping, not just for major events, but for ordinary activities where assumptions can easily slip in. Our Assurance process responds directly to these expectations, giving volunteers a simple way to document what they are already doing and ensuring that districts and counties can provide the right support at the right time.

We need a strong safety culture so that:

• Parent & Young people feel safe and supported.
• Volunteers feel confident and never alone in decision‑making.
• Risks are understood and managed early.
• Everyone follows consistent expectations.
• We meet legal and external expectations.
• We learn, improve, and build trust.
• A strong safety culture isn’t about blame or bureaucracy, it’s about working together so every activity is safe, enjoyable, and well led.

Activity approval isn’t new, it’s already required in POR:

Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) has always expected volunteers to plan activities safely and seek the appropriate approval before running anything beyond the normal meeting place. This includes making sure risks are assessed, supervision is suitable, and the right people are informed. The new Assurance Tool doesn’t add extra requirements, it simply brings together what POR already expects, helps volunteers follow the process more easily, and ensures a consistent approach across the County.

Normal Meeting Place:
Responsibility for managing and approving activities within the normal meeting place is delegated to Group Lead Volunteers and Trustees, with district/county oversight where appropriate.

All Other Activities:
Require review and approval from District Lead Volunteers (or County Lead Volunteer. Cross‑district assurance may be used where helpful.

The definitions of which “Activity” and their context are clearly explained in the tool.

What the Assurance Tool Is

The tool supports volunteers by:

• Bringing together information volunteers already collect.
• Prompting for the right details at the right time.
• Reducing back‑and‑forth emails.
• Creating a clear audit trail automatically.
• Making it easier for districts and county to offer help when needed.

It ensures the same approach across the whole County, no matter which group or district a volunteer is in.

Roles and Responsibilities

Volunteers:

• Use the tool for activity planning outside the normal meeting place.
• Share details early with the Group Lead Volunteer.
• Respond to review questions to strengthen safety.

DLVs, Trustees and County:

• Provide timely approvals and supportive guidance.
• Offer cross‑district assurance where useful.
• Monitor trends and share learning.