51,000 kids can’t join Scouts as vetting rules put off volunteers

TENS of thousands of youngsters are stuck on waiting lists to become Scouts because the organisation cannot find enough adult volunteers.

A record 51,000 are waiting to join local groups, even though the total number of adult volunteers is at an all-time high.

Many parents who do volunteer do not have as much time to be leaders or helpers as they once did.

Child protection form-filling and recent abuse cases may also be deterring them from working with its 457,000 young people, a campaign group says.

About 154,000 adults volunteer with the organisation, including youth workers, charity trustees and instructors, but an estimated 17,000 more are needed.

Chief commissioner Tim Kidd said: ‘Many adults who are signing up with the Scouts have a limited amount of time to donate to us and so we need more volunteers as a whole to accommodate the demand for Scouting among young people.’

Scout sessions are one hour for younger children and two hours for those in their mid teens. The harder slots to fill are in the early evening. Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: ‘Our challenge is to keep recruiting even more adults... volunteering changes us all for the better. Please join me.’

Forms for the Disclosure and Barring Service can be a problem.

Josie Appleton, of The Manifesto Club think-tank, which campaigns against excessive regulation, said: ‘The DBS process definitely deters them. It’s really sensible to have certain safety procedures and for people to keep their eyes and ears open. But they’re obsessed with ridiculous rules.’