Half of jobs to go at Scottish Scouts after a ‘complete loss of business’

Scouts Scotland has announced it is to cut half of its workforce at its headquarters and outdoors centres under a compulsory redundancy programme, saying it is facing a loss of income of £2.3 million due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The organisation, which announced proposals to consult on job cuts in June, said it had suffered a “complete loss of business” at its outdo ors centres, the cancellation of Scouting and fundraising events, cancelled bookings for its marquee hire service, and a drop in investments since the pandemic hit. Around 28 staff are believed to have been affected by the compulsory redundancy programme.

The organisation said: “Although some activities are beginning to start back up and we are beginning to welcome visitors back to our centres, this is all still very limited and can’t make up for the massive income losses that we experienced during the spring and summer months.

“We have done everything we can to try to reduce the impact on our finances. Despite this we are still facing a large deficit that we simply can’t absorb, and so we have had to make some inc redibly difficult decisions to try to save our charity.” It added: “Through the consultation we have looked at every possible way to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies needed. However, sadly we have no choice but to proceed with the restructuring plan and compulsory redundancies. This is such a horrible situation that none of us ever wanted to be in.”

It said its new structure is focused on supporting local Scouting - including Beavers and Cubs for younger children.

It said it planned to keep its three Scout Adventures Centres at Forell Firs, Meggernie and Lochgoilhead open in the hope that they can become more operational in the future.