{"content":{"layouts":[{"type":"fullWidth","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019re steadily growing in all areas of Scouts across the UK, which is fantastic news. With more adult volunteers and Young Leaders, we can give more young people skills for life.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs we welcome people to our movement, we\u2019re focusing on growing inclusively. We\u2019re making sure we reach and involve all the amazing communities in the UK.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur growth goals by 2025:\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EWe\u2019ll have 547,000 young people aged 4\u201318 in Scouts\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EWe\u2019ll have 88,000 front line volunteers (Section Leaders, including Assistant Section Leaders and Section Assistants)\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EWe\u2019ll have 19,500 Young Leaders\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003C/ul\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EProgress on growth\u003C/h3\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EYoung member growth\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve seen a 5.6% increase (23,018) in young people (4\u201318 years old) compared to 2022, meaning we\u2019re now giving an incredible 436,015 young people skills for life. A new plan, supported by external funding, will build on this growth to help us achieve our 2025 target.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOther than Squirrels, our strongest growth has been in our section for 14\u201318-year-olds, Explorers.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe opened 1,314 new sections this year, but we closed 1,219. Encouragingly, the average section size across the UK has grown this year across all of our sections. This suggests that the efforts of lead volunteers to support better programmes and stronger section leadership teams are paying off.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003ESquirrels\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe number of Squirrels has grown by 216% since 2022. This rapid growth underlines the huge popularity of our Squirrels programme among young families since we launched in September 2021.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EExplorer Scout Young Leaders\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe now have 17,716 Explorer Scout Young Leaders, rising by over 15%. This is particularly encouraging, as they\u2019re the volunteers of the future. Our target is 19,500 by 2025.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EAdult volunteer growth\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe number of frontline adult leaders has grown by 4.5% (3,457) from 2022 (that\u0027s Section Leaders, Assistant Section Leaders, and Section Assistants). This is gradually getting back to pre-pandemic levels.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EWaiting lists\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOnce again, our recorded waiting lists have grown to over 100,000 young people who are missing out on the opportunity to be Scouts. That equals to nearly 6,000 sections, 2,745 of which could be set up now, based on waiting lists with at least 11 young people ready to join.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EActivity undertaken to drive inclusive growth\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile we\u2019re proud of the growth we\u2019ve achieved so far, there\u2019s more we want to do to make sure Scouts is as accessible and inclusive as possible. By inclusive growth, we specifically mean starting Scouts in areas we\u2019ve not been before, and working with communities so we can learn how Scouts can change and adapt to meet the needs of the people we serve. We\u2019re not stopping until every young person who wants to can join, enjoy and thrive in Scouts.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003ESupporting growth in underrepresented communities\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs part of the Attracting Young Muslims to Scouting (AYMS) project, we\u2019re developing support and guidance to help you open Scouts with members of the Muslim community, generously funded by both Pears Foundation and the Aziz Foundation. In the long term, we\u2019re hoping to adjust and develop these resources to support growth in other underrepresented communities.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Uniformed Youth Fund (Phase 1, New Groups)\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe secured a \u00A3440,000 grant so that, through January to March 2023, the Growth \u0026amp; Communities Team could work with local volunteers to open 30 new sections in the government\u2019s levelling up areas in England. Thanks to this DCMS funding, we created 600 new places for young people, with each section opening with an average of 13 young people. 111 adult volunteers were recruited, too.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat\u2019s next\u003C/h3\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003ELeadership focus on inclusive growth\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOur Chief and Regional Commissioners have engaged our volunteer leadership (County/Area/Region (Scotland) Commissioners) to renew our strategic focus on growing Scouts. With our support, County/Area/Region (Scotland) Teams now have their own local targets which contribute towards our UK 2025 growth goals.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve updated our Census and external data tools to help lead volunteers find opportunities for inclusive growth locally. This means they\u2019ll be well equipped to lead their teams to plan and deliver growth over the next few years. We\u2019realso holding growth planning conversations with each County/Area/Region (Scotland) Commissioner to support these new tools for local planning.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003EScouts\u2019 Underrepresented Communities Fund\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve committed \u00A32.5 million from our reserves for Local Growth Officers across all four nations of the UK. This is to speed up our work around opening Scouts in areas designated IMD 1\u20133 and increase participation among volunteers and young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. We know Scouts isn\u2019t serving some of these communities as universally as we could be at the moment, and we believe there\u2019s a mutual benefit for Scouts to be present.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Uniformed Youth Fund (Phase 2, Waiting Lists)\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve secured a grant of more than \u00A36 million over the next two years, which enables us to build another team of Local Growth Officers in England, specifically in government levelling up areas. These Local Growth Officers will work with volunteers to address waiting lists for 10\u002B year old young people by opening new Scout and Explorer sections.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"type":"Image top","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EI joined a predominantly Muslim Scout Group in Nottingham around the age of 14 and no one had ever joined Scouts in our family. One of the great things about Scouts is that it is very heavy on community and belonging. When we went to these camps, we felt we were part of something bigger.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#f1f1f1","title":"Rehneesa, Growth and Development Officer","image":"/media/op0pcvnx/rehneesa-inezjpeg.jpg?width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1daf874bf2eefb0","imageFocus":"","imageId":76816,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"prev":{"link":"/about-us/our-impacts-and-reports/scouts-annual-report-2022-23/skills-for-life-our-plan-to-prepare-better-futures-2018-2025/","title":"Skills for Life: Our plan to prepare better futures 2018-2025"},"next":{"link":"/about-us/our-impacts-and-reports/scouts-annual-report-2022-23/inclusivity/","title":"Inclusivity"},"allParts":[{"link":"/about-us/our-impacts-and-reports/scouts-annual-report-2022-23/a-year-of-achievement/","title":"A year of 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